_September 25th._--I spent all day yesterday sitting on the edge of my chair waiting for a decision about my leaving for Antwerp, and by dark I was a fit candidate for an asylum. At five o'clock the Minister went around to see von der Lancken to get the _laisser-passer_. It was then suggested that a letter could be sent around by way of Berlin and The Hague. It would take a week or ten days to get an answer that way. Then we argued the matter out again from the beginning, and after a quarter of an hour of joint debate I went over to see von der Lancken and press for the _laisser-passer_. He was in a _conseil de guerre_, but I had him pulled out and put it up to him. He said it was then too late to get anything last night, but that he would attend to it to-day. I am now sitting on the same old edge of my chair waiting for action, so that I can get away. I think that the trip by Namur, Liege and Maestricht, which is the route prescribed, is a lot safer than the other two trips I have made to Antwerp, which really were risky performances. Most of this trip will be in peaceful Holland and I do not contemplate any sort of trouble along the way. By way of being ready I got passes from the Dutch Legation and the Burgomaster yesterday afternoon, and now all I have to do is take the German _Passierschein_ in my hand and start. Yesterday evening I dined at the M.'s. Just the two of them and their daughter, who is married to a French officer. As is the case everywhere else, they talk nothing but war, and are most rabid. They have a daughter in Germany, but she does not seem to enter into their calculations, and all their thoughts are for France and Belgium. Their son, who is in the Belgian cavalry, has just got his corporal's stripes for gallantry in action. The old gentleman is bursting with pride. During the evening another old chap came in with a letter from his son, who is in young M.'s regiment; he had some very nice things to say about the young man's behaviour, and there was a great popular rejoicing. The _London Times_ came in during the evening, and there was a great revamping of war maps to correspond with the latest movement of troops. The daughter keeps the maps up to date, and does it very well, having picked up some training from her husband. She has different coloured lines for each day's progress and it is easy to see at a glance just how the positions compare for any given times. This morning the Germans have big placards up all over town, trying to explain their action in burning Reims Cathedral. They are doing a lot of explaining these days. * * * * *