“Quite harmless”.... I thought of all the scholastic fury that had been split over Gordon Carruthers, I thought of Mr. Dames-Longworth who had called it “pernicious” stuff, of Canon Lyttelton who had spoken so much and to such little purpose, and who had given me so royal an advertisement. And I thought of that long stream of correspondents who had signed themselves “A mere schoolmaster,” and I thought of what they will say of my new book if it ever sees the light of day; and it seemed to me that of all the adjectives both of appreciation and abuse that may be attached to that sorry work, “harmless” is certainly the one it will never receive again. During the remainder of the day rumours bred at an alarming pace. It was reported that the revolutionaries had taken charge of the camp, and that although the armistice was still unsigned, they had told us to make our own arrangements about repatriation. Already negotiations had been opened with a shipping firm that was to take us down the Rhine to the Dutch frontier. We had visions of England within a week. As to the state of affairs in the town only conjecture was possible; but from the top windows of Block II, the slate roofs presented the same somnolent appearance, and it was hard to realise that beneath that placid landscape Democracy was lighting its flaming torch. Most of our information came from the medical orderly. In pre-war days he had been a waiter at the Carlton, and he had not forgotten how to swear in English. He was one of the most complete terrorists. “Europe is overrun with Bolshevism,” he said. “It is everywhere. You have it in England. Do you know that you have soldiers’ councils in England? You have. Did you know that the British Fleet sailed into Kiel Harbour flying the Red Flag? It did. Soon the whole world will be having revolutions. There will be no safety, none at all.” He was most hectic, and on the day of the armistice his anger exceeded all bounds. “Why do you give us terms like this?” he said. “We have got rid of our roundheads, our Kaiser, our Ludendorf. Why do you not get rid of yours? Ah, but Bolshevism will come, and do you know what your soldiers’ councils have done, they have wired to us not to sign the armistice. But the wire came too late. Still, it will be all right in time, your soldiers’ councils will see to that.” Where the Germans got the idea that there were soldiers’ councils in England, I do not know. It certainly did not appear in the _Frankfurter Zeitung_. But an enormous number of Germans were under the impression that a corresponding state of affairs existed in England. Probably it was a point of the revolutionaries’ programme. * * * * *