Mees; what spirit, what fire! Believe me, they broke every glass they
used at that dinner, and then the Prince demanded of me the bill and
paid for everything." (Some lad!) "He also wrote his name in my
autograph book," she added proudly. "Oh he is _chic_, that one there, I
tell you!"

One warm summer day Gutsie and I were sitting on a grassy knoll, just
beyond our camp overlooking the sea (well within earshot of the
summoning whistle), watching a specially large merchant ship come in.
Except for the distant booming of the guns (that had now become such a
background to existence we never noticed it till it stopped), an
atmosphere of peace and drowsiness reigned over everything. The ship was
just nearing the jetty preparatory to entering the harbour when a dull
reverberating roar broke the summer stillness, the banks we were on
fairly shook, and there before our eyes, out of the sea, rose a dense
black cloud of smoke 50 feet high that totally obscured the ship from
sight for a moment. When the black fumes sank down, there, where a whole
vessel had been a moment before, was only half a ship! We rubbed our
eyes incredulously. It had all happened so suddenly it might have taken
place on a Cinema. She had, of course, struck a German mine, and quick
as lightning two long, lithe, grey bodies (French destroyers) shot out
from the port and took off what survivors were left. Contrary to
expectation she did not sink, but settled down, and remained afloat till
she was towed in later in the day.

A "Y.M.C.A." article on "Women's work in France," that appeared in a
Magazine at home, was sent out to one of the girls. The paragraph
relating to us ran:--

"Then there are the 'F.A.N.N.I.E.S.,' the dear mud-besplashing
F.A.N.Y.s. (to judge from the language of the sometime bespattered, the
adjective was not always 'dear'), with them cheeriness is almost a cult;
at 6 a.m. in the morning you may always be sure of a smile, even when
their sleep for the week has only averaged five hours per night."

There were not many parties at Filbert during that summer. Off-time was
such an uncertain quantity. We managed to put in several though,
likewise some gallops on the glorious sands stretching for miles along
the coast. (It was hardly safe to call at the Convoy on your favourite
charger. When you came out from tea it was more than probable you found
him in a most unaccountable lather!) Bathing during the daytime was also
a rare event, so we wen