“War?” gasped the girl, holding her breath.
“Yes. Eighty thousand Germans are advancing towards the river, and we are already defending Liège against them. Terrible fighting is taking place. Hark! Listen to our forts! Can you hear?”
The girl listened, and for the first time heard the thunder of war—a dull, low roar in the receiver.
“That was one of the big guns in Fort Loncin, General Leman is defending the city, but the Germans are burning all the villages around. From my window here I can see the smoke across the river.”
“Oh! this is awful!” the girl cried. “I will telephone to my father and tell him—if I can find him.”
“Yes, Mademoiselle—tell him that I fear the worst. The first reports of the enemy reached here at dawn, and Liège seems to swarm with German spies. A dozen or so were caught signalling to the enemy with flags from the tops of high houses. They have all been shot—outside here, against the wall.”
“They were not Belgians.”
“They posed as such. One of them was one of my foremen. I always believed him to be a Belgian. It is a revelation, Mademoiselle.”
“But can the Germans enter the city?”
“No, Mademoiselle. Last night all the bridges over the river were destroyed.”