the cyclist had any evil intention. The mere suspicion is enough to
have him shot.

In the course of a visit to General von Luettwitz to-day, one of the
colleagues remarked that the Germans _must_ keep the Belgians alive, and
could not allow them to starve. Luettwitz was not at all of that mind,
for he said with some show of feeling:

"The allies are at liberty to feed the Belgians. If they don't, they are
responsible for anything that may happen. If there are bread riots, the
natural thing would be for us to drive the whole civil population into
some restricted area, like the Province of Luxembourg, build a barbed
wire fence around them, and leave them to starve in accordance with the
policy of their allies."

And as the German policy is more or less frankly stated as a
determination to wipe out as many of the enemy as possible without
regard to what is or has been considered as permissible, it is quite
within the realm of possibility that they would be prepared to let the
Belgian people starve. In any event, you can't gamble with the lives of
seven millions of people when all you have to go on is the belief that
Germany will be guided by the dictates of humanity.

Fowler was to have left yesterday morning, and had engaged a seat in a
new motor that is being run out by way of Maestricht. It was to have
called at my house at seven o'clock yesterday morning, and we were up
and about bright and early. We waited until a little after nine, when
Eugene turned up to say that the chauffeur had been arrested and put in
jail for having carried correspondence and having been caught nosing
around one of the forts at Liege. The service is now suspended, and we
don't see any prospect of his getting off before Friday, when we are
sending a courier to the Legation at The Hague.

Yesterday afternoon we went up to Antwerp to see how our old motor-car
was getting along. It was out of whack, and we were obliged to get
another to come back to Brussels. I took the big car and organised an
expedition of Monsieur de Leval, Fowler and a German official named
Conrad, who went along to help us over the rough places. It is the first
time for weeks that the direct route has been feasible.

I have had enough of ruined towns, and was not able to get the awful
sights out of my head all night, but spent my time in bad dreams. From
Vilvorde right into Antwerp there is not a town intact. Eppeghem,
Sempst, Malines, Waehlem, Berchem--all razed to th