drearily in my pocket; perhaps my best course would be to enlist in
the German army. I thought the cause a just one for the atmosphere
had made me a good German, and as a soldier I might at least earn my
bread. To my joy, however, in one of my daily visits to the banking
house the courteous young partner told me that a telegram had come in
some roundabout way from Paris and they were prepared to pay me the
full amount on my letter of credit. I clutched the money, two pretty
cylinders of gold coin done up in white paper, which I sewed securely
into the waist-band of my trousers and felt an instant strengthening
of nerve and self-respect.

I departed then for Switzerland where I enjoyed a delightful
fortnight. The rebound from my depression imparted a fine
_morale_. Switzerland was practically deserted, no French or
Germans were there for they had enough to do with the war; the English
for the most part stayed at home, for Europe could only be crossed
with difficulty, and the crowd from America too was deterred by the
danger. Instead of the throngs at the great points of interest, the
visitors counted by twos and threes. The guides and landlords were
obsequious. We few strangers had the Alps to ourselves and they were
as lavish of their splendours to the handful as to the multitude. At
Geneva at last I found letters from home which caused me anxiety; I
was referred for later news to letters which were to be sent to Paris;
so there was nothing for it but for me to cross France, though by that
time France had become a camp. Fortunately I had met in Switzerland
an American friend who was proficient in French as I was not and
who likewise found it necessary to go to Paris, and we two started
together. After crossing the frontier we found no regular trains;
those that ran were taken up for the most part by the multitudes of
conscripts hurrying into armies that were undergoing disaster in