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QUIET DAYS 183
the outside world, for there are no paths so secret and so subtle
that news from France can reach them. How the war is pro-
gressing, they have no idea. They have not had a newspaper,
not a letter, for close on two months. All they hear is an
occasional rumour spread by some free-lance and intended to
make them put difficulties in the way of the invading army.
" But what on earth do they live on ? " " Oh, there are
plenty of potatoes and poultry, besides the corn still un-
gathered in the fields. And there are still plenty of cattle, for
you can see them yourself grazing by the roadside. Sheep and
pigs are equally plentiful, but the one thing there is not much
left of is wine. For when the French Army passed through it
did not stint itself, and then we came and took the rest. But
we pay for everything and nobody will be the loser by what
we take. Matches and paraffin disappeared long ago, and so
there is nothing left for the inhabitants but to go to bed, like
the chickens, with the sun."
Presently we arrived, drove across Place Turenne, attended
to our business and met again at the Croix d’Or for lunch.
Here every room was still taken up and the restaurant was
well filled as usual. The proprietor was very contented and
admitted that he was doing a roaring trade, provided that his
" bons " were redeemed after the war. The town now wears a
Prussian air, uniforms, soldiers and patrols wherever one looks.
We were glad to sit for a while by the window and look out
upon the square. Officers are busily walking hither and thither
on the business of the lines of communication of the 4th Army,
from the Base Commander’s Office to the Palais de Justice,
where the Base Inspectorate is located, and from the Palais
de Justice to some other public building where some German
authority has taken up its quarters. As they pass the grey-
clad sentries with their gleaming bayonets, they are always
greeted with a smart military salute.
I cannot take my eyes from this window, the warlike,
active scene outside fascinates me, and yet everything is done
quietly and deliberately, and the greatest order reigns every-
where. Here is a row of cars ranged up in single file with
carbines fastened to the screen in front of the driver’s seat,
ready for use when wanted. Several of the cars are provided
with a sort of superstructure of two iron hoops carrying a
sharp narrow iron rod which starts from the front of the car
and slopes upward over the heads of the occupants, coming to
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