Wisps of pink cloud were tangled in the narrow streets, against a background of intensely blue sky.

The high-roofed burgher houses, with their decorated fronts, had an "unsubstantial faery" look, under the strange rich light; and the front of the Cathedral, with its single delicate spire, soared, one suffusion of rose, to an incredible height above the narrow street below.
"_Allons, enfants de la patri-e!_" But a motor-car is scattering the children, and an _ordonnance_ descends.

A note, written by the General's own left hand--he lost his right arm in consequence of a wound at the Dardanelles--invites us to dinner with him and his staff forthwith--the motor will return for us.

So, joyously, we made what simple change we could, and in another hour or so we were waiting in the General's study for the great man to appear.

He came at once, and I look back upon the evening that followed as one of the most interesting that Fate has yet sent my way.
As he entered I saw a man of slight, erect figure, lame, indeed, and with that sad, empty sleeve, but conveying an immediate and startling impression as of some fiery, embodied force, dominating the slender frame.