harmless as

"A l'etranger, en reverie
Chaque jour je pleurais sur toi
Mais a present, o ma patrie
Je penserai sans cesse a toi!"

The pleasure he took in recasting this doggerel--calling in Vivie to
help him as presumably a good scholar in French--got on her nerves,
and she was hard put to it to keep her temper.

Sometimes he proposed that she should take a hand, even become a
salaried subordinate; compose articles for his subsidized paper,
"_L'Ami de l'Ordre_" (nicknamed "L'Ami de L'Ordure" by the
Belgians), "_La Belgique_," "_Le Bruxellois_," "_Vers la Paix_."
He would allow her a very free hand, so long as she did not attack
the Germans or their allies or put in any false news about military
or naval successes of the foes of Central Europe. She might, for
instance, dilate on the cruel manner in which the Woman Suffragists
had been persecuted in England; give a description of forcible
feeding or of police ferocity on Black Friday.

Vivie declined any such propositions. "I have told you already, and
often," she said, "I am deeply grateful for all you have done for
my mother and me. We might have been in a far more uncomfortable
position but for your kindness. But I cannot in any way associate
myself with the German policy here. I cannot pretend for a moment to
condone what you do in this country. If I were a Belgian woman I
should probably have been shot long ago for assassinating some
Prussian official--I can hardly see von Bissing pass in his
automobile, as it is, without wishing I had a bomb. But there it is.
It is no business of mine. As I can't get away, as you won't let us
go out of the country--Switzerland, Holland--and as I don't want to
go mad by brooding, find something for me to do that will occupy my
thoughts: and yet not implicate me with the Germans. Can't I go and
help every day in your hospitals? If you'll continue your kindness
to mother--and believe me"--she broke off--"I _do_ appreciate what
you have done for us. I shall _never_ forget I have met _one true
German gentleman_--if you'll continue to be as kind as before, you
will simply give instructions that mother is in no way disturbed or
annoyed. There are Germans staying here who are odious beyond
belief. If they meet my mother outside her room they ask her
insulting questions--whether she can give them the addresses
of--of--light women ... you know the sort of thing. I have always
been outspoken