At a Girl's Mercy, or, The Fortunes of War — page 169: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

158 ? AT A GIRL'S MERCY. than she could have learned from a life’s telling over and over its history of bitterness and disap- . pointments for many a heart. , So far there had come under Helen’s care but one of her old friends, and he had but a-short stay, his wound being such that caused less care from the nurse than many others, though it took perhaps as long to heal, and sent him home on a leave that would be better than lying in the sickening hospital, where the sight of others suffering must weaken even the bravest. It was a shock to her at first, catching sight of the face of one of her many friends lying among the pillows of the rude cot, and it had brought to her with sudden nearness the for- tunes of war. But when she sent him away witha light heart to his home with messages for her other friends there, though he assured her it would not be long ere he returned to the field, and possibly to her care again, she had smiled her brave smile, | and sent him off, a faint, sickening wish to go with him, out of this terrible place, with death her daily companion, and suffering her daily friend. But she put away the thought as she would put away any other thought that was to unfit the heart of a sister of the Union, and went about her duties with a stouter heart and a more willing hand, determined to do to the utmost what she could for the brave men brought to her hands. But, one day, when the air of the hospital was stifling and the heat of the day brought to an end more than one weakened body, there came in with the one or two others, for whom there was room, one young fellow whom Helen Travers counted among her friends, a young fellow with steady gray eyes and a bronzed, bearded face, whose pallor could not blind her eyes for knowing, and whose close shut lips proved to her, with a sudden swift pang at her heart, how intense was his suffering. somehow she had feared this would come to her, and had daily watched, gladdened, even in the midst of the suffering of others, when she looked in vain. But to-day she learned how weak she was, after all ~ her apparent bravery, when she was called to help — comicbooks.com