RIS, October, 1915.

In Artois we were "personally conducted." In a way, we were the guests
of the war department; in any case, we tried to behave as such. It was
no more proper for us to see what we were not invited to see than to
bring our own wine to another man's dinner.

In Champagne it was entirely different. I was alone with a car and a
chauffeur and a blue slip of paper. It permitted me to remain in a
"certain place" inside the war zone for ten days. I did not believe it
was true. I recalled other trips over the same roads a year before which
finally led to the Cherche-Midi prison, and each time I showed the blue
slip to the gendarmes I shivered. But the gendarmes seemed satisfied,
and as they permitted us to pass farther and farther into the forbidden
land, the chauffeur began to treat me almost as an equal. And so, with
as little incident as one taxis from Madison Square to Central Park, we
motored from Paris into the sound of the guns.

At the "certain place" the general was absent in the trenches, but the
chief of staff asked what I most wanted to see. It was as though the
fairy godmother had given you one wish. I chose Rheims, and to spend the
night there. The chief of staff waved a wand in the shape of a second
piece of paper, and we were in Rheims. To a colonel we presented the two
slips of paper, and, in turn, he asked what was wanted. A year before I
had seen the cathedral when it was being bombarded, when it still was
burning. I asked if I might revisit it.

"And after that?" said the colonel.

It was much too good to be real.

I would wake and find myself again in Cherche-Midi prison.

Outside, the sounds of the guns were now very close. They seemed to be
just around the corner, on the roof of the next house.

"Of course, what I really want is to visit the first trench."

It was like asking a Mason to reveal the mysteries of his order, a
priest to tell the secrets of the confessional. The colonel commanded
the presence of Lieutenant Blank. With alarm I awaited his coming. Did
a military prison yawn, and was he to act as my escort? I had been too
bold. I should have asked to see only the third trench.

At the order the colonel gave, Lieutenant Blank expressed surprise
But his colonel, with a shrug, as though ridding himself of all
responsibility, showed the blue slip. It was a pantomime, with which
by repetition, we became familiar. In turn each officer would express
surprise; the other offi