"Tank ye," said they, finding some bread and cold meat. And they ate with appetite, exchanging glances, and grunting with satisfaction.
"O, take all you want!" said the widow. "You're welcome to anything there is in the house, I'm shore!"—adding, within herself, "I am so glad these soldiers have come! Now, whatever is missing will be laid to them."
"You de lady of de house?" said the foreigners, munching.
"Yes, help yourselves!" smiled the hospitable widow.
"You Mrs. Stackridge?" they inquired, more particularly.
"Yes; take anything you like!" replied the widow.
"Where your husband?"
"My husband! my poor dear husband! he has been dead these——"
She checked herself, remembering that the soldiers took her for Mrs. Stackridge. If she undeceived them, then they would know she had been stealing.
"Dead?" The Germans shook their heads and smiled. "No! He was here last night. He was seen. You take dese tings to him up in de mountain."