The patient looked at all these and he sniffed; and a grin split his face and an Irish twinkle came into his eyes.
"Thank you, me lady, for askin'," he said; "but I'm very much afeared I'm gettin' better." We might safely assume that the hospitals and the graveyard of Maubeuge would be busy places that evening, thereby offering strong contrasts to the rest of the town.

But I should add that we found two other busy spots, too: the railroad station--where the trains bringing wounded men continually shuttled past--and the house where the commandant of the garrison had his headquarters.

In the latter place, as guests of Major von Abercron, we met at dinner that night and again after dinner a strangely mixed company.

We met many officers and the pretty American wife of an officer, Frau Elsie von, Heinrich, late of Jersey City, who had made an adventurous trip in a motor ambulance from Germany to see her husband before he went to the front, and who sent regards by us to scores of people in her old home whose names I have forgotten.

We met also a civilian guest of the commandant, who introduced himself as August Blankhertz and who turned out to be a distinguished big-game hunter and gentleman aeronaut.