登陆注册
5154900000028

第28章

"It is very simple," Jean said to him in French."You have no otherduties 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.

Standing in corners, smiling, useless against the cheerful English that flowed from the kitchen stove to the dining room and back again, were Rene and Marie.It was of no use to attempt to help.Did the fire burn low, it was the young officer who went out for fresh wood.But Rene could not permit that twice.He brought in great armfuls of firewood and piled them neatly by the stove.

Henri was absurdly happy again.He would come to the door gravely, with Sara Lee's little phrase book in hand, and read from it in a solemn tone:

"'Shall we have duck or chicken?' 'Where can we get a good dinner at a moderate price?' 'Waiter, you have spilled wine on my dress.' 'Will you have a cigar?' 'No, thank you.I prefer a pipe.'"And Sara Lee beat up the eggs and found, after a bad moment, some salt in a box, and then poured her omelet into the pan.She was very anxious that it be a good omelet.She must make good her claim as a cook or Henri's sublime faith in her would die.

It was a divine omelet.Even Jean said so.They sat, the three of them, in the cold little dining room and never knew that it was cold, and they ate prodigious quantities of omelet and bread and butter, and bully beef out of a tin, and drank a great deal of milk.

Even Jean thawed at last, under the influence of food and Sara Lee.Before the meal was over he was planning how to get her supplies to her and making notes on a piece of paper as to what she would need at once.They adjourned to Sara Lee's bedroom, where Marie had kindled a fire in the little iron stove, and sat there in the warmth with two candles, still planning.By that time Sara Lee had quite forgotten that at home one did not have visitors in one's bedroom.

Suddenly Henri held up his hand."Listen!" he said.

That was the first time Sara Lee had ever heard the quiet shuffling step of tired men, leaving their trenches under cover of darkness.Henri threw his military cape over her shoulders and she stood in the dark doorway, watching.

The empty street was no longer empty.From gutter to gutter flowed a stream of men, like a sluggish river which narrowed where a fallen house partly filled the way; not talking, not singing, just moving, bent under their heavy and mud-covered equipment.Here and there the clack of wooden sabots on the cobbles told of one poor fellow not outfitted with leather shoes.The light of a match here and there showed some few lucky enough to have still remaining cigarettes, and revealed also, in the immediate vicinity, a white bandage or two.Some few, recognizing Henri's officer's cap, saluted.Most of them stumbled on, too weary to so much as glance aside.

Nothing that Sara Lee had dreamed of war was like this.This was dreary and sodden and hopeless.Those fresh troops at the crossroads thatday had been blithe and smiling.There had been none of the glitter and panoply of war, but there had been movement, the beating of a drum, the sharp cries of officers as the lines re-formed.

Here there were no lines.Just such a stream of men as at home might issue at night from a coal mine, too weary for speech.Only here they were packed together closely, and they did not speak, and some of them were wounded.

"There are so many!" she whispered to Henri."A hundred such efforts as mine would not be enough.""I would to God there were more!" Henri replied, through shut teeth."Listen, mademoiselle," he said later."You cannot do all the kind workof the world.But you can do your part.And you will start by caring for only such as are wounded or ill.The others can go on.But every night some twenty or thirty, or even more, will come to your door - men slightly wounded or too weary to go on without a rest.And for those there will be a chair by the fire, and something hot, or perhapps a clean bandage.It sounds small? But in a month, think! You will have given comfort to perhaps a thousand men.You - alone!""I - alone!" she said in a queer choking voice."And what about you? It is you who have made it possible."But Henri was looking down the street to where the row of poplars hid what lay beyond.Far beyond a star shell had risen above the flat fields and floated there, a pure and lovely thing, shedding its white light over the terrain below.It gleamed for some thirty seconds and went out.

"Like that!" Henri said to her, but in French."Like that you are to me.Bright and shining - and so soon gone."Sara Lee thought he had asked her if she was cold.

同类推荐
  • 布水台集

    布水台集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 广群芳谱

    广群芳谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 续修台湾县志

    续修台湾县志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Nature of Rent

    The Nature of Rent

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 渐备一切智德经

    渐备一切智德经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 中国历史一本通

    中国历史一本通

    本书按中国历史自然呈现的阶段性展现了每个历史时期的风貌,每章先概述这一时期历史发展的基本脉络,而后选取其中具有重大意义的事件和人物进行分析,力求揭示中国历史发展的主要趋势和基本特点,并以链接的形式展现了中国历史上的典章制度、思想文化、民族宗教、科学技术等方面的知识,辅以各种精美的历史图片,图文并茂地展示了中国历史文化的精华。
  • 琉璃心双程

