Page:Saxe Holm's Stories, Series Two.djvu/288

278 "Would you be so very good, ma'am, as to just put them in my pocket here?" said Joe, awkwardly. "I can't manage it very well."

Netty put them in the pocket, and with a military salute, Joe lifted his cap to his head and walked away.

"How thoughtless of me," said Netty, "to have laid them on the poor fellow's cap in his hand! He could n't put his cap on without their falling on the ground. Was n't it nice of him to give his to Wilson? I don't believe he likes the red any better than the other men did."

"It 's just like Joe Hale," said Sarah.

"The ward-master in his ward told me the other day, he had n't the least idea what he 'd do when Joe went away. He said he was equal to any two nurses in the ward. I 've a notion, though, that he has a great fancy for the color red, for I 've seen him a dozen times with a bit of red geranium or red salvia in his cap; he always picks out the red ones when Mrs. Winthrop brings her flowers."

Joe Hale was a methodical fellow. When he was preparing to go to bed, he laid all his clean clothes on the chair at the head of his bed to be ready in the morning. On the top of the pile he laid the red stockings.

"Hullo! Fire away, Joe!" called out one man,

And another:— "Warm yer toes, Joe, won't they?"

And another:—