or she had seen no newspapers in
prison, where it is part of the dehumanizing policy of the Home
Office to prevent their entry, or the dissemination of any
information about current events--Sir Edward Grey had clearly shown
Great Britain did not approve of Servian intrigues in Bosnia. Well:
let the best man win. Germany was just as likely to give the Vote to
her women as was Britain. The Germans were first in Music and in
Science. She for her part didn't wish to become a German subject,
but once the War was over she would willingly naturalize herself
Belgian or Swiss.

And the War must soon be over. Europe as a whole could not allow
this devastation of resources. America would intervene. Already the
Germans realized their gigantic blunder in starting the attack.
Their men were said to be--she read--much less brave than people had
expected. The mighty German Armies had been held up for ten days by
a puny Belgian force and the forts of Liege and Namur. There would
presently be an armistice and Germany would have to make peace with
perhaps the cession to France of Metz as a _solatium_, while Germany
was given a little bit more of Africa, and Austria got nothing....

Meantime the Villa Beau-sejour seemed after Holloway Prison a
paradise upon earth. Why quarrel with her fate? Why not drop
politics and take up philosophy? She felt herself capable of writing
a Universal History which would be far truer if more cynical than
any previous attempt to show civilized man the route he had followed
and the martyrdom he had undergone.

On the 17th of August she took the tram into Brussels. It seemed
however as if it would never get there, and when she reached the
Porte de Namur she was too impatient to wait for the connection. She
could not find any gendarme, but at a superior-looking flower-shop
she obtained the address of the British Legation.

She asked at the lodge for Mr. Hawk; but there was only a Belgian
coachman in charge, and he told her the Minister and his staff had
followed the Court to Antwerp. Mr. Hawk had only left that morning.
"What a nuisance," said Vivie to herself. "I might have found out
from him whether there is any truth in the rumours that are flying
about Tervueren."

These rumours were to the effect that the Germans had captured all
the forts of Liege and their brave defender, General Leman; that
they were in Namur and were advancing on Louvain. "I wonder what we
had better do?" pondered Vivie.

In he