On other occasions Bertie Adams came with Mrs. Warren; even Professor Rossiter, who also went to see Vivie’s mother at Praed’s, and conceived a whimsical liking for the unrepentant, outspoken old lady.

Vivie’s health gradually recovered from the effects of the forcible feeding; the prison fare, supplemented by the weekly parcels, suited her digestion; the peace of the prison life and the regular work at interesting trades soothed her nerves.  She enjoyed the respite from the worries of her complicated toilettes, the perplexity of what to wear and how to wear it; in short, she was finding a spell of prison life quite bearable, except for the cold and the attentions of the chaplain.  She gathered from the fortnightly letter which her industry and good conduct allowed her to receive, and to answer, that unwearied efforts were being made by her friends outside to shorten her sentence.  Mrs. Warren through Bertie Adams had found out the cases where jockeys and stable lads had lost their effects in the fires or explosions which had followed Vivie’s visits to their employers’ premises, and had made good their losses.  As to their employers, they had all been heavily insured, and recovered the value of their buildings; and as to the insurance companies they had all been so enriched by Mr. Lloyd George’s legislation that the one-or-two hundred thousand pounds they had lost, through Vivie’s revenge for the seemingly-fruitless death of Emily Wilding Davison, was a bagatelle not worth bothering about.  But all attempts to get the Home Office to reconsider Miss Warren’s case or to shorten her imprisonment (except by the abridgment that could be earned in the prison itself) were unavailing.  So long as the Cabinet held Vivie under lock and key, the Suffrage movement—­they foolishly believed—­was hamstrung.

So the months went by, and Vivie almost lost count of time and almost became content to wait.  Till War was declared on August 4th, 1914.  A few days afterwards followed the amnesty to Suffragist prisoners.  From this the Home Office strove at first to exclude Vivien Warren on the plea that her crime was an ordinary crime and admitted of no political justification; but at this the wrath of Rossiter and the indignation of the W.S.P.U. became so alarming that the agitated Secretary of State—­not at all sure how we were going to come out of the War—­gave way, and an order was signed for Vivie’s release on the 11th of August; on the understanding that she would immediately proceed abroad; an understanding to which she would not subscribe but which in her slowly-formed hatred of the British Government she resolved to carry out.

Mrs. Warren, assured by Praed and Rossiter that Vivie’s release was a mere matter of a few days, had left for Brussels on the 5th of August.  If—­as was then hoped—­the French and Belgian armies would suffice to keep the Germans at bay on the frontier of Belgium, she would prefer to resume her life there in the Villa de Beau-sejour.  If however Belgium was going to be invaded it was better she should secure her property as far as possible, transfer her funds, and make her way somehow to a safe part of France.  Vivie would join her as soon as she could leave the prison.