    琉璃心双程

    在击退地沼火池的蛇妖又一次来袭之后,身中剧毒的迦楼罗王,终于下定了将爱子送往人间界的决心。忍受着剧毒发作后如焚似割的痛苦,以残躯化作纯青琉璃心,护佑爱子穿过看上去幻美无比却又销魂蚀骨的无间火海,朝人间界飞去。“快点长大吧,我的孩子!守护云山和人间界的重任,我们金翅大鹏一族最后的希望,都交给你了!”落地的大鹏不如鸡。小雏鸟懵懵懂懂地醒来时,发现自己正在一个低矮的大竹筐中,周围全都是毛绒绒的小鸡仔。突然间,竹筐上方出现了一张红扑扑的小脸,她扎着两个小辫子,小胖手上举着一支麦芽糖,阳光裹着的糖果亮晶晶的,还散发出一股诱人的甜香。他奋力往上一跳,被小胖妞伸手捞住了。
  • 独自散步

    独自散步

    《独自散步》收录近十多年作者有关时代历史反思、社会现象剖析、文化教育观察、世态人生感悟、往事回顾、旅程杂记、人物素描、读书随笔之类的文字。在这些文字里,作者力求发出那些文学研究之外的又不同于流行文化的声音——一个在精神、思想世界里独自散步的知识分子的声音。
  • 悦卿传

    悦卿传

    女主秦悦卿是南黎国的公主,年幼时跟随南王、南后微服出巡残害百姓。南王、南后途中遭遇蛊师毒手,恰巧宫女老早就带着女主出去玩,躲开了一劫。男主冷烨是天下第一大派的大弟子,奉师命下山捉拿众蛊师,可不曾想误杀了南王....秦悦卿刚好回来目睹了一切,蛊师欲对秦悦卿下手。冷烨力挽狂澜,杀光所有蛊师,不顾秦悦卿反抗,将其从大火中救出,带自己门派。从此,正邪两派的导火索彻底点燃..
  • 如果医生得了高血压

    如果医生得了高血压

    一本专为全国3.3亿高血压患者定制的综合性降压指南。本书特邀具有十余年临床一线经验的北京阜外医院心内科专家,解答高血压患者最大的疑惑、厘清高血压患者常见的误区,并全面、深入地解析饮食、起居、运动、用药4大防治重点,分享百余种实用降压细节。为高血压患者提供疾病预防、就医指南、日常护理等方面的详细内容,帮助患者摆脱高血压带来的并发症危害,过上“无压新生活”。
  • 贞观祸害

    贞观祸害

    贞观四年,一代祸害横空穿越,成为一代贤相杜如晦的长子杜构,开始了没羞没臊的幸福生活。这是一个祸害闹出来的传奇故事!这是一个祸害玩出来的全新时代!这是一个祸害闯出来的盛世大唐!这是一本轻松搞笑种田文,在史书打扮的历史中信笔涂鸦!书友群:640299482
  • 南怀瑾谈优秀孩子的经典教育

    南怀瑾谈优秀孩子的经典教育

    本书是家庭教育类图书。国学大师南怀瑾认为,在心灵纯净的童年时期记诵下来的东西,如同每天的饮食,会变成营养,成为生命的一部分,所以传统文化经典的普及应该从儿童抓起。本书便是对南老关于儿童经典教育的诸多真知灼见的总结,书中不仅选录了南老推荐给孩子诵读的经典篇章,而且以生动鲜明的案例给出了切实可行的指导方法,让孩子在阅读古代经典著作中领悟传统文化的智慧。
  • 你是我的天使C

    你是我的天使C

    我们都曾是孩子,在妈妈羽翼下成长。每一个妈妈都曾是柔弱的婴孩,向着阳光恣意生长。每一个女孩都曾是天使,为了护佑她的孩子堕入凡尘。女本柔弱,为母则刚。
  • 宝贝生病妈妈治

    宝贝生病妈妈治

    宝贝身体不舒服了,我们第一时间想到的肯定是送医院治疗。其实,一些孩子常见的疾病,只要不是急症,有时妈妈完全可以在家里给孩子做治疗,效果不错,孩子也不受罪。都有哪些治疗方法可以在家中进行呢?有很多西药、中草药和其他天然制剂都可以不需要医生处方就在家庭治疗中使用,你知道怎么用吗?妈咪们快快仔细看过来吧。
  • 中华营养百味:美女瘦身食谱

    中华营养百味:美女瘦身食谱

    想成为君子好逑的窈窕淑女吗?想拥有楚腰燕瘦的身材吗?吃也是可以成就一个美女的。爱美之心人皆有之,谁都想拥有完美身材,展现自身魅力。遇到体重“超标”了就着急减肥,但是忽视了减肥的科学性,所以提倡需要减肥的白领女性选用科学减肥方法。这本书针对女性的工作、生活特点,推荐了一些减肥食谱,同时也要结合运动减肥。