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31 - Miss Pim's Camouflage by Dorothy Tennant · Miss Pims Camouflage

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Stanley, chapter thirty one. At last, now for England and home,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: miss Pym said to herself as she stepped on board
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the great hospital ship. Most of the wounded men were
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: already lying in their white cots, thinking with joy of Blighty.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Miss Pym felt rather lonely. She had said good bye
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  Speaker 1: to her kind escort after a delightful luncheon at a
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  Speaker 1: first class restaurant, and here she was quite alone on
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  Speaker 1: the stately ship, without a friend or acquaintance. Excuse me,
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  Speaker 1: but are you not, miss Pim, said a pleasant voice.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Miss Pim turned quickly and saw a lady in uniform
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  Speaker 1: with the red Cross on her arm. I am the
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  Speaker 1: matron here. We have been expecting you ever so long. Indeed,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: my patients are becoming quite restive. The Commander in chief
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: telegraphed that you were crossing on our ship and that
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: you are returning to England to receive the VC. Will
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: you visit the men's board first, and then the officers.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: By the way, Captain Murcott is on board and he
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  Speaker 1: wants you to have tea with him. Miss Pim was
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: indeed delighted. Tell me, she asked, is Colonel Murcott very
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: seriously injured? We are afraid that he must lose his
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: left leg above the knee, said the matron. But when
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: that is done, the doctors think he will completely recover.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, the pain has been great and constant, but
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  Speaker 1: amputation will stop all that and he will get quite
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: strong again. We hope all my cases this voyage promise well.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: The men were very eager to see Miss Pim. She
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: stopped beside each cot and ask them about their wounds.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: They were very interested to see the qua d'n eur. Ah,
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  Speaker 1: you are going to Blighty for the Victoria Cross, said
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  Speaker 1: one boy with a bandaged head. I shall wear my
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  Speaker 1: decoration all my life under the left eye. The matron
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: then led Miss Pim to the officer's quarters. Some were
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: lying flat, looking very pale, in very white cots. Others
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  Speaker 1: sat up with bandaged arms or bandaged heads. Miss Pym
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  Speaker 1: came to Colonel Murcott's bed, where he sat propped up
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  Speaker 1: with pillows, his leg covered by a cradle. Miss Pim
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  Speaker 1: would not have recognized the pale, drawn face and sunken eyes.
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  Speaker 1: Four days of acute suffering had left so deep an
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  Speaker 1: impress on that handsome countenance, my deliverer at last, And
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  Speaker 1: a hot nervous hand grasped hers. Now this is too wonderful,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: both going to Blighty together. But for you, I should
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: have been tortured and killed by the Germans. I am
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  Speaker 1: to have the privilege of giving you tea here, or
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  Speaker 1: rather you will give me tea whilst I look at
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  Speaker 1: your soothing face. Do you know seeing you has eased
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the pain already? Miss Pim. I believe I could write
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a good article on pain. Do you remember what when
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: last I saw you, I said that pain wants past,
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  Speaker 1: could not be remembered. Well, I think I almost think
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  Speaker 1: I shall remember this pain. I feel as though it
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  Speaker 1: could never be effaced. It has engaged my whole attention
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  Speaker 1: since it occurred, since I was smashed up. It has
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  Speaker 1: been so insolent, so insistent, so damned German. Do you
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  Speaker 1: think pain like this can ever be forgotten? The one
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  Speaker 1: thing which relieves me is the thought of this leg
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: coming off. I wish they had taken it off at
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  Speaker 1: the dressing station. You see what this beastly business has
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  Speaker 1: reduced me to talking of myself and this unpleasant subject
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  Speaker 1: of pain. I'm really ashamed of myself. You must put
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  Speaker 1: it down to the fact that I am only half, No,
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  Speaker 1: only a quarter of my original self. I have lost
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  Speaker 1: my balance, and small wonder a one legged chap hasn't
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: much balance till he gets to crutches. But don't look
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  Speaker 1: so woe gone. It doesn't suit you one bit. You
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  Speaker 1: are to look normal, to look your steady, calm, even self,
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  Speaker 1: and I shall feel better and better as I look
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  Speaker 1: at you. Ah, here's the tea and all manner of
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: good things. Over the tea and toast, the jam and biscuits.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Miss Pim told him her adventures and really succeeded in
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  Speaker 1: diverting his mind from the aching nerves. Tell me now,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: said Colonel Murcott, smiling, How you got through to our
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: trenches even invisible? It must have been terribly risky. But
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  Speaker 1: I was not invisible. Miss Pim replied with a sigh
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  Speaker 1: as she recalled that awful experience. I think the bullet
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: which grazed my neck somehow disturbed the particular adjustment or
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  Speaker 1: balance which enabled me to become invisible. Anyhow, the power
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  Speaker 1: has left me. Is it possible? Exclaimed Colonel Murcott, clasping
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  Speaker 1: his hands. You crossed that ground visible, knowing you were
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  Speaker 1: a particular good target. Really, your nerves must be of steel.
