An Account of Our Arresting Experiences

We had been travelling for many weeks, -- Lyra Nickerson, Katherine Schermerhorn, and I, -- and after a beautiful tour through Germany, we arrived at Berlin on the evening of July 29, 1914. We had planned to spend a few days there preparatory to embarking at Hamburg in the Viktoria Luise for a northern cruise, and were looking forward to a short stay in the splendid capital. When we had secured our rooms at the Hotel Adlon, we found to our dismay that Kitty's box had not come through from Dresden, our last stopping-place. I went downstairs and interviewed the porter. He explained that, owing to the talk of war, many people were leaving their summer quarters, so that traffic was considerably congested. In this wise did the little cloud appear upon our horizon.

The following morning (Thursday) we went sightseeing, and in the afternoon -- as Lyra was not feeling well -- Kitty and I each went our own way. At five o'clock we met in the hall of the Adlon, where we had tea with her cousin, Mr. Gear, and his friend, Mr. Cluett. Later she and I went to a superb concert at the Frederichshain and heard Thornberg, the violinist.