"I do not remember it. But if you live in Ghent, why are you in
Dunkirk?"

He cast an indignant glance at his questioner, but Uncle John's serene
expression disarmed him.

"Monsieur is not here long?"

"We have just arrived."

"You cannot see Belgium from here. If you are there--in my country--you
will find that the German is everywhere. I have my home at Brussels
crushed by a shell which killed my baby girl. My land is devastate--my
crop is taken to feed German horse and German thief. There is no home
left. So my wife and my boy and girl I take away; I take them to Ostend,
where I hope to get ship to England. At Ostend I am arrested by Germans.
Not my wife and children; only myself. I am put in prison. For three
weeks they keep me, and then I am put out. They push me into the street.
No one apologize. I ask for my family. They laugh and turn away. I
search everywhere for my wife. A friend whom I meet thinks she has gone
to Ypres, for now no Belgian can take ship from Ostend to England. So I
go to Ypres. The wandering people have all been sent to Nieuport and
Dunkirk. Still I search. My wife is not in Nieuport. I come here, three
days ago; I cannot find her in Dunkirk; she has vanished. Perhaps--but I
will not trouble you with that. This is my story, ladies and gentlemen.
Behold in me--a wealthy landowner of Liege--the outcast from home and
country!"

"It is dreadful!" cried Patsy.