_July._--Paul has gone, and I had scarcely time to dry my eyes when I
received his call to the colors, ordering him to go to Belfort as a
member of the Flying Corps.
* * * * *
And I thought of Drumont, whom I had left at Les Sablons and was to
have rejoined that evening. Could I leave him alone any longer? What a
torture it was to be divided between one's husband and one's child!
The telephone-bell rang. It was a friend ringing up from Paris who said:
"Go off at once to join your husband. To-morrow war will be
declared...."
I was in despair and did not know what to do. I felt that my son might
arrive at any minute, and that I might have gone and not be there to
say good-bye to him. And this time I should be leaving Paris for good
and all.
To have to leave Paris, the center of everything, and not to see Paul
again because duty calls me back to the country--my God, how cruel it
is! The car will take me back to Les Sablons to-night.