On Monday, August 15th, about 6 A.M., the Minister drove off in his carriage, accompanied by Count Bismarck-Bohlen, and followed on horseback by Herr Abeken, Herr von Keudell, and Count Hatzfeldt. The rest of us remained behind, where we had plenty of work on hand, and could make ourselves useful in other ways. Several detachments of infantry passed through the village during the day, amongst them being three Prussian regiments and a number of Pomeranians, for the most part tall, handsome men. The bands played “Heil dir im Siegerkranz,” and “Ich bin ein Preusse.” One could see in the men’s eyes the fearful thirst from which they were suffering. We speedily organised a fire brigade with pails and jugs and gave as many as possible a drink of water as they marched by. They could not stop. Some took a mouthful in the palms of their hands, whilst others filled the tin cans which they carried with them, so that at least a few had some momentary relief. Our landlord, Matthiote, knew a little German, but his wife only spoke the somewhat unintelligible French dialect of this part of Lorraine. They were thought not to be too friendly towards us, but the Minister had not observed it. He had only seen the husband, and said he was not a bad fellow. “He asked me as he brought in the dinner if I would try his wine. I found it very tolerable, but on my offering to pay for it he declined, and would only accept payment for the food. He inquired as to the future frontier, and expected that they would be better off in the matter of taxation.” We saw little of the other inhabitants of the village. Those we met were polite and communicative. An old peasant woman whom I asked for a light for my cigar led me into her room and showed me a photograph of her son in a French uniform. Bursting into tears she reproached the Emperor with the war. Her _pauvre garçon_ was certainly dead, and she was inconsolable. The Councillors returned after 3 o’clock, the Minister himself coming in a little later. In the meantime we were joined by Count Henckel, a portly gentleman with a dark beard, Herr Bamberger, a member of the Reichstag whom Count Bohlen was accustomed to call the “Red Jew,” and a Herr von Olberg, who was to be appointed to an administrative position of some kind. We began to feel ourselves masters of the conquered country and to make our arrangements accordingly. As to the portion which we at that time proposed to retain permanently a telegram to St. Petersburg which I helped to cipher said that if it were the will of Providence we intended to annex Alsace. We heard at dinner that the King and the Chancellor, accompanied by General Steinmetz, had made a reconnaissance which took them within about three English miles of Metz. The French troops outside the fortress had been driven into the city and forts on the previous day by Steinmetz’s impetuous attack at Courcelles.