She spoke often of her mother, always sad, but striving to hide her grief and keeping herself up in the hope of a letter from her son; she spoke, too, of the war, commenting on the latest events with the rhetorical optimism of the official dispatches.

She could describe the first flag taken from the enemy as minutely as though it were a garment of unparalleled elegance.

From a window, she had seen the Minister of War.

She was very much affected when repeating the story of some fugitive Belgians recently arrived at the hospital.

They were the only patients that she had been able to assist until now.