TCD MS 10247/12/47 folio 11
Augt 16th [1914] Sunday continued
horrible. It was the last boat via Rosslare & was 4 hours late starting from there, owing to a large shipment of military stores. Everyone was packed like sardines & at Fishguard they were kept for another hour again in an awful crowd carrying baggage as there was no one to help with it, while spies were looked for. It is supposed that one was found & then everyone was questioned & examined before landing. Finally when Mabel got to London at 5 a.m. (instead of 10 p.m. the night before) there was hardly any luggage to be found & she spent ¾ of an hour hunting before she secured hers. There were to be placards of the latest news at the post office today, but when I inquired they told me the wire was broken & they could not get any messages through. There seems really to be no definite news. It is supposed that the opposing armies are approaching each other & that there will be fighting all along the line from Liege to Belfast more or less with about 1000,000 men engaged on each side. The Germans seem moving on very steadily in spite of checks from the splendid little Belgians & seem to be comparatively near Brussels now. A letter came from Madam Verhoeven yesterday so plucky, though the outlook is a very gloomy one & she says she cannot sell a centimes worth [of lace].