ctor!"--and not very long before
the war a German official to whom he was applying for leave to invite
M. Andre Tardieu to lecture in Strasbourg, broke out with pettish
exasperation: "For twenty years you have been turning my hair grey, M.
le Docteur!"--and permission was refused. At the outbreak of war, he
naturally escaped from Strasbourg, and joined the French army; while
during the latter part of the struggle, he was French military attache
at Berne, and, as I understand, the head of a most successful secret
service. He was one of the first Frenchmen to re-enter Strasbourg, and
is now an invaluable _liaison_ official between the restored French
Government and the population.

The practical difficulty of the moment, in January last, was how to
meet the Alsatian impatience to get rid of their German masters, bag
and baggage, while at the same time maintaining the ordinary services.
Every night, meetings were being held in the Strasbourg squares to
demand the immediate departure of the Germans. "_Qu'ils
partent--qu'ils partent tous--et tout de suite!_" The French officials
could only reply that if an immediate clearance were made of the whole
German administration--"we can't run your trains--or carry your
posts--or deliver your goods." But the German employes were being
gradually and steadily repatriated--no doubt with much unavoidable
hardship to individuals. Strasbourg contained then about 65,000
Germans out of 180,000. Among the remaining German officials there was
often a curious lack of realisation of what had happened to Germany
and to them. "The Germans are very _gauche_--their tone is still just
the same!" And the Doctor described a scene he had witnessed in one of
the bureaux of the prefecture only the day before. A German official
was at his desk. Enter an Alsatian to make an inquiry about some point
in a bankruptcy case. The German answered him with the curt rudeness
which was the common official tone in old days, and finally,
impatiently told the applicant to go. The Alsatian first opened his
eyes in astonishment, and then--suddenly--flamed up. "_What!_--you
think nothing is changed?--that you are the masters here as you used
to be--that you can treat us as you used to treat us? We'll show you?
We are the masters now. Get out of that chair!--Give it me!--while I
talk to you. Behave civilly to me, _ou je vais vous flanquer un coup
dans le dos!_" And the Alsatian went threateningly forward. But the
German lo