I am waiting to know from one of the most charming of the sons of Gaul, who has promised to be my intercessor before the powers that be, whether I am to go to my front—our front—now or not. If, as Amiel says, “_Être prêt, c’est partir_,” then I am already off. FINIS FOOTNOTES [1] Killed 10th November, 1915, at Zagora, at the head of his battalion. [2] Planted so that any vista represents the Roman numeral V. [3] Like porcelain dogs. [4] Verdun, the Virdunum of the Romans. In the third century a bishopric was founded there with Saint Saintin as first bishop; 843, the treaty of Verdun; after the battle of Fontanet the three sons of Louis the Debonair, Lothair, Louis of Bavaria, and Charles the Bald, divided the empire of Charlemagne, with the result that not only was France separated from Germania, but her natural boundaries, the Alps and the Rhine, were lost; 1792, the Prussians besieged it in force and it was obliged to capitulate after two days; 1870, a heroic defense lasting nearly three months ending in capitulation; 1916, _Ils n’ont pas passé, ils ne passeront pas_. [5] _Neuvième série._ [6] Alan Seeger, _Letters and Diary_. [7] Regimental decoration in the form of a cord worn over the left shoulder, passing under the arm. [8] The _sauf-conduits_ for the army zones are in the form of little, red, paper-bound books. [9] “_La Pioggia nel Pineto._”—D’ANNUNZIO. [10] In _L’Horizon_ I found these lines from Verlaine, with a few added, concerning _le Cafard_, by “Bi Bi Bi”: _Quelle est cette douleur_ _Qui pénètre mon cœur?_ _C’est bien la pire peine_ _De ne savoir pourquoi_ _Sans amour et sans haine_ _Mon cœur a tant de peine._ _En effet, cher Verlaine,_ _C’est bien la pire peine_ _Que ta fameuse peine_ _Et les poilus sans art_ _La nomment le Cafard._ But _le Cafard_ differs from Verlaine’s _peine_ in that it is a very special kind of world-pain, and very complete; for those in its grip know _why_, as well as _not_ why, they suffer. The memory of loved and early things, very probably not to be known again, is part of it. The consciously unreasonable hope that all will be well in an extremely uncertain future is another part of it—and underlying it is crushing physical fatigue, sleeplessness, hunger, cold, heat, the whole smeared in the blood of brothers and foes, the dull reaction after killing, or escape from being killed—one can’t feel that there is anything vague about _le Cafard_. [11] Cook. [12] Gondrecourt, the first American encampment in Lorraine. [13] During the closing days of February, 1918, the air raids on Nancy were so continuous and so disastrous that Molitor had to be evacuated and the inmates, the aged and the children, were redistributed in other parts of France. These words are quite simple to write and to read. Their significance is beyond expression. March, 1918, E. O’S.