"Will these do?"
"And we desire flowers."
"Take some asters from the garden."
And then:
"May I take a photograph of your house?"
"Sir, I cannot prevent you."
"Will you put a smiling face at the window?"
No, no, a truce to jesting. Give him a flat denial. But how? On taking leave the Germans would certainly try to shake hands with us, that is their way, and we were determined not to shake theirs. Would they take it amiss?
More than once it had proved hazardous to irritate these dangerous guests. Mme. Valbot in Lierval saw her house plundered. Why? She had refused to sew on a button for the officer who lodged in her house.
Old Vadois, the confectioner in Laon, was listening to the tales of "his Prussian."