First World War Centennial

III

I DID not succeed in doing much thinking, because as soon as I closed my eyes I saw that dreadful room again, and my poor oldest Mistress lying there on the couch! Then I tried to keep my eyes open, but I could not, and in spite of the horrors and fears I fell asleep.

It seemed only a moment, but must have been a good long time, because when I came to myself, the sun was shining quite high up in the sky, and feeling very sore and tired still, I crept out of the bushes into the warmth of the sunshine and sat down to think what I should do. I was very hungry and quickly decided that the first thing was to find some­thing to eat, and that unless there was something to hunt in the wood where I had slept, I must try to find some kind People in those houses, which looked nearer in the daylight.

It did not take me long to dis­cover that there were only birds in the wood, and though I had sometimes caught them, it was no use to try now when I felt so sore and lame, so I crept cautiously towards the houses, keeping under bushes, in case I saw a "German." As no one seemed to be about, however, my courage began to rise and I trotted along a little faster, until I came to a house which stood a little way out of the village by itself, and I went around it carefully to see what I could find. Just as I had nearly given up hope of finding anything, I saw the door of the house open, a little crack at first, and then wide enough for a queer-looking old woman to put her head out. She looked about her just the way / had done when I got out of the tool-house, so I could understand just how she was feeling, and I wondered if she had been fright­ened by the "Germans" too. At any rate I did not feel at all afraid of her, and as she came out of the door, I walked up to her wagging my tail, and trying in every possible way to make her see what I wanted.

She looked at me in an odd sort of way, and I heard her whisper "pauvre chien—pauvre chien," then she bent down and tried to brush some of the dirt off me, but though I knew I must be a sight, what I wanted most was food and drink. I looked very hard in her face and whined the little low whine which means distress, hop­ing she would understand, but she did not seem to, so I pushed past her into the house. I went smell­ing about everywhere until I found a cupboard, with half-open door, where on a low shelf there was a large piece of bread and a piece of bone, which I could easily reach, though I did not know if I might have it.

As the woman did not come in after me I thought she couldn't care much, so I snatched the bread and gulped it down in great pieces which nearly choked me, and when I had finished it, I took the bone and went out of the door, where the woman was still standing just as I had left her. She did not seem to see me, so I lay down near her and began to gnaw the bits of meat, and as I worried over the bone, I watched her, and saw her draw her hand across her eyes several times as if she were trying to wake. Then I heard her say again, in the same odd whisper, "Pauvre, pauvre chien! art thou too, like me, terrified and alone? Hast thou heard sounds and seen sights to madden thee? Are all thy dear ones gone too, and thyself better dead, as they are?"

All the time I worked over the bone, she stood there just the same, whispering once in a while, and sometimes I caught a word or two, like "Jésu," and "Pitié" When I had quite finished and had found a drink from some water in the yard, I went over to her and rubbed myself against her, and licked her hand, and pulled at her skirt, but she never noticed me more than to pat my head a little, so at last I gave it up, for though I felt very grateful to her for the food and very sorry for her, she did not belong to me, and I knew I must hurry on.

I went away slowly, looking back now and again, hoping she would call me, but she just stood there quite still, and I could see she was not thinking of me, at all.

From there I went on through the village and was astonished to find that the houses were only broken walls, and that inside were only heaps of stones and broken things, and not a Person anywhere. I went on and on from house to house noticing that some were blackened by fire, and others just knocked down, as I had often seen my youngest Master knock down his block houses, and when I had got quite to the other end, I was rejoiced to see another dog. I ran up to him, and though at first he was not friendly, when I talked to him and told him all I had been through and how com­pletely I was lost, he became very willing to talk to me. I asked all about the village and whether he had lived here before, and when I found he had, I thought he might know whether it was anywhere near the Château de T—, which was the place where I thought I might possibly find some of my dear People, if only I could learn the way.