"For king and country!"
The Commandant said that when a German soldier surrenders he throws
down his gun, takes off his helmet and jerks off his shoulder straps,
saying over and over, "_Pater familias_." Sometimes, by way of
emphasising that he is a family man, he holds up his fingers--two
children or three children, whatever it may be. Even boys in their
teens will claim huge families.
I did not find it amusing after the postcard and the photograph. I
found it all very tragic and sad and disheartening.
It was growing late and the General was impatient to be off. We had
still a long journey ahead of us, and riding at night was not
particularly safe.
I got into the car and they bundled in after me the damaged pictures,
the horseshoe, the piece of gargoyle from the Cloth Hall and the nose
of the shell.
The orderly reported that a Zeppelin had just passed overhead; but the
General shrugged his shoulders.
"They are always seeing Zeppelins," he said. "Me, I do not believe
there is such a thing!"
* * * * *
That night in my hotel, after dinner, Gertrude, Lady Decies, told me
the following story:
"I had only twelve hours' notice to start for the front. I am not a
hospital nurse, but I have taken for several years three months each
summer of special training.
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