In the next two hours, perhaps?” He gave a little bow and left the room.
“My aunt had a butler like that, years ago,” Madame Kunst said wistfully when Roger had gone.
“He’s very efficient,” James admitted grudgingly, deciding that Roger was a bit too efficient.
“Servants aren’t like that any more.” She smoothed the skirt of her dress and looked over at James. “How did you find the situation in France? When you arrived?”
“Chaotic,” James answered. “It’s apparent that this war has taken a dreadful toll on the country.”
“On all Europe,” Madame Kunst corrected him.
“Sure. But I’ve been covering France, and this is where I’ve had to look for the damage, the ruin and the destruction. I’ve heard about conditions in Russia, and I’m appalled. Italy is supposed to be having very bad troubles, and the Netherlands and Scandinavia are suffering, too, but France, in many ways, is taking the brunt of it. When I was in London, I was shocked, but when I came to France, I was horrified.” He sensed that he was talking too much, but was no longer able to stop himself. “The First World War was ruinous, but this is something a lot worse. And the rumors we keep hearing make it all sound more awful than we think it is. There’s nothing as bad as trench warfare going on, and no mounted cavalry against tanks, as there was before, but the cities are burning, and the country is laid waste, and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. What can anyone think? It can’t go on endlessly, but there is no way to end it.”
“At home, we all pray that it will end,” she said softly, her large brown eyes turned appealingly toward him. “Don’t you think the Americans could do something? If your president would insist that we stop, all of us, at once, then it could not go on. Without the Americans, the British and the French could not continue this insanity.”
“The Americans don’t see it that way, Madame Kunst,” James said rather stiffly, feeling disturbed by her afresh.
“But what are we to do, if it goes on and on? Everyone in my family is dead but myself, and no one cares that this is the case. Down the street from where my family lived, there is a widow who has lost four sons, all of them flyers, killed in air battles. She is like a ghost in her house. And there are hundreds, thousands like her.”
“As there are in France and Italy and England and Holland, Madame Kunst. As there are in Chicago and Montreal and Honolulu.” He got up. “Excuse me, but it might be best if I talk to le Comte now, rather than later.”
Her face changed. “Have I offended you? Please, don’t think me heartless, or uncaring of the sufferings of others. That is why I spoke to you about a resolution to this terrible war, so that there need not be such women ever again.”
“I’m not offended,” James said, knowing that he was and was uncertain why. As he left the room, he passed near her chair, and for one moment, he was caught and held by the sound of her pulse.
“She gave me a lecture on pacifism,” James said at last when Saint-Germain had asked him for a third time what he and Madame Kunst had found to talk about. “She wants me to end the war so no more widows will lose sons. God knows, I don’t want to see any more deaths, but what’s the alternative?”
“Capitulation?” Saint-Germain suggested.
“Oh, no. You’ve seen the way the Germans have treated every foot of land they’ve taken. And they say there’s worse things going on. One of the Dutch reporters said that there were cattle cars full of people being taken away. If they’re doing that in Germany to Germans, what would they do to the rest of us?” He gestured once. “That could be propaganda about the cattle cars, but if it isn’t …”
“I do see your point, Mister Tree. I am not convinced that you see mine. Montalia is isolated and splendidly defensible. A person here, or in one of the houses in, shall we say, a ten-kilometer radius, with a radio receiver and a reasonable amount of prudence, might provide the Germans with extremely useful information.” He watched James as he said this, expecting an argument.
“But what good would it be?” James objected, taking his favorite role of Devil’s Advocate. “You said yourself that the