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store were handy. It took me an hour and a half to drag ^[[our]] 3 trunks out of the checking room (it was all maned by women and I felt actually ashamed to see mademoiselle lifting the weights about and inadvertently attempted to do it myself ^[[until the men were interested enough to come]]) Into the taxi, over to the new stations and through endless arguments with the baggage receivers and military men before I had my receipt safely at hand.

After three nights (2½ days) in the great city we bribed the lady who was saving the coach seats, to give us (five American Officers) the use of a cross section of the first class wagon. And then we made a very fine journey down ^[[to Orleans [[strikethrough]] illegible [[/strikethrough]] and along the Loire to Tours.

At Tours my idea was to immediately become reaffiliated with my squadron, but after searching in all the hotels for a