To begin with, the period of optimism had continued. The enemy had been intercepted on the Meuse, and at Liège, Namur, and Dinant. Our offensive was developing at Mulhouse and towards Morhange. That had gone on until Friday, the 21st. That day's _communiqué_ still gave a favourable picture of the situation. There were two shadows on it, however: the day was described as having been "less fortunate" in Lorraine, and the occupation of Brussels. The next day, there was nothing very new. A huge battle was going on. The guns were talking. Complete silence for two days. On the third--it was Tuesday--the _communiqué_ announced, in terms very flattering to our troops, that the attack had had no decisive results and that we had fallen back on our covering positions. The casualties were heavy on both sides. One paper claimed to see a second Valmy in the engagement. But since then things had been going from bad to worse! To how great an extent? I pressed Langlois, and implored him to try and recall the smallest details--the text even of the bulletins. We were holding out? Apparently. Towards Nancy our luck seemed to be re-establishing itself. In the North? Oh. Langlois admitted that he really knew nothing about the North. I pretended to be as calm as possible in order to encourage him. Come along! The daily reports? What did they point to? They were perplexing--"The English have lost a little ground on our extreme left...." "We have had to bring our line slightly farther back...." What else? Ever since the day following "Charleroi" they had talked of German patrol parties venturing right up to near Douai and Valenciennes. A note which had an official twang about it had appeared on this subject. There was no cause for alarm! Merely isolated instances! That was all very well! But the same day we read in the socialistic manifesto that "Our richest and most cultivated regions are invaded." "And what about the Russians?" I asked. "Haven't they come in yet?" "Yes--things are going all right down there apparently." There were no details, of course. The detachment had left F----, Langlois continued, at midday on the 29th,--the Paris dailies had just arrived. This time there was a _communiqué_ which was undeniably odd. Even he had been startled. He quoted the exact text: "_The situation on our front, from the Somme to the Vosges, is exactly the same to-day as it was yesterday._" From the Somme to the Vosges! It was my turn to get a shock. What! Then the Huns were at Amiens! Yes, everything went to prove it. Even nearer perhaps? They had heard a rumour on their train journey, of sanguinary engagements at Bapaume and at Peronne. Other reports were circulating. Soisson and St. Quentin were said to have been cut off, the Compiègne forest on fire.