He could not go on
forever, playing the role of Jean Castel, a horse-buyer from Lorraine.
Lorraine was far away now, and he was beyond his natural range.
And yet his frank young face and smiling eyes were continually making
him friends where he expected none. Explanations that might have seemed
doubtful coming from others were convincing when he spoke them, and here
in this hostile land, where he would have been executed as a spy, his
identity known, he was instead helped on his way.
Late in the afternoon, when he was high up on the shoulder of a mountain
he came to one of the little wayside shrines that one sees in the
Catholic countries of the Old World. A small stream of clear, green
water ran almost at the feet of the image, and he knelt and drank. Then
he sat down to eat a little bread and sausage from his knapsack, and,
while he was there, a middle-aged woman with two young boys also came to
the shrine, before which they knelt and prayed. When they rose John
politely offered them a portion of his bread and sausage, but they
declined it, thanking him, and bringing forth food of their own, ate it.
John saw that the woman's face was very sorrowful, and the boys were
grave and thoughtful beyond their years. He knew that they were under
the shadow of the war, and his sympathy drew him to them.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216