Free The Hesitant Hero by Gilbert Morris Page B

worried.”
    Quickly Tyler thought, then said, “Because of the Germans?”
    “Yes.”
    “They probably won’t come. Hitler’s being very quiet right now.”
    “He’s always quiet just before he strikes. Most Americans don’t know a great deal about the history of this conflict.”
    “That’s me, I guess.”
    “If you go back in history even ten years, you can see what’s happening.”
    “Ten years. What happened then?”
    “In 1931 Japan attacked Manchuria. It would have been easy for the League of Nations to stop them, but they did nothing. Then in 1934 Italy attacked Ethiopia. The same thing. The League did absolutely nothing.”
    Tyler listened as she went over history and was ashamed of his own lack of knowledge. She spoke about how Hitler took the Saar in 1935 and Franco took Spain with German help that same year. And the next year Japan attacked China, and the year after that Hitler seized Austria. “Since then he’s taken the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia, and he’s made a nonaggression treaty with Russia so he doesn’t have to worry about them.”
    “And now he’s taken Poland.”
    “Yes, and divided it up with Russia. You know, Tyler, millions of people have been killed in these wars, but I’m afraid Hitler and Japan are just beginning.”
    “Russia too, I suppose,” he said. “I was angry when they invaded Finland.” Indeed, when Russia invaded Finland in 1939, it angered the world. But again, no one moved to stop the aggressor.
    Jolie took Tyler’s sponge and put the two away. “It was kind of you to come, and the children loved it.” She hesitated, thensaid, “The three children you met before the party started . . . it’s children like these I worry about—when the Germans come.”
    “Why do you worry about them in particular?”
    “Because they’re Jews.”
    “Oh, I guess I didn’t realize . . .”
    “Hitler despises Jews. In every conquest he’s picked out what he calls the ‘undesirables.’ I shudder to think what he’s done to them.”
    Suddenly she shook her shoulders and pasted on a smile. “Let’s talk about something else. How’s your painting going?”
    “You know, Jolie, it’s strange, but I think I just painted the best picture of my life.”
    As he went on to tell her about the formation of the geese against the mountain, she had a hard time concentrating on what he was saying. As good as he had been with the children, she couldn’t help but think he wasn’t the man for her. He will fold when the pressure comes. I’m sure of it.
    ****
    The time passed so quickly that when March came, bringing the first breath of spring, Tyler was taken off guard. He went outside early one Thursday morning. The air was fresh, the grass was turning bright green, and the mountain was clearly outlined against the blue sky. He stood there for a moment thinking how quickly the time had gone. He had returned to the orphanage several times, meeting many of the children, but spending extra time with the three Jewish children. The three were so fond of each other, and he had already grown attached to them.
    He painted outside for much of that day, just moving inside when his hands got too cold, and that night he went to the Vernay house for dinner. It was a delicious meal, and there was a great deal of laughter around the table. Afterward they went into the parlor and tried to find some music on theradio, but it was interrupted many times by news bulletins about the war.
    After Marvel went to bed, Jolie and Tyler lingered in the parlor and she updated Tyler on the children’s activities at the orphanage. Jolie walked him to the door and he pulled her into an embrace. He lifted her chin and gave her a brief kiss. When he released her, she looked down.
    “I’m sorry, Tyler,” she said. “I shouldn’t have let you do that. That was a mistake.”
    “I don’t think so.”
    Tyler had always been attracted to her, and the time they had spent together in France had only served