"I should like to stay here, if I may. And from here, of course, I
should like to get to the front."
"Where?"
"Can I get to Ypres?"
"It is not very safe."
I proclaimed instantly and loudly that I was as brave as a lion; that
I did not know fear. He smiled. But when the interview was over it was
arranged that I should have a _permis de sejour_ to stay in Dunkirk,
and that on the following day the general himself and one of his
officers having an errand in that direction would take me to Ypres.
That night the town of Dunkirk was bombarded by some eighteen German
aeroplanes.
CHAPTER VIII
THE NIGHT RAID ON DUNKIRK
I found that a room had been engaged for me at the Hotel des Arcades.
It was a very large room looking out over the public square and the
statue of Jean Bart. It was really a princely room. No wonder they
showed it to me proudly, and charged it to me royally. It was an
upholstered room. Even the doors were upholstered. And because it was
upholstered and expensive and regal, it enjoyed the isolation of
greatness. The other people in the hotel slept above or underneath.
There were times when I longed for neighbours, when I yearned for some
one to occupy the other royal apartment next door. But except for a
Russian prince who stayed two days, and who snored in Russian and kept
two _valets de chambre_ up all night in the hall outside my door
polishing his boots and cleaning his uniform, I was always alone in
that part of the hotel.
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