ppetites. The Palace Hotel had
become a German officers' club. On all the public buildings the
German Imperial flag hung alongside the Belgian. Only a few of the
trams were running. Yet you could still buy, without much difficulty
at the kiosques, Belgian and even French and British newspapers.
From these she gathered that the German forces were in imminent
peril between the Belgian Antwerp army on the north and the British
army advancing from the south; and that in the plains of Alsace the
French had given the first public exhibition of the new "Turpin"
explosive. The results had been _foudroyant_ ... and simple.
Complete regiments of German soldiers had been destroyed in _one
minute_. It seemed curious, she thought, that with such an arm as
this the French command did not at once come irresistibly to the
rescue of Brussels....

However, it was four o'clock, and there was her friend the enemy's
automobile drawn up outside the bank, awaiting her. She got in, and
the soldier chauffeur whirled her away to the Villa Beau-sejour,
beyond Tervueren.

On her return she found her mother prostrate with bad news. Their
nearest neighbour, Farmer Oudekens who had driven them into Brussels
the preceding day had been executed in his own orchard only an hour
ago. It seemed that the lieutenant in charge of the soldiers
billeted there had disappeared in the night, leaving his uniform and
watch and chain behind him. The farmer's story was that in the night
the lieutenant had appeared in his room with a revolver and had
threatened to shoot him unless he produced a suit of civilian
clothes. Thus coerced he had given him his eldest son's Sunday
clothes left behind when the said son went off to join the Belgian
army. The lieutenant, grateful for the assistance, had given him as
a present his watch and chain.

On the other hand the German non-commissioned officers insisted
their lieutenant had been made away with in the night. The farmer's
allegation that he had deserted (as in fact he had) only enhanced
his crime. The finding of the court after a very summary trial was
"guilty," and despite the frantic appeals of the wife, reinforced
later on by Mrs. Warren, the farmer had been taken out and shot.

The evening meal consequently was one of strained relations. Colonel
von Giesselin came to supper punctually and was very spruce in
appearance. But he was gravely polite and uncommunicative. And after
dessert the two ladies asked permission