The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1945, Síða 45

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
43
to Bob at once. Of course they couldn’t
send any of the native servants or the
students. And that left Caroline or Ruth.
Caroline would have preferred to go,
but the mission was her responsibility.
Everyone depended on her. Ruth was
not indispensible to the crowd of women
and children who had come to depend
on the white women for protection. But
if she left the mission she could not
return until the pestilence had finished
its course of destruction. She and Bob
might be swept away with it and then
what would happen to the baby?
Ruth got to her feet. I’ll have to
hurry if I am to get there. In the tropics
there is no twilight. The office was
quite dark now. Caroline’s face and
white uniform looked ghostly in the
dusk.
“You know what it means if you leave
here”, she said. “Much as I’d like to,
I can’t let you come back. You have
to think about the baby”.
“You’ll look after her. If—” Ruth’s
voice trailed away.
“You know I will.”
Together they walked down the cor-
ridor to the children’s dining room. The
baby was sitting in her high chair She
was a sweet rosy thing with fair curls
and blue eyes. She lifted her arms to
her mother, begging to be taken. For
a moment Ruth held her close, feeling
the warmth and softness of her little
body, brushing her cheek against the
silken curls. Then she put her into
Caroline’s arms. She carried with her
the memory of a dimpled hand resting
on Caroline’s neck, and a pair of puzzled
blue eyes looking over her shoulder.
Ruth hurried up to her room, put on
a black dress and covered her head
and face with a black veil. Night brought
no relief from the heat, and it grew
even hotter as she descended into the
valley. The little city was deserted. The
only sound was the wailing of the
mourners—now rising to a shriek—now
sinking to a moan. She hurried through
the empty streets until she came to
the hospital where Bob and the other
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