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"I came because it was my duty." Then she spoke like a mother who takes advantage of a parenthesis of surprise in an irascible child's temper, in order to counsel self-control, and explained how it had all happened.

She had received the news of Laurier's wounding just as she and her mother were preparing to leave Paris.

She had not hesitated an instant; her duty was to hasten to the aid of this man.

She had been doing a great deal of thinking in the last few weeks; the war had made her ponder much on the values in life.

Her eyes had been getting glimpses of new horizons; our destiny is not mere pleasure and selfish satisfaction; we ought to take our part in pain and sacrifice.
She had wanted to work for her country, to share the general stress, to serve as other women did; and since she was disposed to devote herself to strangers, was it not natural that she should prefer to help this man whom she had so greatly wronged?
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