"She simply
would not let him go!" continued the doctor. "She nursed him, sang
to him her old 'Come all ye' songs and Methodist hymns, she spun him
barnyard yarns and orchard idyls, and always 'continued in our next,'
till the chap simply couldn't croak for wanting to hear the next."
At times Cameron caught through the tent walls snatches of those songs
and yarns and idyls, at times he caught momentary glimpses of the bright
young girl who was pouring the vigour of her life into the lad fighting
for his own, but these snatches and glimpses only exasperated him. There
was no opportunity for any lengthened and undisturbed converse, for on
the one hand the hospital service was exacting beyond the strength
of doctor and nurses, and on the other there was serious trouble for
Superintendent Strong and his men in the camps along the line, for a
general strike had been declared in all the camps and no one knew at
what minute it might flare up into a fierce riot.
It was indeed exasperating to Cameron. The relations between himself and
Nurse Haley were unsatisfactory, entirely unsatisfactory. It was clearly
his duty--indeed he owed it to her and to himself--to arrive at some
understanding, to establish their relations upon a proper and reasonable
basis. He was at very considerable pains to make it clear, not only
to the Sergeant, but to the cheerful little nurse and to the doctor as
well, that as her oldest friend in the country it was incumbent upon him
to exercise a sort of kindly protectorate over Nurse Haley.
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