VII 



POOR little old town of St. Clodoald ! In later years 



I spent an afternoon hunting up its distant remembrances. 



Alas, but it was like looking at some worn-out engraving, 



some faded dun picture once known in all its 



brilliancy. 



Obliterated was the dainty white stone Palace/ 



scene of the revelries and the bright-coloured 



elegancies of the Regent/ favourite 



retreat of Marie Antoinette / theatre 



of the " Dix-huit Brumaire " drama / 



early home of I'Aiglon ! The Chateau 



de St. Cloud, the summer residence 



of the last Napoleon, 



had been / / J: 



burned 4- *- .: . -*... <4JU llul 



by the , ! 



Prussians^even as they 



burned the bulk of the 



town-in 1870* 



Many a time, when, not 



so many years ago, we could read 



daily the shameless slander, the wilful calumnies, 



of the German press on the subject of the 



"barbarity" of our soldiers during the South 



African wars, has my mind flown back to the picture of 



charred and jagged ruins standing against the rise of the hill 



* This zyas 'written long before anyone here dreamed of the near possi- 

 bility of another German tua.r. 



59 



