I received to-day a letter from my gardener at Vernon. He says that the
roads are filled with refugees, who are being sent on to Brittany by way
of Louviers. Motorists along the roads say that they have passed
continuous lines of refugees, sometimes seventy kilometers in length.
The Chateau de Bizy is transformed into a hospital and so also is the
Chateau des Penitents at Vernonnet. Most of the injured have slight
wounds in the arms or legs. Many of them, after five days' treatment,
are able to go back to the front.




_Wednesday, September 9._


Thirty-eighth day of the war. Somewhat cooler weather, with cloudy sky
and with south to southwesterly wind, at times blowing in sharp gusts.
Thermometer at five P.M. 21 degrees centigrade.

The air is still overcharged with uncertainty as to the result of the
great battle along the front of one hundred and twenty miles between the
Ourcq and Verdun. Will the Germans succeed in forcing their tremendous
wedge through the French center near Vitry and separate the allied
armies to the west and around Paris, from the great French armies to the
east and around Verdun?

A German repulse means a German tragedy. But if they succeed in their
bold move on the center, and separate the allied armies, they will gain
a very great strategic success and can then turn their attention to the
investment of a segment of the fortifications of Paris.