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of sweet things. There will be no sugar for us for some days to come! Yet this old woman held very strong political opinions. Whether it be true or not, she told us that her husband, General L., was the instructor of both Badoglio and Graziani. Badoglio, she declared, was the cleverer of the two and when all was revealed his name would be fully exonerated.

September 30th. Antonio's aviator nephew, a clever and fine type of Italian, came to see him. He shed tears on speaking of Italy and told me that the German soldiers he knew, say that they are winning the war and some of them even say that they have already won it. "A chaq-un sa verite!"

It appears that after the Professor was rescued and dusted, he was so distracted that he could do nothing but walk up and down the pavement. The Signora, on the contrary, preserved all of her wits and at once set herself to saving some of the household belongings. It was when rummaging in the midst of the ruins that she heard her spouse asking timidly for his tea. She sent him up to us and he arrived, carrying a small package which proved to be a piece of bread and cheese that some kindly passer-by had offered him.

He wept over his bombed house but brightened up to describe his study which was still standing and showed from the street a bronze head of Dante on the mantelpiece.

The Professor's escape was miraculous. During the alarm he was at his front door watching the aeroplanes when one of these swooped down so low that he slammed the door to and threw himself on the floor. The