he extreme and not to be
countenanced by right-thinking people; in the public highways
automobiles and other vehicles manoeuvred with disconcerting
recklessness and abandon; and, after England, the tea seemed inferior.

Until this time no intimation of impending war had intruded on our
thoughts. To be sure, some days before our departure from Fernbridge I
had perused accounts in the public prints of the assassination of the
Heir Apparent of Austria-Hungary and his lady somewhere in the Balkans,
but I for one regarded this deplorable event as a thing liable to occur
in any unsettled foreign community where the inhabitants speak in
strange tongues and follow strange customs. Never for one moment did I
dream that this crime might have an effect on the peace of the world at
large.

Presently, however, I began to note an air of feverish activity among
the denizens of Paris; and one morning toward the end of our first
week's sojourn in their midst I discerned a large body of troops moving
along one of the principal boulevards, accompanied by cheering throngs.
Still I felt no alarm, my explanation to my young ladies for this
patriotic exhibition being that undoubtedly these abnormal and emotional
people were merely celebrating one of their national gala or fete days.

In fancied security, therefore, we continued to visit cemeteries,
cathedrals, art galleries, tombs, and so on, until, almost like a bolt
from the sky, came tidings that certain neighbouring states had
interchanged declarations of war and the French forces were preparing to
mobilise. Simultaneously one realised that American visitors were
departing elsewhere in considerable numbers.

I was not frightened, but I shall not deny that I felt concern. I was a
man, and a man must face with fortitude and resolution whatever
vicissitudes the immediate future may bring forth--else he is no man;
but what of these tender and immature young females who had been
entrusted to my keeping? I must act, and act at once. I summoned them to
my presence; and after begging them to remain calm and to refrain from
tears, I disclosed to them the facts that had come to my notice.
Continuing, I informed them that though the rumours of prospective
hostilities were doubtlessly exaggerated and perhaps largely unfounded,
nevertheless I deemed it the part of wisdom to return without delay to
England, there to remain until conditions on the Continent assumed a
more pacific aspect.

Enormous