Aunt Jane's Nieces in The Red Cross
"Would you like to see him?"
"If you please."
The group moved forward to the room occupied by Captain Carg. The door and windows stood open and reclining upon a couch inside was the maimed German, with Carg sitting beside him. Both were solemnly smoking their pipes.
The captain rose as the general entered, while Elbl gave his visitor a military salute.
"So you are better?" asked the Frenchman.
Beth repeated this in English to Carg, who repeated it in German to Elbl. Yes, the wounded man was doing very well.
"Will you keep him here much longer?" was the next question, directed to Mr. Merrick.
"I think so," was the reply. "He is still quite weak, although the wound is healing nicely. Being a military prisoner, there is no other place open to him where the man can be as comfortable as here."
"You will be responsible for his person? You will guarantee that he will not escape?"
Mr. Merrick hesitated.
"Must we promise that?" he inquired.
"Otherwise I shall be obliged to remove him to a government hospital."
"I don't like that. Not that your hospitals are not good enough for a prisoner, but Elbl happens to be a cousin of our captain, which puts a different face on the matter. What do you say, Captain Carg? Shall we guarantee that your cousin will not try to escape?"
"Why should he, sir? He can never rejoin the army, that's certain," replied Carg.
"True," said the general, when this was conveyed to him by Beth. "Nevertheless, he is a prisoner of war, and must not be allowed to escape to his own people."
Beth answered the Frenchman herself, looking him straight in the face.
"That strikes me as unfair, sir," said she. "The German must henceforth be a noncombatant. He has been unable, since he was wounded and brought here, to learn any of your military secrets and at the best he will lie a helpless invalid for weeks to come. Therefore, instead of making him a prisoner, it would be more humane to permit him to return to his home and family in Germany."
The general smiled indulgently.
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