es well, I shall be back
in London to-morrow night.

I was up early, did a little writing, and went over to see the Prime
Minister, who was waiting for me. Despatched my business with him in
short order, to my complete satisfaction. He is a trump, and it is a joy
to do business with him, even at a time when he is hounded, as he is
now.

He said the King was out with the troops, but had sent in to say he
wanted to see me and would come in to headquarters at Furnes at
four-thirty for that purpose. The Queen had also sent word in that she
wanted to see me. She was busy looking after the wounded, but said she
would come to la Panne at four. That suited me, although I was in some
doubt as to how I would be able to make connections between the two
audiences.

Last night I had talked of going out to look at the fighting, and A.B.
had offered to conduct me. I had not taken the offer very seriously, but
when I got back to the hotel after seeing the Prime Minister, she was
there in a big racing car, with a crack chauffeur, ready for the jaunt.
She was in her campaign kit of knickers, with a long rain-coat and a big
knitted cap, and an entrancing boy she made. Mr. and Mrs. W---- had
asked to go along, and were in their car with Barbacon, an aide-de-camp
of the Prime Minister. Monsieur de Broqueville came out quite seriously
and begged A.B. not to lead me into danger, whereat everybody had a good
laugh.

We made quick time to Furnes and drew up before Headquarters, where we
learned what was known of the lay of the land and the points of the
front we could reach without getting in the way. The Belgians, who had
for ten days held the line of the Yser from Nieuport to Dixmude, waiting
for reinforcements to come up, had been obliged to fall back to the line
of the railroad, which forms the chord of the arc, and had inundated the
intervening territory to impede the German advance. French and English
troops were being brought up in large numbers to relieve the Belgians,
who have lost in killed and wounded nearly a third of the 50,000 men
engaged.

While waiting for some definite news to be brought in for us, we climbed
to the top of the high tower of the market next the Hotel de Ville, for
a look at the battle line. It was pretty misty, but we could see the
smoke of shrapnel and of the big shells from the English ships, which
were enfilading the German right.

The staircase up this tower was a crazy thing, with rotten steps and