She was the widow of a Belgian officer, killed in the first fighting
of the war. She asked if the boys were hungry, and when Bob admitted
that they had been on very short rations indeed for some time she
reached down and drew up a little basket containing a bottle of red
wine and a plate of beans.
The Germans had taken most of the food in the district, and beans
were her only diet save on those occasions when she managed to get
some of the American relief food which a friend of hers had hidden
away, drawing sparingly on the rapidly diminishing store.
It was a sad day for many folk in Belgium and Northern France, she
said, when the American food stopped coming, but American soldiers
should find that she remembered. As to getting across the river, she
could guide the boys to a point where they might find it more easy
to cross. She would return again at night and try to help them
another stage their journey.
The day seemed brighter after the woman's visit. Night came at
last, after an uneventful day of waiting, and with it the ample
form of madame.
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