Hawkeye looked at her for a second, revealing nothing of the turmoil of his emotions, and shrugged in an off-hand manner.

“Well, I’m up here for another four hours. Would you like tea?”

Elletra, caught a little off-guard by the sudden change of subject, nodded assent. He opened a cupboard set flush into the wall of the lookout, revealing (among other things) a long rifle, a chessboard, some lemons, a packet of biscuits and a rather fine silver tea service.

The sight of the silverware seemed highly incongruous to Elletra. Hawkeye, however, carefully lifted it out, filled it with tea leaves, poured water from a small tin bottle, and finally set the teapot in a small alcove back in the cupboard.

“How -”

He looked up briefly and laughed at her expression of stunned amazement.

“Some of the steam from the engines is sent up here. It passes through just underneath the alcove, then heats the floor a bit and goes back down. Helps on cold winter nights – oh, do you take milk or lemon? Sugar?”