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144 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
among them a Prince Hohenlohe who had something to do
with the Red Cross. At the moment when we entered, the
gentlemen were already standing by their seats around the
long table and the small side-tables, and the General intro-
duced me, once for all, with a few forceful yet kindly words.
The food served was the same as for the rank and file—boiled
rice, mutton with beans and potatoes, and pancakes with jam,
the last being a luxury in honour of the Sunday.
After a pleasant evening, in the course of which the General
invited me to accompany him next day to Vouziers, I walked at
midnight through the silent and empty streets of Sedan.
The way from Place Turenne to the railway station, where I
was staying, was rather long, and it was made no shorter by
the six sentries who in turn stepped out from the gloom and
challenged me—a suspicious-looking night-bird, perhaps out
on some unlawful errand. Each of them read the " pass
"
issued to me by General von Moltke, and then left me to my
fate—and to the next sentry. All were quiet and civil, and
they were doing their duty. When I came to the last, quite
close to the railway station, I stepped up to him and asked
whether he had any objection to reading my Ausweis. He
replied with a smile : "I suppose it has already been read
often enough ; and besides, I have seen you in the company
of the Chief of the Kommandantur
."
But this Chief had gone to sleep when I came " home."
He certainly needed rest after all the trains he had cleared
through the course of the day. And as for myself, I will not
deny that I was half-asleep before I lay dowTi on my bed.
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