The cruisers prowl observant; Their crackling whispers go; The demon says, "Your servant," And lets their Lordships know; A fog's come down off Flanders? A something showed off Wick? The captains and commanders Can speak their Lordships quick. The demon sits a-waking; Look up above Whitehall-- E'en now, mayhap, he's taking The Greatest Word of all; From smiling folk aboard-ships He ticks it off the reel:-- "An' may it please your Lordships, A Fleet's put out o' Kiel!" * * * * * "Much indecision prevails as to what the value of sultanas will be in the near future." _Daily Telegraph._ What the Germans want to know is the price of Sultans. * * * * * BLANCHE'S LETTERS. WAR GOSSIP. _Park Lane._ Dearest Daphne,--The situation here is unchanged, though we have made some progress in knitting. Forgive me, _m'amie_, but one does get so much into the _despatch_ habit! The other day I'd a letter from Babs, in which she told me she'd "nothing fresh to report on her right wing" before she pulled herself together. Norty's at the front as a flying-man. He's finding out all sorts of things, dropping bombs on Zeppelins and covering himself with glory. I had a few lines from him last week. He dated from "A place in Europe" (they have to be _enormously_ cautious!), and said he was having the time of his life. He was immensely pleased with the last letter I managed to get through to him, and was particularly struck, he says, with my advice to him: "Find out all you can, and above all don't get caught;" he considers it simply _invaluable_ advice and says all airmen ought to have it written up in letters of gold somewhere or other. Stella Clackmannan's had a fortnight's training as a nurse and is off. I ran in to see the dear thing the night before she left. She'd been posing to a photographer in her Red Cross uniform for _hours_ and _hours_ and was almost in a state of _collapse_; but the heroic darling said she was ready to do even _more than that_ for her country. In one photo she's sitting by a cot with her hands folded, looking sad but _very_ sweet. In another she's standing up, singing, "It's a long way to Tipperary;" and in a third she's bandaging someone (she had one of the foot-men in for this photo), and, _a mon avis_, it's the least successful of all. She appears to be _choking_ the poor man! However, they're immensely charming, and will all be seen in the "Aristocratic Angels of Mercy" page of next week's _People of Position_.