lumps of coal in the kitchen scuttle and said, 'I've sifted all that
dust in the cellar, Ma'am, and these are the only lumps I could find.
There's only enough to cook one more dinner.'"

"My dear girl," said Frederic, "why wait till there is no coal before
ordering more?"

"Hear me," I cried. "A fortnight ago I ordered some. The man asked,
'Have you _any_ coal?' I said I had a little. He said, 'You are lucky
to have _any_. Dozens of people have no coal at all. I can promise
nothing.'

"A week ago I went again. 'Have you _any_ coal?' he asked. 'Still a
very little,' I said faintly. 'Hundreds of people,' he said, 'have no
coal at all, I can promise you _nothing_.'

"'Well, after I had spent an hour this morning distributing whiffy
oil-lamps all over the house, I went again to the coal merchant. He
froze me with a look. 'When can you send in my coal?' I tried to say
it jauntily, but my teeth chattered. 'Have you _no_ coal?' he said,
and his frigid eye pierced me. 'O-o-only a little dust, which, has
been at the bottom of the cellar for two years--drawing-room coal
dust,' I added eagerly, 'which cannot be used on the kitchen fire.'
'You are lucky,' he said, 'to have that. There are thousands of people
in this town with no coal at all. We can promise you nothing.'

"I came home, and after luncheon, donning my Red Cross uniform, I told
Mary that if people called she could show them into the coal-cellar,
where I should be; and, armed with a garden-fork, I proceeded thither
and dug diligently for a whole hour. I know now exactly why a hen