Page:Ruth of the U.S.A. (IA ruthofusa00balm).pdf/210

 ing good-bye. "She's doing marvels in sorting out refugees, I hear."

Gerry had been wondering often during the last days about what might have happened to Cynthia; and he had inquired of several people. But he had not thought that Lady Agnes might know.

"She was working at a relief headquarters on Rue Solférino, near the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville."

Gerry wandered into Compiègne, finding the Rue Solférino, which was the main street of the city, more crowded and congested than ever before. From the throng before the doors, Gerry quickly located the quarters near the Hôtel de Ville where Cynthia Gail had been working and, forcing a way in, he spied a yellow head bent over a little boy and he heard a gentle, sweet voice speaking, in newly learned French, interrogations about where the child last had seen his mother, whether he had aunt or uncle and so on. Gerry went farther in and made himself known; and when the girl looked up and saw him, an older American woman—Mrs. Mayhew—looked up, and she observed not only Gerry but the girl also.

"Hello," Ruth said. It was a poor word to encompass all she was feeling at that moment, which was, first, joy and relief that he was safe; next, that he had come there to seek her. But the word did, as it many, many times had done before; and he used the same to encompass what he felt. "Have you had anything to eat tonight?" he added after his greeting. He suspected not.

"I'll have supper later, thanks," Ruth said.