ill filled with common criminals--and the English nurse
was given the same treatment and rations as the worst murderer of the
lot. There was the usual row with the man in charge of the place, and
finally a soldier was despatched, to tell the young woman she could get
ready to go. While she was getting ready, the director of the prison
took me around and showed me with great pride things that made me
shiver. He said, however, that it was an outrage to put a woman in such
a place. The prisoners who do the work of the prison were going about
the corridors under guard, each one wearing a dirty brown mask covering
his entire head, and with only the smallest of slits for his eyes. They
are never allowed to see each other's faces or to speak to one another.
I was taken up to the chapel, where each man is herded into a little box
like a confessional and locked in so that he cannot see his neighbour,
and can only look up toward the raised altar in the centre, where he can
see the priest. The school was arranged in the same way, and was shown
with equal pride. I fear the jailer thought me lacking in appreciation.

I finally got the young woman out, nearly hysterical, and took her up to
the headquarters, and from there to the hotel, where Monsieur de Leval
had gathered his charges for luncheon. They were rapidly recovering
their old-time spirits, and were chattering away like a lot of magpies.

While I was fussing about with them, I had sent my friends and
fellow-travellers ahead, and now left the flock of nurses in the hands
of Monsieur de Leval, to be conveyed by tram back to Brussels, while I
tried to catch up with my party at the chateau of Monsieur Warroque, at
Mariemont. I made as much speed as my little car was capable of, but it
was nearly two o'clock when I arrived.

The old chateau of Mariemont is one of those built by Louis XIV, when he
set out to have one for each month of the year. This was his place for
August. It had been destroyed, and the new one is built near the ruins,
but the large park is as it has been for a long time, and a lovely place
it is. There were about twenty at table when we arrived, and places were
ready for us. More fine wines, and this time to show that we were in the
house of a connoisseur, the flunky, in pouring out the precious stuff,
would whisper in your ear the name and vintage. Warroque owns a lot of
the coal mines and other properties and is apparently greatly loved by
the people. When t