Sylvia & Michael: The later adventures of Sylvia Scarlett. Compton Mackenzie

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СКАЧАТЬ women spoke English, and Miss Savage told her that one was a German-Swiss, the wife of a pastry-cook called Benzer, and that the other was a Swedish masseuse; she did not think that either of them spoke English, but added in a low voice that they were both very common.

      "Interesting?"

      "No, common, awfully common," Miss Savage insisted.

      Sylvia made a gesture of impatience: her countrywomen always summed up humanity with such complacent facility. At this moment a little girl of about thirteen, habited like the rest in a gray shawl, came tripping down the ward, clapping her hands with glee.

      "How lovely war is!" she cried in French. "I am longing to be out of hospital. I've been in the other ward, and through the window I saw thousands and thousands of soldiers marching past. Maman cried yesterday when I asked her why papa hated soldiers. He hates them. Whenever he sees them marching past he shakes his fist and spits. But I love them."

      This child had endeared herself to the invalids of the hospital; she was a token of returning health, the boon of which she seemed to pledge to every one in the company. Even the grim Swedish masseuse smiled and spoke gently to her in barbaric French. Moreover, here in this quiet hospital the war had not yet penetrated; it was like a far-distant thunder-storm which had driven a number of people who were out of doors to take shelter at home; as Miss Savage said to Sylvia:

      "I expect everybody got excited and afraid; yet it all seems very quiet, really, and I shall stay here with my family. There's no point in making oneself uncomfortable."

      Sylvia agreed with Miss Savage and decided not to worry about her fare back to England, but rather to stay on for a while in Russia and get up her strength after leaving the hospital; then when she had spent her money she should work again, and when this war was over she could return to Mulberry Cottage with one or two Improvisations added to her repertory. Now that she was out of bed, life seemed already simple again, and perhaps she had exaggerated the change in herself; she wished she had not spoken to the nun so intimately; one of the disadvantages of being ill was this begetting of an intimacy between the nurse and the patient, which grows out of bodily dependence into mental servitude; it was easy to understand why men so often married their nurses.

      "I am not sure," said Sylvia to herself, "that the right attitude is not the contempt of the healthy animal for one of its kind who is sick. There's a sort of sterile sensuality about nursing and being nursed."

      Sylvia's feelings about the war were confirmed by the views of the doctor who attended her. He had felt a little nervous until England had taken her place beside Russia and France, but once she had done so, the war would be over at the latest by the middle of October.

      "It's easy to see how frightened the Germans are by the way they are behaving in Belgium."

      "Why, what are they doing?" Sylvia asked.

      "They've overrun it like a pack of wolves."

      "I have a sister in Brussels," she said, suddenly.

      The doctor shook his head compassionately.

      "But of course nothing will happen to her," she added.

      The doctor hastened to support this theory; Sylvia was still very weak and he did not want a relapse brought on by anxiety. He changed the conversation by calling to Claudinette, the little girl who thought war was so lovely.

      "Seen any more soldiers to-day?" he asked, jovially.

      "Thousands," Claudinette declared. "Oh, monsieur, when shall I be able to leave the hospital? It's terrible to be missing everything. Besides, I want to make papa understand how lovely it is to march along, with everybody thinking how fine and brave it is to be a soldier. Fancy, maman told me he has been invited to go back to France and that he has actually refused the invitation."

      The doctor raised his eyebrows and flashed a glance at Sylvia from his bright brown eyes to express his pity for the child's innocence.

      At this point Madame Benzer intervened.

      "The only thing that worries me about this war is the food: it's bound to upset custom. People don't order so many tarts when they're thinking of something else. And the price of everything will go up. Luckily I've told my husband to lay in stores of flour and sugar. It's a comfort to be a neutral."

      The Swedish masseuse echoed Madame Benzer's self-congratulation:

      "Of course one doesn't want to seem an egoist," she said, "but I can't help knowing that I shall benefit. As a neutral I sha'n't be able to go and nurse at the front, but I shall be useful in Petersburg."

      "Petrograd," the doctor corrected her, with marked irritation.

      "I shall never get used to the change," said the masseuse. "When do you think I shall be strong enough to begin my work again?"

      The doctor shrugged his shoulders.

      "November, perhaps."

      "Why, the war will be over by then!" said the masseuse, indignantly.

      "They're calling for volunteers in England," Miss Savage observed to Sylvia. "I'm sure my two brothers have gone. They've always been mad about soldiering. They're like you, Claudinette."

      "If only I could be a vivandière!" cried the child. She was unable to contain her romantic exultation at the idea, and, snatching the doctor's stethoscope, she marched up and down the ward, pursing her lips to a shrill "Marseillaise."

      "Children are children," said Madame Benzer, fatly.

      "It's true," sighed the doctor.

      "She's quite well again," said the masseuse, enviously.

      "I love children," Sylvia exclaimed.

      "Do you?" said Miss Savage. "Wait till you've had to teach them. You'll hate them then!"

      Claudinette's march was interrupted by the nun on duty, who was horrified at the ward's being used so noisily: though there were no fresh patients, the rule of stillness could not be broken like this. Claudinette having been deprived of her bugle, went and drummed out her martial soul upon a window-pane; the doctor, who felt a little guilty, stroked his beard and passed on.

      The governess carried out her intention of having her bed moved next to Sylvia; on the first night of the change she whispered across to her in the darkness, which seemed the more intense round their beds because at the far end of the ward a lamp burned before an image of the Virgin, and, inclosed by two screens, the nun on night-duty sat in a dim, golden mist.

      "Are you awake?"

      Sylvia answered her in a low voice in order not to disturb the other patients; she could not bring herself to answer in a whisper, because it would have made this conversation seem surreptitious.

      "Hush! Don't talk so loud. Are you a Catholic?"

      "I'm nothing," said Sylvia.

      "Do tell me about your life."

      "We can talk about that in the morning."

      "Oh no, one can't talk secrets in the morning. I want to ask you something. Do you think that everybody in Russia will go and fight? You СКАЧАТЬ