XIII—AT THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN BRUSSELS
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.