"Yes, and they're being paid well. If England and the Entente only took the trouble to understand the Balkans. Germany has sent her ablest men to Sofia with unlimited credit. The English representatives offend by their snobbery." "Do you think they'll go in at all?" S---- persists. "Probably they'll be forced in, in the end. But the people don't want to abandon their neutrality. They're making money. They're recouping after the Balkan wars. Bulgaria has had nothing but wars and crises for the last five years." "They say there are already German officers in the Bulgarian army." "I don't believe it's so. The Bulgarians are very independent. If they went in I think they would command their own army." "But this war is not conducted along Balkan war lines," K---- said amusedly. "No," I agreed. "You know more about the situation now than I do. I can't even read a newspaper. All I know is the spirit of Bulgaria when I left." "Isn't Bulgaria's Government autocratic enough to declare war without consulting the people?" K---- continued. "Perhaps--unfortunately. The Bulgarians say, 'We have a wonderful constitution, if the Czar would only use it.'" "The papers to-day already speak of Bulgaria's treason and ingratitude," K---- observed. I was angry. "In Bulgaria, some think Russia doesn't want them to go in on the Entente side. They think Russia wants to make a Russian lake out of the Black Sea, and a Russian province out of Bulgaria. They say Russia is the obstacle to their having joined the Entente months ago." "She will go with Germany," Count S---- insisted fatalistically. "Everything is going Germany's way." "No--no--no!" I cried. "Of course she will go where she sees her advantage," said K----. "All she wants is to fight for Macedonia before the close of the war. Certainly, it isn't too much to ask if she allows the English and Russians to cross her territory to get at Turkey. The war will be shortened by months if she goes in with the Entente, and Turkey in Europe will be finished." I know you'll laugh, Dad, and think my pretentions to a political opinion presumptuous. My hope is that I'll know more when I'm older! Love to you all. Think of me, won't you? Don't let _miles_ make any difference. RUTH. II _July 30._ It is confirmed that Warsaw has fallen! Every one is very much depressed. What can stop the Germans? Some one speaks of the forts of Vilna and Grodno, which are supposed to be impregnable. But what about the forts on the Western front? What do forts amount to nowadays? The strongest walls are razed by the Germans' big guns! "The Germans do just as they like--nothing can stop them. In the beginning the Kaiser said he would sleep at Warsaw," Count S---- says gloomily. "And he said he would dine in Paris," some one else remarks.