Four mugs stood upon the mantelpiece, and ... she rubbed
her eyes ... was it possible that one had an iron cross upon its
porcelain, one the legend "Got mit uns," the third the head of the
Kaiser, the fourth the head of the Kaiserin? "That is too much! The
people I shall write to won't believe it!"
Her bed was overhung by a large branch of stag's horn fixed upon the
wall.
She felt the bed, counted the blankets, found matches on the
mantelpiece, a candle in the candlestick, room in the stove to boil a
kettle or a saucepan. Hot water steamed from her jug, a hot brick had
been placed to warm her bed, a plate of rye bread cut in slices and
covered with a cloth was upon the table.
Foreign to her own, the eyes which had rejoiced in this room ... yet the
smile of German comfort was upon it.
She lay down beneath the branching antlers, and smiled before she went
to sleep: "One pair of silk stockings ... to dance in Babylon ..."
* * * * *
In the morning a thin woman dressed in black brought her breakfast--jam,
rye bread, coffee and sugar.
"Guten Morgen," said the woman, and looked at her curiously. But Fanny
couldn't remember which language she ought to talk, and fumbled in her
head so long that the woman went away.
She dressed and went out, meeting Stewart by her doorway.
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