Thus several weeks swiftly passed by. Several soldiers who had been
more seriously injured than Rust improved to the extent that they were
discharged. But Rust gained little or nothing. The nurse and doctor both
informed Carley that Rust brightened for her, but when she was gone he
lapsed into somber indifference. He did not care whether he ate or not,
or whether he got well or died.
"If I do pull out, where'll I go and what'll I do?" he once asked the
nurse.
Carley knew that Rust's hurt was more than loss of a leg, and she
decided to talk earnestly to him and try to win him to hope and effort.
He had come to have a sort of reverence for her. So, biding her time,
she at length found opportunity to approach his bed while his comrades
were asleep or out of hearing. He endeavored to laugh her off, and then
tried subterfuge, and lastly he cast off his mask and let her see his
naked soul.
"Carley, I don't want your money or that of your kind friends--whoever
they are--you say will help me to get into business," he said.
"God knows I thank you and it warms me inside to find some one who
appreciates what I've given. But I don't want charity.... And I guess
I'm pretty sick of the game. I'm sorry the Boches didn't do the job
right."
"Rust, that is morbid talk," replied Carley. "You're ill and you just
can't see any hope. You must cheer up--fight yourself; and look at the
brighter side. It's a horrible pity you must be a cripple, but Rust,
indeed life can be worth living if you make it so."
"How could there be a brighter side when a man's only half a man--" he
queried, bitterly.
"You can be just as much a man as ever," persisted Carley, trying to
smile when she wanted to cry.
"Could you care for a man with only one leg?" he asked, deliberately.
"What a question! Why, of course I could!"
"Well, maybe you are different. Glenn always swore even if he was killed
no slacker or no rich guy left at home could ever get you. Maybe you
haven't any idea how much it means to us fellows to know there are
true and faithful girls. But I'll tell you, Carley, we fellows who went
across got to see things strange when we came home. The good old U. S.
needs a lot of faithful girls just now, believe me."