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The tea was hot and strong; and it did her good. It seemed to clear her faculties, too; for her brain began to busy itself with the problem of escaping from her extraordinary situation. "Mademoiselle was a leetle too clevaire," said the maid with an evil leer, "she would rob Madame, would she? She would play the espionne, hein?
"No, not reech, but clevaire; and you will be reech bye-bye! I see not why ze ladees should not leesten to you, mon ami, he? But, if she does note; why, courage! Dere are many odere ladees beautifool also in England; and, yet, if you feels your loss mooch, like myselfs with ma perfide Marie, why you can go aways and be console, as I!"
Now you are so clevaire Yankee clevaire, ha, ha, ha!" he laughed with a kind of irritating hilarity; "why should zey make ziss road? From ze north from Leteur all around zey bring our women to make ziss road. Ziss is where Mam'selle is so! Close by it lives my comrade, Blondel. Ziss is noble army to command, ugh!" He gritted his teeth. "All are women!"
"Passaic," said Tom; "that's near Bridgeboro, where I live." "Passake, yess. So now you are so clevaire to know who shall leeve in a house, I will tell you how you shall know ze house of my comrade, Blondel. By ze blue flag with one black spot! Yess? You know what ziss shall be? Billet!" He gave Archer a dig in the ribs as if this represented the high water mark of sagacity.
They wondered if he were altogether sane. "Nuzzing can zey hide from Melotte," he went on. "Far south, near Basel, zere lives my comrade Blondel. To him must you show your button yess. In Norne he lives." "We'll write that down," said Tom. "Nuzzing you write down," the old man said sharply, clutching Tom's arm. "In your brain where you are so clevaire zere you write it. So!
That was a lot of rattlebrain talk anyway we're so clevaire!" "There's no use making fun of him," said Tom; "he helped us." "We'll get caught, that'll be the end of it," said Archer sullenly. Tom did not answer. "You seem to be the boss of everything, anyway."
Ze last time he come he tell me how ze new road goes past his house all women and young girls working. It comes from ziss other road zat goes from ze trenches over to ze Rhine. South it goes you see?" he added shrewdly. "So now if you are so clevaire to see a fleur-de-lis where none is intentioned, so zen you can tell, maybe, why will zey build a road zat goes south?"
He could see her, orphaned and homeless, slaving under the menacing shadow of a German officer who sprawled and lorded it in the poor home of this Blondel close by the new road. Here he climb to drop ze grapes down my neck. Bad boy! Strange, how that particular phrase of hers singled itself out and stuck in his memory. "So now you are so clevaire," he half heard old Melotte saying to Archer.
You are not so clevaire as Melotte. Now I will show you how you shall find Mam'selle," he went on with a sly wink. Emptying some wool out of a paper bag, he pressed the wrinkles from the bag with his trembling old hand and bending over the rough table close to the lantern, he drew a map somewhat similar to, though less complete than, the one given here.
Zey do not follow you you are what you say too clevaire? But still zey come." Tom listened, his heart in his throat at the thought of being turned out of this home where he had hoped for shelter. "We are already suspect," Florette explained. "My pappa, he fought for France long ago. But so zey hate him. My name zey get how old All zeze zings zey write down everyzing. Zey come for me soon.
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