Before the light was gone she saw the Ardennes forests begin upon her left.
When it was gone, wood and road, air and earth, were alike stone-coloured. Then the definite night, creeping forward on all sides, painted out all but the road and the margin of the road--and with the side lights on all vision narrowed down to the grey snout of the bonnet, the two hooped mudguards stretched like divers' arms, and the blanched dead leaves which floated above from the unseen branches of the trees.
Four crazy Fords were drawn up in one village street, and as her lights flashed on the door she caught sight of the word "Café" written on it. Placing the Renault beside the Fords she opened the door. Within five Frenchmen were drinking at one table, and four Americans at another. The Americans sprang up and claimed her, first as their own kin, and then at least as a blood sister. They gave her coffee, and would not let her pay; but she sat uneasily with them.
"For which nation do you work? There are no English here," they said.
"Gee, what a rotten job!" they murmured sympathetically.
"We've just come back from Germany, and you bet it's good up there!"
"Every darn thing you want. Good beds, good food, and, thank God, one can speak the lingo."
"Why don't you learn? Mightn't it be useful to you?"
"Oh, when you get back home. In business perhaps--"
"Ma'am," said the biggest American, leaning earnestly towards her, "let me tell you one thing. If any man comes up to me back in the States and starts on me with that darn language--I'll drop him one."
"Oh, well, German we learn in the schools, you see. How far do you make it to St. Quentin?"
"We hope to, ma'am. But we started a convoy of twenty this morning, and these here four cars are all we've seen since lunch."
"I hardly think you'll get as far as St. Quentin to-night. And there's little enough to sleep in on the way. I should stay here." She rose. "I wish you luck. Good-bye."
She thanked them for their coffee, nodded to the quiet French table and went out.
"Can you buzz her round?" he asked kindly, and taking the handle, buzzed her round.
"I bet you don't get any one to do that for you in your army, do you?" he asked, as he straightened himself from the starting handle. She put her gear in with a little bang of anger.