In the little village three leagues from Bar-le-Duc a powerful car drew up in a cloud of dust in front of the restaurant where our friends had dined the night before, and General Joffre stepped from it on to the pavement.
"Ah, what? You do not know where he is? No one has seen him—the young English lieutenant who was to meet me here?" said the General, knitting his white eyebrows. "That is strange; but never mind"—and he drew out his watch—"it still wants four minutes to eight."
Leaning his elbow on the side of the automobile with one foot planted on the step, the great Frenchman waited, talking meanwhile with a Divisional General who had something to report.
"Yes, yes," said the Generalissimo, and then he looked at his watch again. The minute hand pointed to the hour, but Sir Douglas Haig's messenger had not come!