After he came to himself at the Mena House Hospital, Godfrey inquiredwhether there were not some letters for him, but none could be found.He had arranged with the only person likely to write to him, namelyIsobel, to do so through the War Office, and evidently that plan hadnot succeeded, for her letters had gone astray. The truth was, ofcourse, that some had been lost and after definite news of his deathwas received, the rest had not been forwarded. Now he bethought himthat he would cable home to Isobel to tell her that he was recovering,though somehow he imagined that she would know this already through theauthorities. With great difficulty, for the hurt to his side made ithard for him to use his arm, he wrote the telegram and gave it toSister Elizabeth to send, remarking that he would pay the cost as soonas he could draw some money.
"That won't matter," she replied as she took the cable. Then with anodd look at him she went away as though to arrange for its despatch.
After she had gone, two orderlies helped Godfrey downstairs to sit onthe broad verandah of the hospital. Here still stood many of the littletables which used to serve for pleasant tea-parties when the buildingwas an hotel in the days before the war. On these lay some old Englishnewspapers. Godfrey picked up one of them with his left hand, and beganto read idly enough. Almost the first paragraph that his eye fell onwas headed:
"Heroic Death of a V.A.D. Commandant."
Something made him read on quickly, and this was what he saw:
"At the inquest on the late Mrs. Knight, the wife of Colonel Knight who was reported murdered by natives in East Africa some little time ago, some interesting evidence was given. It appeared from the testimony of Mrs. Parsons, a nurse in the Hawk's Hall Hospital, that when warning was given of the approach of Zeppelins during last week's raid on the Eastern Counties and London, the patients in the upper rooms of the hospital were removed to its lower floors. Finding that one young man, a private in the Suffolk Regiment who has lost both his feet, had been overlooked, Mrs. Knight, followed by Mrs. Parsons, went upstairs to help him down. When Mrs. Parsons, whom she outran, reached the door of the ward there was a great explosion, apparently on the roof. She waited till the dust had cleared off and groped her way down the ward with the help of an electric torch. Reaching Private Thompson's bed, she saw lying on it Mrs. Knight who had been killed by the fallen masonry. Private Thompson, who was unhurt beneath the body, said that when the bricks began to come down Mrs. Knight called to him to lie still and threw herself on him to protect him. Then something heavy, he believed the stone coping of a chimney, fell on her back and she uttered one word, he thought it was a name, and was silent. Mrs. Knight, who was the only child of the late Sir John Blake, Bart., the well-known shipowner, is said to have been one of the richest women in England. She married the late Colonel Knight some months ago, immediately before he was sent to East Africa. Under the provisions of her will the cremated remains of Mrs. Knight will be interred in the chancel of the Abbey Church at Monk's Acre."
Godfrey read this awful paragraph twice and looked at the date of thepaper. It was nearly two months old.
"So she was dead when she came to me. Oh! now I understand," hemuttered to himself, and then, had not a passing native servant caughthim, he would have fallen to the ground. It was one of the ten thousandminor tragedies of the world war, that is all.
Three months later, still very crippled and coughing badly, because ofthe injury to his lung, he reported himself in London, and once moresaw the Under-Secretary who had sent him out to East Africa. There hesat in the same room, at the same desk, looking precisely the same.
"I am sorry, Sir, that my mission has failed through circumstancesbeyond my control. I can only add that I did my best," he said briefly.
"I know," answered the official; "it was no fault of yours if thoseblack brutes tried to murder you. Everything goes wrong in that cursedEast Africa. Now go home and get yourself fit again, my dear fellow,"he went on very kindly, adding, "Your services will not be overlooked."
"I have no home, and I shall never be fit again," replied Godfrey, andleft the room.
"I forgot," thought the Under-Secretary. "His wife was killed in aZeppelin raid. Odd that she should have been taken and he left."
Then, with a sigh and a shrug of the shoulders he turned to hisbusiness.