A GARDEN DIARY 207 



JULY 7, 1900 



more the great outside tide of life has 

 beaten down the little barricades that one 

 erects against it, and has come thundering in 

 over them in an avalanche, tossing them to right 

 and left, as though they were so many straws in 

 its path ! This week that has just ended has 

 been for millions for all Europe, for the whole 

 world in fact stamped with the impress of what 

 one would fain still hope to be an incredible 

 horror. Personally this Pekin nightmare has 

 centred itself for me in the fact that E. B. was 

 reported to be still there. Recently she was 

 known to have been there, and whether she had, 

 or had not left seemed at first impossible to 

 ascertain. At last, though not until after days 

 of suspense, of uncertainty, of growing hope- 

 lessness, came the telegram "Safe at Hong 

 Kong," and the relief is greater than it is easy, 

 without exaggeration, to put into words. 



So great has been that relief that for me it 

 has perceptibly altered the whole situation, as I 



