side world--since the
withdrawal of the Belgian army to Antwerp, and they greeted us as they
would greet fellow-beings returning from a journey to Mars. They had a
few newspapers which were being published in Antwerp, and handed them
over to us, we being as anxious as they for the news that we had not
been able to get.

From the hospital we drove to the Hotel St. Antoine and asked for rooms.
The proprietor was very suspicious of us, and we had a tremendous time
convincing him that there was nothing the matter with us. He _knew_ that
we could not have come from Brussels, as nobody had been able to make
the trip. Our papers were _en regle_, but that made no difference.
German spies and other suspicious characters had managed to get forged
papers before that. Fortunately, all the other diplomats were living in
the hotel, and I asked that he hunt up some of them, and verify what we
had to say for ourselves. Webber, of the British Legation, was brought
out and acted as though he had seen a ghost. He calmed down enough to
assure the proprietor that we were respectable citizens, and that he
could safely give us rooms. All the other people were away from the
hotel for the moment, so we deposited our things in our room, and made
for the Consulate-General. It was then half-past six, and the
Consul-General had gone for the day. A well-trained porter refused to
tell where either he or the Vice-Consul-General lived, but we managed to
find out and got to the Vice-Consul-General's house after a hunt with a
_chasseur_ of the hotel on the box. He was not at home, but his wife
was there. We talked with her for a few minutes, and then went back to
the hotel to await Sherman's (Vice-Consul-General) coming. He called in
the course of a few minutes, and we made arrangements to go to the
Consulate after dinner and get off our telegrams.

By the time we could get washed up and ready for dinner, the crowd had
come back, and when we set foot on the stairway, we were literally
overwhelmed by our loving friends. First, I met Sir Francis Villiers and
accepted his invitation to dine. He and Prince Koudacheff, the Russian
Minister, a lot of other colleagues, and goodness only knows who else,
fell upon us with demands for news. I took refuge in Sir Francis's
office, and saw as many people as I could until dinner time. Baron van
der Elst, the Secretary General of the Foreign Office, and M. Carton de
Wiart, the Minister of Justice, forgetting all about