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For several moments more the general eyed the lads sternly and they returned his gaze without flinching. Suddenly the general clapped his hands together. The French officer who had arrested the two lads entered he tent and saluted. "Captain," said General Petain. "my compliments to Mr. Anthony Stubbs and say that I desire his presence here at once."
And Pétain in some curious way has fixed in my mind the impression of the new Frenchman, if there be a new one, or perhaps better of the French soldier of to-day, whether he wear the stars of the general or undecorated "horizon" blue of the Poilu.
But there must be a house and a room in Doullens, which ought already to be marked as national property, and will certainly be an object of travel in years to come for both English and French; no less than that factory to the west of Verdun where Castelnau and Pétain conferred at the sharpest crisis of the immortal siege.
Over a photogravure plate ran some words in a large sprawling hand, as if written with a brush. 'That page when I got it yesterday, he said, 'was an unassuming picture of General Petain presenting military medals. There wasn't a scratch or a ripple on its surface. But I got busy with it, and see there! He pointed out two names.
I do not believe Napoleon's Old Guard would have followed Pétain as they followed Ney. I cannot fancy him in the Imperial uniform, and yet, now that war is a thing of machines, of telephones, of indirect fire and destruction from unseen weapons at remote ranges, now that the whole manner and circumstance of conflict have changed, it is but natural that the General should change, too.
Their other main attack had fared even worse on the Poivre hill to the west; and although Louvemont and Hill 347 had been carried in the centre, the fifth day of the battle closed with the Germans behind instead of beyond the real defences of the city they had hoped to reach in four. On that day, too, Pétain arrived to take over the command, and he was followed by reinforcements.
"No, sir; they professed ignorance. But they had the peas " "Mon Dieu! Can't you think of anything but peas? What kind of a war correspondent are you, anyhow?" Stubbs was offended. He drew himself up and would have made reply, but General Petain silenced him with a gesture. "I don't question your loyalty," he said, "and I know that you acted with the good of these lads at heart.
After having been pushed back many miles by the German hordes, the French now braced suddenly and gave as good as they received. Instead of waiting for the German attacks, General Petain launched offensives of his own. At first these broke down easily under the German shells, but as they continued, the drives began to meet with more and more success.
They will tell you, perhaps, that Pétain is the man; they will certainly tell you that they hope that the man has been found in Pétain. As to the truth of all this I do not pretend to know. I did not see Joffre, but all that I have read of Joffre suggests that Pétain is of his sort, the same quiet, silent man, with a certain coldness of the North, a grimness of manner that is lacking in his chief.
In the shelter of a doorway stood a group of territorials, getting their first real news of the battle from a Paris newspaper. I heard "Nous avons reculé huit kilomètres le général Pétain " A motor-lorry drowned out the rest. That night we were given orders to be ready to evacuate the château in case the Boches advanced.
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