plied, and glanced out the
window. He was standing across what had once been the street, and if
ever I've seen hungry eyes in a human being he had them.

"He was so awfully touchy, Miss Lizzie," she said. "And then I was never
sure---- Why do you suppose he isn't fighting? Not that it's any affair
of mine, but I used to wonder."

"He's got a milk leg," I said, and set the coffee kettle off.

"A milk leg! A milk---- Oh, how ridiculous! How---- Why, Miss Lizzie,
how can he?"

"Don't ask me. They get 'em sometimes too. They're very painful. My
cousin, Nancy Lee McMasters, had one after her third child and----"

I am sorry to say that here she began to laugh. She laughed all over the
hut, really, and when she had stood up and held to the plank and laughed
she sat down on a box of condensed milk and laughed again. I am a
truthful woman, and I had thought it was time she knew the facts, but I
saw at once that I had make a mistake. And when I looked out the window
Mr. Burton had gone.

I remained there with her for some time, but as any mention of Mr.
Burton only started her off again we discussed other matters.

She said Charlie Sands was in the Intelligence Department at the Front,
and that when he left he was about to, as she termed it, pull off a
raid.

"He's gone to bring me a German as a souvenir; and that Captain
Weber--you remember him--he is going to bring me another," she cried.
"He gave me my choice and I took an officer, with a nice upcurled
mustache and----"

"And five children?"

"Five children? Whatever do you mean, Miss Lizzie?"

"I understand that Captain Weber has five. I didn't know but that you
had a special preference for them that way."

"Why, Miss Lizzie!" she said in a strained voice. "I don't believe it.
He's never said----"

I was washing out her dish towels by that time, for she wasn't much of a
housekeeper, I'll say that, though as pretty as a picture, and I never
looked up. She walked round the hut, humming to herself to show how calm
she was, but I noticed that when her broom fell over she kicked at it.

Finally she said: "I don't know why you think I was interested in
Captain Weber. He was amusing, that's all; and I like fighting men--the
bravest are the tenderest, you know. I--if you ever happen on Mr. Burton
you might tell him I'm here. It's interesting, but I get lonely
sometimes. I don't see a soul I really care to talk to."

Well, I promised I would, and as Mr. Burton had