that date came to be
fixed by the prophets nobody knew, but the belief in the prophecy was
universal among the soldiers.

[Sidenote: Soldiers more courteous than officers.]

As a rule, the soldiers did not maltreat the civilians in Roubaix,
except when they were acting under the orders of their officers; when,
for example, they were tearing people from their homes to work as
slaves. They had, however, the right of traveling without payment on the
tramcars, and they frequently exercised this right to such an extent as
to preclude the townsfolk from the use of the cars.

[Sidenote: Officers requisition supplies.]

Apart from that annoyance, there was little ground for complaint of the
general behavior of the soldiers. The conduct of the officers was very
different. For a long time they made a habit of requisitioning from
shopkeepers and others supplies of food for which they had no intention
of paying. One day an officer drove up in a trap to a shop kept by an
acquaintance of mine and "bought" sardines, chocolate, bread, and fancy
cakes to the value of about 200 francs (about $40). He produced a piece
of paper and borrowed a pair of scissors with which to cut off a slip.
On this slip he wrote a few words in German, and then, handing it to
the shopkeeper, he went off with his purchases. The shopkeeper, on
presenting the paper at the Kommandantur, was informed that the
inscription ran, "For the loan of scissors, 200 francs," and that the
signature was unknown. Payment was therefore refused. This case, I
believe, was by no means an isolated one.

When an officer was billeted on a house, he would insist on turning the
family out of the dining room and drawing room and sleeping in the best
bedroom; sometimes he would eject people entirely from their home.

[Sidenote: A docile private soldier.]

By contrast the docile private soldier was almost a welcome guest. I
remember well one quite friendly fellow who was lodged for some time in
the same house as myself and some English over military age in the
suburb of Croix. He came to me in great glee one day with a letter from
his wife in which she warned him to beware of "the English cutthroats."
She went on to give him a long series of instructions for his safety. He
was to barricade his bedroom door every night, to sleep always with his
knife under his pillow, and never to take anything we offered him to eat
or drink.

[Sidenote: Few civilian offenses.]

Despite the tem