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  Speaker 1: You are truly amazing, not a bit of it, said
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Miss Pim, shaking her head. I was as frightened as
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  Speaker 1: a rabbit. But enough of perdy to Pim. I want
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  Speaker 1: to hear many things about the future. Are you anything
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  Speaker 1: of a prophet? Yes, when I know, replied the colonel,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: lighting a cigarette. Well, then about the Americans, I have misgivings,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: said Miss Pim. Misgivings, surely not about the American Army. Why,
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  Speaker 1: as fighters they are second to none in the world.
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  Speaker 1: And I know what I am talking about, said the colonel,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: propping himself on his elbow and talking eagerly. Now, really,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: miss Pim, have you ever read anything about the American
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Civil War? No, I thought not, But you have heard,
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  Speaker 1: of course, of Grant Lee, Sherman, Stonewall Jackson, and many others.
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  Speaker 1: I tell you those were men. If you look at
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  Speaker 1: photographs of the time officers and men of the Northern
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: and Southern Armies, you cannot fail to be struck by
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  Speaker 1: the nobility and power depicted on those faces. The American
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  Speaker 1: soldier of to day is every bit as splendid. Heavens,
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  Speaker 1: how I wish I could go back to the front
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  Speaker 1: and fight side by side with the Yanks misgivings indeed,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: and the colonel thumped his pillow. But they don't really
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: like us, said miss Pim hesitatingly. And you remember those
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  Speaker 1: lines beginning, I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: That is not a warlike spirit. Colonel Murcott laughed, and
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: with a twinkle in his eye, said, Miss Pim, don't
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  Speaker 1: you know that that was what the Kaiser said when
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: he heard of Little Willie's successive defeats at Verdun. The
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  Speaker 1: true American feeling is shown in the revised version. It's
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  Speaker 1: time for every boy to be a soldier, to put
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  Speaker 1: his strength and courage to the test. It's time to
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: place a mon musket on his shoulder and wrap the
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  Speaker 1: stars and stripes around his breast. It's time to shout
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  Speaker 1: those noble words of Lincoln and stand up for the
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  Speaker 1: land that gave you birth. That the nation of the people,
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  Speaker 1: by the people, for the people, shall not perish from
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  Speaker 1: the earth. As for the anti English spirit in America,
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  Speaker 1: the Irish Americans and the German Americans are alone responsible.
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  Speaker 1: But this war is going to make us known to
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  Speaker 1: each other. The Americans are beginning to realize what that
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  Speaker 1: sort of Irish really are, and what we British really are.
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  Speaker 1: We shall soon become blood brothers, as they say in Africa.
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  Speaker 1: At this juncture, a nurse came down to say that
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  Speaker 1: the cliffs of England were in sight, and that she
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  Speaker 1: must prepare her patient for the hospital train. I will
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  Speaker 1: write and tell you where I shall be, somewhere in London,
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  Speaker 1: and perhaps you will come and see me, said Colonel Murcott.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pym assured him that she would pay him a
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  Speaker 1: weekly visit, and they parted regretfully. Miss Pim went up
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  Speaker 1: on deck and saw the cliffs growing bigger and clearer.
