et shops,
boot shops, hospitals, anything and everything which goes to make up a
small city.

One of the young officers placed his "cell" at our disposal. The long
galleries are all equipped with central heating and electric light, and
some of them have been divided off by wooden partitions or curtains like
the dormitories in a large school. In the "cell" allocated to us we
could see the loving touch of a woman's hand. Around the pillow on the
small camp-bed was a beautiful edging of Irish lace, and on the
dressing-table a large bottle of eau-de-Cologne. There is no reason to
be too uncomfortable in Verdun when one has a good little wife to think
of one and to send presents from time to time.

Emerging from the galleries we met General Dubois, a great soldier and a
kindly man, one who shares the daily perils of his men. The General
invited us to remain and dine with him. He had that day received from
General Nivelle his _cravate_ as Commander of the Legion of Honour, and
his officers were giving him a dinner-party to celebrate the event. "See
how kind fate is to me," he added. "Only one thing was missing from the
feast--the presence of the ladies--and here you are."

It would need the brush of Rembrandt to paint the dining-hall in the
citadel of Verdun. At one long table in the dimly lighted vault sat
between eighty and ninety officers, who all rose, saluted, and cheered
as we entered. The General sat at the head of the table surrounded by
his staff, and behind him the faces of the cooks were lit up by the
fires of the stoves. Some short distance behind us was an air-shaft. It
appears that about a week or a fortnight before our arrival a German
shell, striking the top part of the citadel, dislodged some dust and
gravel which fell down the air-shaft on to the General's head. He simply
called the attendants to him and asked for his table to be moved forward
a yard, as he did not feel inclined to sit at table with his helmet on.

An excellent dinner--soup, roast mutton, fresh beans, salade Russe,
frangipane, dessert--and even champagne to celebrate the General's
_cravate_--quite reassured us that people may die in Verdun of shells
but not of hunger. We drank toasts to France, the Allies, and, silently,
to the men of France who had died that we might live. I was asked to
propose the health of the General, and did it in English, knowing that
he spoke English well. I told him that the defenders of Verdun would
live in our