and it
was not pleasant to see tears in her bright old eyes.

But for all her tender-heartedness Madame did not, so far as I ever
could discover, do much for the men of her own nation or of ours. An
Englishwoman, in her position and with her vitality, would have sat
on half a dozen committees, would have made bandages at a War Work
Depot, or packed parcels for prisoners; would certainly have knitted
socks all day. Madame did no such things. She managed her own house,
mended her own linen, and she darned my socks--which was I suppose, a
kind of war work, since I wore uniform.

The activities of Englishwomen rather scandalised her. The town was
full of nurses, V.A.D.'s, and canteen workers. Madame was too
charitable to criticise, but I think she regarded the _jeune fille
Anglaise_ as unbecomingly emancipated. She would have been sorry to
see her own nieces--Madame had many nieces, but no child of her
own--occupied as the English girls were.

I have always wondered why Madame took English officers to board in
her house. She did not want the money we paid her, for she and
Monsieur were well off. Indeed she asked so little of us, and fed us
so well, that she cannot possibly have made a profit. And we must
have been a nuisance to her.

In England Madame would have been called "house proud." She loved
every stick of her fine old-fashioned furniture. Polishing of stairs
and floors was a joy to her. We tramped in and out in muddy boots. We
scattered tobacco ashes. We opened bedroom windows, even on wet
nights, and rain came in. We used monstrous and unheard-of quantities
of water. Yet no sooner had one guest departed than Madame grew
impatient to receive another.

On one point alone Madame was obstinate. She objected in the
strongest way to baths in bedrooms. As there was no bathroom in the
house, this raised a difficulty. Madame's own practice--she once
explained it to me--was to take her bath on the evening of the first
Monday in every month--in the kitchen, I think. My predecessors and
my contemporaries refused to be satisfied without baths. Madame
compromised. If they wanted baths they must descend to _le cave_, a
deep underground cellar where Monsieur kept wine.

I, and I believe I alone of all Madame's guests, defeated her. I
should like to believe that she gave in to me because she loved me;
but I fear that I won my victory by unfair means. I refused to
understand one word that Madame said, either in French or Eng