that the exchange was one from the frying-pan to the fire. In short, there
was no peace for him, till the destined heroine.... Well, you can now see
whether you are likely to be amused, edified, or bored by a well-meaning
story, told (I should add) with a rather devastating solemnity of style.

* * * * *

M. HENRI DOMELIER, the author of _Behind the Scenes at German Headquarters_
(HURST AND BLACKETT), must also be accounted among the prophets, for he
foretold the invasion of Belgium. Before the War he edited a newspaper in
Charleville, and when the Ardennes had been "inundated by the enemy hordes"
and the local authorities had withdrawn to Rethel, he stayed in Charleville
and acted as Secretary to the Municipal Commission. This organisation was
recognised by the Germans, but to be secretary of it was still a dangerous
post, and M. MAURICE BARRÈS in eloquent preface tells us of some of the
sufferings that M. DOMELIER had to endure while trying to carry out his
difficult duties. The French who remained in Charleville had more than
ample opportunities of seeing both the EX-KAISER and his eldest son, and M.
DOMELIER writes of them with a pen dipped in gall. No book that I have read
puts before one more poignantly the miseries which the inhabitants of
invaded France had to bear during "the great agony." For the most part they
bore them with a courage beyond all praise; but some few, giving way under
stress of physical suffering or moral temptation, forgot their nationality;
and these M. DOMELIER makes no pretence to spare. I think that even those
of us who have definitely made up our minds regarding the Hun and want to
read no more about him will welcome this book. For if it is primarily an
indictment of Germans and German methods, it is hardly less a tribute to
those who held firm through all their misery and never gave up hope during
the darkest days.