Free The Hesitant Hero by Gilbert Morris

he is a good-looking man.”
    “Yes, but he’s weak.”
    “How can you know that?”
    “You’ll find it out soon enough. He has a charm about him that most Americans don’t have. He’s witty, and physically he’s strong and attractive, I’ll admit. But he doesn’t have whatever it is that makes people survive.”
    “It sounds like he’s never known a hard time.”
    “I think you’re right. He’s always had someone to take care of him.”
    “Well, sooner or later, times will be hard for him, as they eventually are for all of us.” Marvel nodded, as if agreeing with herself. “Then will be the time to say whether he’s weak or strong.”
    ****
    To Tyler’s surprise, his life became vastly different. Jolie’s mother found him an upstairs room to rent in the home of one of her friends. It had a skylight, which made it much easier for him to paint indoors. Jolie set aside one day and took him on a tour along the Allier River and up to the Puy de Sancy, the highest mountain in the area, both of which were close enough to Ambert to make the trip in one day. While they were on the mountain, a flock of geese flew overhead. He looked up in wonder until they were out of sight and then set up his easel and tried to capture the moment with paints.
    In this environment, he found himself able to paint freely, with none of the strain or fear he had sometimes experienced. Puzzling over this, he decided it was because no one would be judging his work. After his day at the Puy de Sancy, Tyler worked for hours at a time on the painting he had started there. There was a simplicity and a cleanness to it that his earlier paintings had lacked, and he found inordinate pleasure in looking at it. Usually when he finished a painting, he found himself wanting to alter it in endless ways. But he was satisfied with this one, which he called Geese Against the Sky. He liked it just as it was.
    ****
    One day about a week after he and Jolie had taken their day trip, they crossed paths in the village. She invited him to come to a birthday party the following day at the orphanage where she worked, and he readily agreed.
    “You don’t need to bring any presents,” she told him. “The children are always glad to have visitors. Anybody, really, who will give them a little attention. Some of them get very lonely.”
    “Is it just one birthday or several?”
    “It’s a party for everyone who will have a birthday in February. We’ll have a cake and play games. It means so much to them. They have so little.”
    Tyler thought it sounded like fun, as it had been a very long time since he’d been around any children at all.
    The next day Jolie met Tyler at the door of the orphanage. “I saw you coming,” she said. “You’re a bit early, but that doesn’t matter.”
    “Who are these children, Jolie?” he asked. He noted that the hall they were going through was whitewashed and clean, and the floors were polished. Children were passing and greeting Jolie. “How many do you have?”
    “We have only fifty-two now. The orphanage is sponsored by a church. A wealthy man left an endowment, and the church administers it. As for the children, it’s difficult to say. Some of them come from other countries. We have four from Poland. Their parents were all killed in the German invasion. They’re new, of course, and having a rather hard time of it.”
    “Does anyone here speak Polish?”
    “Not really.” Jolie shook her head. “And that’s a problem. They’re quickly learning French, though, and we try to make them feel loved.”
    They turned down a hall and then entered a large room. Three children were already chatting around a table. They all came running toward Jolie, greeting her with hugs.
    “Madame Lambert said we could come down here early,” the older girl said. “Is that okay?”
    “Of course it is, Rochelle,” Jolie said. “I brought a special guest today. This is Monsieur Tyler Winslow. He comes from America, and he very