refugees had been sent by
generous England. She got a parcel; she had means of getting it. She
opened it with pride in the bedroom of the flat. It contained eight
corsets and a ball-dress. A droll race, all the same, the English.
Had they no imagination? But, no doubt, society women were the same
everywhere. It was notorious that in France....

Christine went forth in her summer clothes. The _rouquin_ had got
an old horse-carriage. He gave her much American money--or, rather,
cheques--which, true enough, she had since cashed with no difficulty
in London. They had to leave the carriage. The station square was full
of guns and women and children and bundles. Yes, together with a
few men. She spent the whole night in the station square with the
_rouquin_, in her summer clothes and his overcoat. At six o'clock in
the evening it was already dark. A night interminable. Babies crying.
One heard that at the other end of the square a baby had been born.
She, Christine, sat next to a young mother with a baby. Both mother
and baby had the right arm bandaged. They had both been shot through
the arm with the same bullet. It was near Aerschot. The young woman
also told her.... No, she could not relate that to an Englishman.
Happily it did not rain. But the wind and the cold! In the morning
the _rouquin_ put her on to a fishing-vessel. She had nothing but her
bonds of the City of Paris and her American cheques. The crush was
frightful. The captain of the fishing-vessel, however, comprehended
what discipline was. He made much money. The _rouquin_ would not come.
He said he was an American citizen and had all his papers. For the
rest, the captain would not let him come, though doubtless the captain
could have been bribed. As they left the harbour, with other trawlers,
they could see the quays all covered with the disappointed,
waiting. Somebody in the boat said that the Germans had that morning
reached--She forgot the name of the place, but it was the next
village to Ostend on the Bruges road. Thus Christine parted from the
_rouquin_. Mad! Always wrong, even about the German submarines. But
_chic_. Truly _chic_.

What a voyage! What adventures with the charitable people in England!
People who resembled nothing else on earth! People who did not
understand what life was.... No understanding of that which it
is--life! In fine ...! However, she should stay in England. It was
the only country in which one could have confidence. She was try