was installed in the kitchen.  He was a genius at making miracles out of nothing, and his soups made out of bacon rind and old bones, followed by entrees constructed from bully beef, were a dream.  He was assisted by the nuns from Louvain who had accompanied us to Poperinghe, and who now worked for us on the sole condition that we should not desert them.  They were very picturesque working in the kitchen in their black cloaks and coifs.  At meal-times the scene was a most animated one, for, as we had no one to wait on us, we all came in one after the other, plate in hand, while Maurice stood with his ladle and presided over the ceremonies, with a cheery word for everyone, assisted by the silent nuns.

The getting of supplies became at times a very serious question.  Needless to say, Furnes was destitute of anything to eat, drink, burn, or wear, and Dunkirk was soon in a similar case.  We had to get most of our provisions over from England, and our milk came every morning on the Government transport, from Aylesbury.  For some weeks we were very hard up, but the officer in charge of the naval stores at Dunkirk was very good to us, and supplied us with bully beef, condensed milk, cheese, soap, and many other luxuries till we could get further supplies from home.  We used a considerable quantity of coal, and on one occasion we were faced by the prospect of an early famine, for Furnes and Dunkirk were empty.  But nothing was ever too great a strain for the resources of our housekeeper.  She discovered that there was a coal-heap at Ramscapelle, five miles away, and in a few hours an order had been obtained from the Juge d’Instruction empowering us to take the coal if we could get it, and the loan of a Government lorry had been coaxed out of the War Lords.  The only difficulty was that for the moment the Germans were shelling the place, and it was too dangerous to go near even for coal; so the expedition had to be postponed until they desisted.  It seemed to me the most original method of filling one’s coal-cellar of which I had ever heard.  And it was typical of a large number of our arrangements.  There is something of the Oriental about the Belgians and the French.  If we wanted any special favour, the very last thing we thought of doing was to go and ask for it.  It was not that they were not willing to give us what we asked for, but they did not understand that method of approach.  What we did was to go to breakfast with the Juge, or to lunch with the Minister, or to invite the Colonel to dinner.  In the course of conversation the subject would be brought up in some indirect way till the interest of the great man had been gained; then everything was easy.  And surely there is something very attractive about a system where everything is done as an act of friendship, and not as the soulless reflex of some official machine.  It is easier to drink red wine than to eat red tape, and not nearly so wearing to one’s digestion.