"Listen! I certainly won't hide from you the fact that I envy you. I should be delighted to stay under shelter like you. And yet ... shall I own up to a certain kind of curiosity? War? This War. The greatest of all! It seems to me that it's worth experiencing. What an amazing opportunity for accumulating memories, and also of refreshing oneself, of drawing near to nature!" He exploded. Good Heavens! Did I think it would have the faintest interest for me! Was not the peculiarity of modern campaign a terrible tedium? You never see the enemy. You spend days in shovelling ground about. The operations are on such a vast scale that the majors and colonels themselves often do not follow them in the least. "And you're counting on it for distraction and refreshment. Poor old chap! It would have been well worth making yourself scarce. Well, you're in for it now. What do you want? Regeneration by war! Back to the land! I'm quite content! If you consider that your life was becoming too monotonous, go and amuse yourself by getting a piece of shrapnel into you, over yonder towards Epinal! That will wake you up a bit!" He had beaten me. I contented myself with assuming a jeering expression, in order to let him think I had been pulling his leg. CHAPTER X EVENING, ON THE BOULEVARDS It was time to go and dine. I bought a paper directly we got out. Laquarrière exclaimed: "What thirst for news!" "I admit it." "And you expect to find it in the papers!" It was a fact that I searched in vain for any definite news concerning the serious military and diplomatic situations. Always the same system of brief, touched-up telegrams. One would so much have liked to be certain of England's attitude. However, the theory of Italian neutrality seemed to be confirmed; one good point! "What will the flying machines do?" I asked suddenly. The subject interested me. I had visions of raids and fantastic combats _à la_ Wells. "Nothing at all!" Laquarrière broke in. "They haven't a ghost of a chance against Zeppelins." He embarked on the praises of these Dreadnoughts of the air, one of which had gone two thousand kilometres without a stop, a few months before. "I shouldn't be surprised to see them over Paris to-night!" I tossed my head. He continued: "Besides, as regards aeroplanes, you mustn't imagine that we're in any way superior to them in that line. They've beaten all our records lately, distance and height." It was only one detail among many. He did not hide from me the fact that he had an extremely poor opinion of our state of preparation. Cipollina's tone and mistrust were repeated in him. I ventured to remark: "Our troops in the East are tip-top." He shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps, but you are hardly up to the same form." What could one say without losing one's temper, a thing I was not in the least anxious to do. * * * * *