I went on by myself, and arrived at last in a street where I noticed a light in a house. When I came near, I stood opposite a small café, with "Lodgings" over the door. I was hardly able to go on, and did not care whether it was "lodgings" or "hotel," if I could only get in somewhere.
But I did not stop long, for after a good look round it seemed the best to try and get away as quickly as possible, and in that I succeeded. One understands, however, that it was a terrific disappointment for a man so tired to leave again after thinking that he had at last found a place for rest. At length I found an hotel near the Central Station.
Antwerp had suffered from the horror of war. The bombardment had destroyed many beautiful quarters almost entirely, and even damaged badly a number of hospitals. Of course the loss of many lives had to be deplored.
The next day I had the pleasure of an interview with Cardinal Mercier, whose residence in Antwerp I had been able to find out at last. A wealthy lady had offered his Eminence her grand house. In one of the rooms I waited for the arrival of the cardinal, the Metropolitan of the Belgian Church Provinces, who, both as a prelate and a patriot, had been tried so sorely in this war, which ravaged both his university town and his episcopal town. Although he was exceedingly busy, his Eminence had the kindness to grant me an audience.
As I was still musing about the tragedy of this venerable personality in these hard days of war, the door was opened suddenly and his spare figure stood before me. It was a moment full of emotion, and perhaps I might not have recovered myself so quickly if the kind prelate had not met me with so much kindness.
After his Eminence had allowed me to kiss his ring, he asked me to sit down. I had now a good opportunity to notice how grief dwelt on his entirely spiritualised face, in its frame of white hair. But his extraordinary kindness in intercourse did not leave him for one moment.
In connection with the summons, which had been sent in the name of the archdiocese to _De Tijd_, and had been proclaimed in all the churches of Antwerp in the morning, his Eminence insisted that it should be printed in its entirety, as very many priests had taken refuge in The Netherlands, whose help was pressingly wanted in the arch-diocese in many of the parishes.