“This little one knows why her father abandoned her. It was because he loved her, and could not bear to hear her crying out for food when there was nothing in the house.”
“Why are these children naked?” asked Bertram. “They will perish of cold in this house. It’s an ice-well.”
Nadia spoke to a sad-eyed man in a linen coat.
“He says it is the only way of keeping down typhus. When the children come in their clothes are crawling with vermin. He takes off their clothes and burns them. But there are no means of replacing them.”
“Surely they could make fires in the house?”
Nadia shook her head.
“It is impossible to get fuel.”
“There are great woods around Kazan.”
“There is no means of transport for the timber.”
“Men could haul it.”