Laquarrière shouted down my ear:
"You all look as if you were starting out for a day's shooting!"
Oh! so I looked like the rest? Well, I was not sorry for it!
My companion persuaded me to finish up the evening in a music hall.
The place was full. Lots of people were treating themselves to an evening's amusement before the coming horrors. There was a sketch, followed by several acrobatic turns. The audience was enthusiastic. But I was struck, nevertheless, by the coldness with which "the eccentric" Fergusson, usually the idol of the public, was received.
Laquarrière enlightened me by remarking:
"That will teach England to buck up a bit!"
We laughed together over the childishness of crowds, for this "eccentric" said to be a Londoner, had perhaps been born at Javel. The three Alkenkirch brothers, the Dresden tight-rope walkers, had also disappeared from the programme.
Laquarrière whispered:
"They would have been torn to pieces! Just look at the brutes."