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  Speaker 1: Beloved country, she whispered to herself, buttressed by those white walls.
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  Speaker 1: Dear England, it is for you all those glorious English
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  Speaker 1: boys are fighting and dying, and here Miss Pim's adventures end.
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  Speaker 1: We all know how she was acclaimed and honored in England,
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  Speaker 1: how she received the Victoria Cross from His Majesty King
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  Speaker 1: George the Fifth at Buckingham Palace in recognition of her
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  Speaker 1: great services to the country and the extraordinary courage she
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  Speaker 1: had shown. The newspapers were full of it. The only
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  Speaker 1: thing wanting was Miss Pim's portrait in the picture papers
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  Speaker 1: and reports of interviewers describing Froghurst manner and Miss Pim
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  Speaker 1: at home. But she was of a modest and retired
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: hiring disposition, and refused to allow her kindly average face
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  Speaker 1: to appear in the papers or to grant interviews to
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  Speaker 1: flattering pressmen. This true history would not be complete. Did
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  Speaker 1: I not mention that some ten days after her return,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Miss Pim read in the Times the following from the
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  Speaker 1: North German Gazette. The well known Professor Koitzik Wants, a
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  Speaker 1: pronounced socialist, has just died at the front. Recognizing the
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  Speaker 1: folly of his earlier views, he threw up journalism. He
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  Speaker 1: was attached to the Machine Gun Corps. He chose it
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  Speaker 1: because he knew it was a weapon given to Germany
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  Speaker 1: by Almighty God and the War Council to destroy the
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  Speaker 1: British in thousands. Indeed, Professor Koitzik was so attached to
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  Speaker 1: his gun he could not be persuaded to leave it,
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  Speaker 1: but was found dead beside his well loved gun in
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: the very first line of trenches. The same day, Miss
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Pim received a letter from the Foreign Office. Madam, we
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  Speaker 1: are requested by an agent of ours in Germany to
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  Speaker 1: send you the enclosed which we decoded. Should you wish
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  Speaker 1: to send the writer a reply, we shall be very
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  Speaker 1: pleased to transmit it. Miss Pim read the following. Charming
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  Speaker 1: and accomplished. Lady. I knew by our pre arranged signal
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  Speaker 1: that you had succeeded, and I have heard since that
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  Speaker 1: you secured the correspondents and caused the most terrible commotion.
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  Speaker 1: You are a very wonderful woman. It seems a great
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  Speaker 1: pity that two such remarkable people as myself and yourself
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  Speaker 1: should live apart. Will you become my wife on the
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: termination of this war. I have extensive lands in Silesia.
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  Speaker 1: I would spend six months of the year in your country,
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  Speaker 1: and you would spend the other six months in my
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  Speaker 1: feudal castle. I lay my heart at your feet. The
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  Speaker 1: baron Miss Pim's smiled. She really could not help being amused.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: She wrote a short note to the Foreign Office acknowledging
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: the receipt of the decoded letter, and added there is
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  Speaker 1: no reply. Leslie, of course, was delighted to have her
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  Speaker 1: aunt back. The wedding was to take place in a fortnight,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: and there was much to think of and decide. Miss
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Pym was glad to find Leslie entirely taken up with
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  Speaker 1: her own affairs, and so Auntie Purr escaped all awkward questions.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone says you were wonderful, remarked Leslie, her head on
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  Speaker 1: one side, trying to decide which shade of blue sacks
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: would suit her best for a going away dress. But
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: she continued, as I said to George, no one who
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: really knew you could believe you would do anything wonderful. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if only George had been sent, what might he not
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  Speaker 1: have achieved? Backed as you were by the War Office,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: not counting the Commander in chief him, Auntie Purr, you
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: can't deny it. You had phenomenal luck. But Miss Pim
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: did not hear Leslie. She was listening to a voice.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Was it her father's saying, well done, my little Purdy
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: to Pim v c. End of Chapter thirty one. End
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  Speaker 1: of Miss Pim's Camouflage