The firewood was damp, some even sodden. With difficulty, Eleanor eventually lit the fire in the oven that Andrew built for her. It was nothing elaborate, just bricks carefully stacked into three sides, with a steel plate sitting on top. To turn part of it into an oven, Andrew had devised a system for easily sliding another plate down and blocking the opening to the oven section. It worked well when the wood was dry.

She felt more cheerful after Mrs. Moore"s visit and it brought a ...