laughingly replied: "One might be worse off than here. This is the
time of year that in peace times I should have been staying in the
country with my mother-in-law."

There is no talk of peace in Verdun. I asked one of the men when
he thought the war would end. "Perfectly simple to reply to that,
Mademoiselle; the war will end the day that hostilities cease."

I believe that the Germans would not be sorry to abandon the
siege of Verdun. In one of the French newspapers I saw the
following verse:

Boches, a l'univers votre zele importun
Fait des "communiques" dont personne n'est dupe.
Vous dites: "Nos soldats occuperont Verdun.
Jusqu'ici c'est plutot Verdun qui les occupe."

(You say that you soon will hold Verdun, Whilst really Verdun holds
you.)

We left the car and climbed through the ruined streets to the top of
the citadel. No attempt has been made to remove any of the
furniture or effects from the demolished houses. In those houses
from which only the front had been blown away the spoons and
forks were in some instances still on the table, set ready for the
meal that had been interrupted.

From windows lace curtains and draperies hung out over the
fronts of the houses. Everywhere shattered doors, broken
cupboards, drawers thrown open where the inhabitants had