_July 31st._
Upon Billy's appealing to Count Harrach, we were allowed to go to tea
with the Whitlocks. Diplomatic life in Belgium to-day is one of the
experiences it is no harm to omit. If the American Diplomats attempt
to be tactful with Belgians about the Germans, and say that they
really are a nice lot after all, Belgian doors close and hats are not
lifted in the street. Yet if they refused to see Germans or avoided
them they would shortly be requested to leave on the grounds of being
anti-German. Tact and diplomacy have a hard life in Belgium now....
Philip Platt, who was also at lunch, had, as his chief worry that
day, the knowledge that the three young Princesses de Ligne, who are
ardently working for their country, were feeding the children in the
Petites Abeilles so fast that they nearly choked them. The question
which bothered him sorely was, who to get to tell the three noble
ladies that their attentions would be more appreciated if they were
less violent.