She seemed the incarnate spirit of the
mother-woman, whose selfless courage no brute who had known a mother
could resist. And her "No!" rang out deep and clear as a warning tocsin.
I felt that the wounded boy must have been as safe behind those hands
and that "No!" as if a thick though transparent wall of glass had
magically risen to protect him.
"All this time," Soeur Julie went on, gathering herself together after
a moment. "All this time Germans led by non-commissioned officers were
searching the hospice. But they found no hiding soldiers, because there
were none such to find. And somehow that captain and his lieutenant did
not touch our wounded ones. They had a look of shame and sullenness on
their faces, as if they were angry with themselves for yielding their
wicked will to an old woman. Yet they _did_ yield, thank God! And then I
got the captain's promise to spare the hospice--got it by saying we
would care for his wounded as faithfully as we tended our own. I said,
'If you leave this house standing to take in your men, you must leave
the whole street. If the buildings round us burn, we shall burn,
too--and with us your German wounded. Will you give me your word that
this whole quarter shall be safe?'
"The man did not answer. But he looked down at his boots. And I have
always noticed that, when men of any nation look at their boots, it is
that they are undecided. It was so with him. A few more arguments from
me, and he said: 'It shall be as you ask.
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