coffin cart flapped into the yard and bore him off
to his last resting place. What, I wondered, happened to his wife and
five children?

When I became more experienced I could tell if patients were going to
recover or not; and how often in the latter case I prayed that it might
be over quickly; but no, the fell disease had to take its course; and
even the sisters said they had never seen such awful cases.

CHAPTER VII

THE ZEPPELIN RAID

Once while on night duty I got up to go to a concert in the town at the
theatre in aid of the _Orphelins de la Guerre_. I must say when the
Frenchman makes up his mind to have a charity concern he does it
properly, and with any luck it begins at 2.30 and goes on till about 9
or possibly 10 p.m.

This was the first we had attended and they subsequently became quite a
feature of the place. It was held on a Sunday, and the entire population
turned out _colimente_ and _endimanche_ to a degree. The French and
Belgian uniforms were extraordinarily smart, and the Belgian guides in
their tasselled caps, cheery breeches, and hunting-green tunics added
colour to the scene.

The Mayor of the town opened the performance with a long speech, the
purport of which I forget, but it lasted one hour and ten minutes, and
then the performance began. There were several intervals during which
the entire audience left the salle and perambulated along the wide
corridors round the building to greet their friends, and drink champagne
out of large flat glasses, served at fabulous prices by fair ladies of
the town clad in smart muslin dresses. The French Governor-General,
covered with stars and orders, was there in state with his
aides-de-camp, and the Belgian General ditto, and everyone shook hands
and talked at once. Heasy and I stood and watched the scene fascinated.
Tea seemed to be an unheard of beverage. Presently we espied an
Englishman, very large and very tall, talking to a group of French
people. I remark on the fact because in those days there were no English
anywhere near us, and to see a staff car passing through the town was
quite an event. We were glad, as he was the only Englishman there, that
our people had chosen the largest and tallest representative they could
find. Presently he turned, and looked as surprised to see two khaki-clad
English girls in solar topees (the pre-war F.A.N.Y. headgear), as I
think we were to see him.

The intervals lasted for half an hour, and I came to