Also, there were flies amounting in numbers to a great multitude.

The talk, like the flies, went to and fro about the table; and always it was worth hearing, since it dealt largely with first-hand experiences in the very heart of the fighting.
Yet I must add that not all the talk was talk of war.

In peaceful Aix- la-Chapelle, whence we had come, the people knew but one topic.

Here, on the forward frayed edge of the battle line, the men who had that day played their part in battle occasionally spoke of other things.

I recall there was a discussion between Captain von Theobald, of the Artillery, and Major Humplmayer, of the Automobile Corps, on the merits of a painting that filled one of the panels in the big, handsome, overdecorated hall.