"A dozen. Jesus Maria!"

"What does it matter? That'll be all right, seeing there's a plank
here--and that's a bench ready-made, eh, Lamuse?"

"Course," says Lamuse.

"I want that plank," says the woman. "Some soldiers that were here
before you have tried already to take it away."

"But us, we're not thieves," suggests Lamuse gently, so as not to
irritate the creature that has our comfort at her disposal.

"I don't say you are, but soldiers, vous savez, they smash
everything up. Oh, the misery of this war!"

"Well then, how much'll it be, to hire the table, and to heat up a
thing or two on the stove?"

"It'll be twenty sous a day," announces the hostess with restraint,
as though we were wringing that amount from her.

"It's dear," says Lamuse.

"It's what the others gave me that were here, and they were very
kind, too, those gentlemen, and it was worth my while to cook for
them. I know it's not difficult for soldiers. If you think it's too
much, it's no job to find other customers for this room and this
table and the stove, and who wouldn't be in twelves. They're coming