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[1]We had been travelling for many weeks,—Lyra Nickerson, KatherineSchermerhorn, and I,—and after a beautiful tour through Germany, wearrived at Berlin on the evening of July 29, 1914. We had planned tospend a few days there preparatory to embarking at Hamburg in theViktoria Luise for a northern cruise, and were looking forward to ashort stay in the splendid capital. When we had secured our rooms atthe Hotel Adlon, we found to our dismay that Kitty's box had not comethrough from Dresden, our last stopping-place. I went downstairs andinterviewed the porter. He explained that, owing to the talk of war,many people were leaving their summer quarters, so that traffic wasconsiderably congested. In this wise did the little cloud appear uponour horizon.
The following morning (Thursday) we went sightseeing, and in theafternoon—as Lyra was not feeling well—Kitty and I each went our ownway. At five o'clock we met in the hall of the Adlon, where we hadtea [2]with her cousin, Mr. Gear, and his friend, Mr. Cluett. Later sheand I went to a superb concert at the Frederichshain and heardThornberg, the violinist.
On Friday morning a little German friend whom I had not seen for manyyears came to visit me. I asked her if war were likely. She replied:"Certainly not. All danger is now over." This was encouraging, for Ithought she knew what she was talking about.
In the afternoon we hired an automobile, and motored out to Potsdam.Then when we were outside the old Palace we heard that the Kaiser's"strong-for-peace" policy had been of no avail, that the Czar hadinsulted his messenger, and that now war was inevitable. We ours