He went back to his blanket and when he awoke in the morning the great Alpine storm was still raging.  But he bathed and refreshed himself and found a store of clothing better than that of the forester.  It did not fit him very well, nevertheless he was neatly arrayed in civilian attire and he went to the kitchen, meaning to put himself to use and cook the breakfast.  But Suzanne was already there, and she saluted him with stern and rebuking words.

“I reign here,” she said.  “Go back and talk to Mademoiselle Julie.  Since we’re alone and are likely to be so, for God knows how long, it’s your duty to see that she keeps up her spirits.  I’d have kept you two apart if I could, but it has been willed otherwise, and maybe it’s for the best.”

“What has happened shows it’s for the best, Suzanne.  And, as you know, you’ve never had any real objection to me except that I’m not a Frenchman.  And am I not becoming such as fast as possible?”

“You don’t look very much like one, but you act like one and often you talk like one.”

“Thanks, Suzanne.  That’s praise coming from you.”

“Now be off with you.  My mistress is surely in the great room, and if you care for her as much as you pretend, you will see that she is not lonely, and don’t talk nonsense, either.”

John, chuckling, withdrew.  As Suzanne had predicted he found Julie in the large room, and she was quite composed, when she bade him good morning.

“I see that the storm goes on,” she said.

“So much the better.  It is raising higher the wall between us and our enemies.  Our fire has burned out in the night, leaving only coals, but there is a huge store of wood in the back part of the lodge.”

He brought in an armful of billets to find her fanning the coals into a blaze.

“You didn’t think, sir,” said she, “did you, that I mean to be a guest here, waited upon by you and Suzanne?”

“But Suzanne and I are strong and willing!  Don’t lean too near that blaze, Julie!  You’ll set your beautiful hair on fire!”

“And so you think my hair beautiful?”

“Very beautiful.”

“It’s not proper for you to say so.  We’re not in America.”

“Nor are we in France, where young girls are surrounded by triple rows of brass or steel.  We’re in a snowstorm on top of a high mountain in Austria.  There are no conventions, and Suzanne, your guardian, is in the kitchen.”

“But I can call her and she’ll come.”

“She’d come, I know, but you won’t call her.  There, our fire is blazing beautifully, and we don’t have to nurse it any longer.  You sit here in this chair, and I’ll sit there in that chair at a respectful distance.  Now you realize that we are going to be here a long time, don’t you Julie?”

“Miss Julie or Mademoiselle Julie would be better and perhaps Mademoiselle Lannes would be most fitting.”

“No, I’ve said Julie several times and as it always gives me a pleasant thrill I’m sure it’s best.  I intend to use it continually hereafter, except when Suzanne is present.”