I was
so shocked that if the station master, who had run after me, had not
caught me I should have fallen backward.
"Sh! madame," he whispered, "I'll find you a place"; and in another
moment I found myself, with Amelie, in a compartment where there were
already eight women, a young man, two children, and heaps of
hand-luggage--bundles in sheets, twine bags just bulging, paper parcels,
and valises. Almost as soon as we were in, the train pulled slowly out
of the station.
I learned from the women that Meaux was being evacuated. No one was
remaining but the soldiers in the barracks and the archbishop. They had
been ordered out by the army the night before, and the railroad was
taking them free. They were escaping with what they could carry in
bundles, as they could take no baggage. Their calm was remarkable-not a
complaint from any one. They were of all classes, but the barriers were
down.
The young man had come from farther up the line-a newspaper chap, who
had given me his seat, and was sitting on a bundle. I asked him if he
knew where the Germans were, and he replied that on this wing they were
at Compiegne, that the center was advancing on Coulommier, but he did
not know where the Crown Prince's division was.
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