Once even he hummed a snatch of the Marseillaise.  An extra loud blast from the distant cannonading stirred him from his reverie.  “Ah ha!” he exclaimed, clasping my arm, the artillery—­“it’s getting nearer all the time.  They are driving back the Boches, eh?  We’ll be free to-morrow, certain.  Then we’ll celebrate together in my country-home.”

Walking over to the door, he peered down the street as if he already expected to catch a glint of the vanguard of the Blue and Red.  Twice he did this and returned with confidence unshaken.  “Mark my word,” he reiterated; “three days at the outside and we shall see the French!”

That was in September, 1914.  Those three days passed away into as many weeks, into as many months, and into almost as many years.  I cannot help wondering whether the same hopes stirred within him at each fresh outburst of cannonading on the Somme.  And whether through those soul-sickening months that white-haired man peered daily down those Brussels streets, yearning for the advent of the Red and Blue Army of Deliverance.  Red and Blue it was ever in his mind.  If once it had come in its new uniform of somber hue, it would have been a disappointing shock I fear.  He was an old man then; he is now perhaps beyond all such human hurts.  His pain was as real as anything I saw in all the war.  I had little time to dwell upon it, however, for presently I was put into a situation that called for all my wits.  I was introduced to it by the announcement of the porter: 

“An American gentleman to see you, sir.”

That was joyful news to one held within the confines of a captive city, from which all exit was, for the time being, closely barred.

It was September 28th, my birthday, too.  The necessity of celebrating this in utter boredom was a dismal prospect.  Now this came upon me like a little surprise-party.

Picking up a bit of paper on which I had been scribbling down a few memoranda that I feared might escape my mind, I hastened into the hallway to meet a somewhat spare, tall, and extremely erect-appearing man.  He greeted me with a smile and a bow—­a rather dry smile and a rather stiff bow for an American.

So I queried, “You’re an American, are you?”

“Not exactly,” he responded; “but I would like to talk with you.”

Without the shadow of a suspicion, I told him it would be a great relief from the tedium of the day to talk to any one.

“But I would prefer to talk to you in your room,” he added.

“Certainly,” I responded, stepping toward the elevator.

The hotel was practically deserted, so I was somewhat surprised when two men, one a huge fellow built on a superdreadnaught plan, followed us in and got out with us on the fifth floor.  The superdreadnaught sailed on into my room, which seemed a breach of propriety for an un-introduced stranger.  He closed the door rudely behind him.  I was prepared to resent this altogether high-handed intrusion, when my tall guest said, very simply, “I am representing the Imperial German Government.”