“I thought of water,” he said, “and a house, and firewood, and kettles and furniture.  And there I ceased thinking.”

It was dusk now.  Marie lifted the lid from the stove, and a warm red glow of reflected light filled the little kitchen.  It was warm and cozy; the kettle sang like the purring of a cat.  And something else that had troubled Sara Lee came out.

“I wonder,” she said, “if you are doing all this only because I—­well, because I persuaded you.”  Which she had not.  “Do the men really need me here?”

“Need you, mademoiselle?”

“Do they need what little I can give?  They were smiling, all the ones I saw.”

“A Belgian soldier always smiles.  Even when he is fighting.”  His voice had lost its gayety and had taken on a deeper note.  “Mademoiselle, I have brought you here, where I can think of no other woman who would have the courage to come, because you are needed.  I cannot promise you entire safety”—­his mouth tightened—­“but I can promise you work and gratitude.  Such gratitude, mademoiselle, as you may never know again.”

That reassured her.  But in her practical mind the matter of supplies loomed large.  She brought the matter up again directly.

“It is to be hot chocolate and soup?” he asked.

“Both, if I find I have enough money.  Soup only, perhaps.”

“And soup takes meat, of course.”

“It should, to be strengthening.”

Henri looked up, to see Jean in the doorway smiling grimly.

“It is very simple,” Jean said to him in French.  “You have no other duties of course; so each day you shall buy in the market place at Dunkirk, with American money.  And I shall become a delivery boy and bring out food for mademoiselle, and whatever is needed.”

Henri smiled back at him cheerfully.  “An excellent plan, Jean,” he said. 
“Not every day, but frequently.”

Jean growled and disappeared.

However, there was the immediate present to think of, and while Jean thawed his hands at the fire and Sara Lee was taking housewifely stock of her new home, Henri disappeared.

He came back in a half hour, carrying in a small basket butter, eggs, bread and potatoes.

“The miller!” he explained cheerfully to Sara Lee.  “He has still a few hens, and hidden somewhere a cow.  We can have milk—­is there a pail for Marie to take to the mill?—­and bread and an omelet.  That is a meal!”

There was but one lamp, which hung over the kitchen stove.  The room across from Sara Lee’s bedroom contained a small round dining table and chairs.  Sara Lee, enveloped in a large pinafore apron, made the omelet in the kitchen.  Marie brought a pail of fresh milk.  Henri, with a towel over his left arm, and in absurd mimicry of a Parisian waiter, laid the table; and Jean, dour Jean, caught a bit of the infection, and finding four bottles set to work with his pocketknife to fit candles into their necks.