age, Madame?" It was almost inspiration to add
the last word, he thought; and when it worked, he was as much
startled as if his revolver had gone off in his belt.

"Du fromage?" the shop woman screamed. Calling something to her
daughter, who was at the desk, she caught Claude by the sleeve,
pulled him out of the shop, and ran down the street with him. She
dragged him into a doorway darkened by a long curtain, greeted
the proprietress, and then pushed the men after their officer, as
if they were stubborn burros.

They stood blinking in the gloom, inhaling a sour, damp, buttery,
smear-kase smell, until their eyes penetrated the shadows and
they saw that there was nothing but cheese and butter in the
place. The shopkeeper was a fat woman, with black eyebrows that
met above her nose; her sleeves were rolled up, her cotton dress
was open over her white throat and bosom. She began at once to
tell them that there was a restriction on milk products; every
one must have cards; she could not sell them so much. But soon
there was nothing left to dispute about. The boys fell upon her
stock like wolves. The little white cheeses that lay on green
leaves disappeared into big mouths. Before she could save it,
Hicks had split a big round cheese through the middle and was
carving it up like a melon. She told them they were dirty pigs
and worse than the Boches, but she could not stop them.

"What's the matter with Mother, Lieutenant? What's she fussing
about? Ain't she here to sell goods?"

Claude tried to look wiser than he was. "From what I can make
out, there's some sort of restriction; you aren't allowed to buy
all you want. We ought to have thought about that; this is a war
country. I guess we've about cleaned her out."

"Oh, that's all right," said Hicks wiping his clasp-knife. "We'll
bring her some sugar tomorrow. One of the fellows who helped us
unload at the docks told me you can always quiet 'em if you give
'em sugar."

They surrounded her and held out their money for her to take her
pay. "Come on, ma'm, don't be bashful. What's the matter, ain't
this good money?"

She was distracted by the noise they made, by their bronzed faces
with white teeth and pale eyes, crowding so close to her. Ten
large, well-shaped hands with straight fingers, the open palms
full of crumpled notes.... Holding the men off under the
pretence of looking for a pencil, she made rapid calculations.
The money that lay in their palms had no relatio