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64 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
everyone was busy with his duties, and the Crown Prince then
occupied his post as commanding officer at suitable points at
the front.
The chateau where we were staying belonged to an aristo-
cratic French lady—if I remember rightly her name was du
Vernier. When the war broke out she moved to Bordeaux.
On her return after the contest she will find her chateau, her
estates and the beautiful park in the same condition as when
she went away. There was a certain aristocratic grandeur
about the chateau, though signs of decay were already making
themselves apparent. On the mantelpiece in my room stood a
pendulum clock of gUt bronze of an antique mythological
design, and on each side stood a couple of gorgeous candelabra.
The walls were decorated with a few unassuming pictures,
amongst them a portrait of an old French warrior.
I open my window, it is pitch-dark outside, and the rain
falls close and heavy upon the trees and lawns outside. Tired
after a somewhat ambitious day’s work, I hurry to bed, the
more so as I suspect the next day’s programme to be no less
exacting.
September 21st. I was called early to be ready for breakfast
at seven, when all his entourage gathers round the Crown Prince.
After breakfast H.I. & R.H. asked me to accompany him to
the Staff quarters, where a "plan of campaign" for my day
was to be drawn up. General Schmidt quickly made up his
mind. He thought it might be of interest to me to begin by
watching the artillery fire at Septsarges, and instructed three
officers to take charge of me. Major Matthiasz was the leader
of the party, and a soldier came as chauffeur. The two other
officers were Liebrecht of a battalion of Chasseurs, and
Schmidt of the Volunteer Automobile Corps.
Whilst the car was got ready I was being coached on a large
map in the grouping of the 5th Army and of the artUlery
positions which we were to visit. The General Staff of the
Chief Command of the Army was housed in an École de
Gargons, which stni contained relics of its former state, such
as natural history pictures and maps, and a couple of school
benches with the master’s desk, above which could still be
seen in black and white the golden rules : Ne vous vantez
pas, and Liberie, Égalité, Fraternité. How hollow and
foolish did they not seem before the brutal reality now presiding
over the world !
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