they realized that they had been addressed in English we had passed. I
yanked at the flap at the back of the cart, got it open a bit, looked
out to find them standing in the middle of the road, staring after us in
amazement.

The only thing I had the sense to call out was:--

"Where 'd you come from?"

One of them made an emphatic gesture with his stick, over his shoulder
in the direction from which they had come.

"Where are you going?" I called.

He made the same gesture toward Esbly, and then we all laughed heartily,
and by that time we were too far apart to continue the interesting
conversation, and that was all the enlightenment I got out of that
meeting. The sight of them and their cannon made me feel a bit serious.
I thought to myself: "If the Germans are not expected here--well, it
looks like it." We finished the journey in silence, and I was so tired
when I got back to the house that I fell into bed, and only drank a
glass of milk that Amelie insisted on pouring down my throat.




XII