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- 9I -

June 19th The German Consul and his family are leaving. The sky is cloudy and except for the blowing-up of war installations by the departing Germans there has been no bombing last night nor today. Is it the calm before the storm? It is said that the Americans will soon be here. That there will not be the usual letting loose of the Communists to herald their arrival. We are waiting in suspense.
June the 20th We went to see the Swiss Consul who attends to American interests. This intelligent little blond man is very cautious. Before the German retreat he showed no bias against the Germans, but now he has nothing but good to say of them; they intend to imprison the Duchess d'Aosta and her children as hostages; they may even blow up a bridge or two before departing. He was certain that there would be an uprising of the people against the 'Signori', and of course he could give no protection since he had neither soldiers nor machine-guns. The Baroness lived too far away to be helped he replied, when we spoke of her. No wonder she was hysterical the other day after her visit to this Swiss oracle. We left him under the impression that our adviser was eagerly awaiting the fulfilment of his own predictions. It is my conviction that these calamities and probably many other will take shape when the Germans leave and the worst elements get the upper hand. Now this very Consul since the beginning of the war has been advising us not to leave for Switzerland. We reminded him of his former optimistic stand. He replied that it was always a mistake to