Speaking so low that we could scarcely catch his words, he said in broken English: "M'sieurs, the French are in Brussels, are they not ?" "No," we told him.
"The British, then--they must be there by now ?" "No; the British aren't there, either." He shook his head, as though puzzled, and started on.
"How far away are the Germans ?" we asked him.
He shook his head again.

"I cannot say," he answered; "but I think they must be close behind us.

I had a brother in the army at Liege," he added, apparently apropos of nothing.

And then he went on, still shaking his head and with both arms tightly clasped round a big bundle done up in cloth, which he held against his breast.
Very suddenly the procession broke off, as though it had been chopped in two; and almost immediately after that the road turned into a street and we were between solid lines of small cottages, surrounded on all sides by people who fluttered about with the distracted aimlessness of agitated barnyard fowls.

They babbled among themselves, paying small heed to us.