Lady Bagot's hospital, where he is laid up, and sit to him in the
intervals of soup. That little wooden hospital is the best place I have
known so far. Lady Bagot is never bustled or fussy, nor even "busy," and
her staff are excellent men, with the "Mark of the Lamb" on them.

I gave away a lot of things to-day to a regiment going into the
trenches. The soldiers were delighted with them.

_11 March._--There was a lot of firing near La Panne to-day, and a
British warship was repeatedly shelled by the Germans from Nieuport. I
went into Dunkirk with Mr. Clegg, and got the usual hasty shopping done.
No one can ever wait a minute. If one has time to buy a newspaper one is
lucky. The difficulty of communicating with anyone is great--no
telephone--no letters--no motor-car. I am stranded.

[Page Heading: FRENCH MARINES]

I generally go in the train to Adinkerke with the French Marines, nice
little fellows, with labels attached to them stating their "case"--not
knowing where they are going or anything else--just human lives battered
about and carted off. I don't even know where they get the little bit of
money which they always seem able to spend on loud-smelling oranges and
cigarettes. The place is littered with orange-skins--to-day I saw a long
piece lying in the form of an "S" amid the mud; and, like a story of a
century old, I thought of ourselves as children throwing orange-skins
round our heads and on to the floor to read the initial of our future
husband, and I seemed to hear mother say, "'S' for Sammy--Sammy C----,"
a boy with thick legs whom we secretly despised!

I have found a whole new household of "éclopés" at Adinkerke, who want