“She’s hit it there,” remarked Larry. “What is the great man doing here? I don’t suppose he comes after wood.”
“That straight figure has worn the uniform of a Prussian officer,” said Armand, still looking toward the cottage door. “And he seems not to have lost the habit of giving orders.”
“What is a hunter doing in the winter forest?” asked Alan. “The chance of finding a few rabbits in a hollow can’t allure our friend Boche from very far.”
“Gives us something to wonder about, anyway,” said Larry.
“Still, if he is hunting, it’s not so strange that he should stop to get warm in Franz’ cottage,” declared Lucy, unwilling to be disturbed.
“No, but why should the child’s mother feel badly about that?” objected Bob.
“And the man has been here often. He had the air of coming to a rendezvous,” added Armand.
“He spoke to Franz like a master,” said Michelle, leaning against a pine tree, her clear, grave eyes looking off into the distance.
“Adelheid,” Bob demanded, “how do you know that Herr Johann is a gentleman? How do you know he is not a poor hunter, or a woodcutter like your father?”
“Ach, Herr Officer, no!” protested Adelheid, visibly shocked. “He is a Herr, a rich man to be treated with respect. You have only to hear him talk——”