"_Un casque a' point!_"

"A what!"

"Yes--a pointed helmet. I was standing by the post office in Charly
when a long line of motors passed by on the road to Paris. I recognized
the Belgium uniform, and one of the soldiers leaned out and held up a
German helmet! What a trophy!"

"The Belgians! What on earth are they doing down here?" thought I. And
George guessed my question.

"Oh," he continued, "you see their regiment was cut in two by the
Germans at Charleville and those who escaped managed to get motors and
are on their way home--by a round-about route to Antrwerp via Havre.
The hotel keeper said so. She offered some wine to one motor full that
stopped."

If that were true it was an amazing bit of news! Then things were not
going as well as the now very reticent papers led one to suppose. But
it all seemed so very distant that I refused to worry.

However, I was about to seek out Madame Guix and tell her what George
had reported when an amusing sight caught my eye.

From her open window, towards which she had asked that we push her bed,
Yvonne amused herself by calling her ducklings.

"Bour-ree--bour-ree!"