Then he held one of her sodden little feet close between his two big hands.
"Cold--cold as ice," he said.

"You must take off your stockings, Marette.

Please." He arranged a pile of wood in front of the stove and covered it with a blanket which he pulled from one of the bunks.

Then, still on his knees, he drew the cane chair close to the fire and covered it with a second blanket.

A few moments later Marette was tucked comfortably in this chair, with her bare feet on the blanketed pile of wood.