1 16 July My Pr I have just had a
d of a row. Either Gen' P
or Sir G published the letter
I sent them, in which the
abbreviated version is 'the GOC
now confesses he has got
excellent troops'. He is perfect
-ly furious & swears all
kind of threats. I can quite
see his point of view in
this as it makes an impli-
cation - not intended that he
did not appreciate them
before, & he thinks I have
been criticising him behind
his back. I find it a little
hard to forgive Sir G who
I suspect is the culprit &
who as a soldier ought
to have known better. 2 I have saved Farnham
& Singleton by getting Henry
to suppress his paper in
which letters written by
them appear. It is rather
like the b w's luck &
you will not even see my
name mentioned in conse-
quence —- in fact the fuss
is not yet over. The G never
forgives & we at present
loathe the sight of each-
other, tho I do see his
point of view. You may as well be very
careful in your dealings
with Mrs & all who are
likely to pass on things to her.
I rather wish I was going
to the 24 Div tomorrow to
get things over as the atmos 3 phere is sultry & P does
not help much- au contraire
he is coming by his own &
will make the most of it. Well thank goodness I
shan't be a soldier after
the war is over, & tho I
suppose roses will be
forbidden the the state,
perhaps a cabbage rose
or 2 may be allowed. As luck will have it
there is no letter today
from you, but I had 2
yesterday, only today it
would just have been
extra appreciated. 17th I am out this morning
writing in the open which would be
rather jolly but for the flies, which
in the absence of flypaper , or p v
or other convenient substitutes are 4 troublesome. I fancy I am now
on the Gen's nerves like Russell
&Graig in which case it may
be as well if I leave which is
what I think he has in mind.
In many ways I shall not
regret it as there are disad-
vantages in being with 'ones'
own children' in a battle &
I quite see them. At the
same time it will be a bit
of a wrench & will be one
of the other things which
one will not be able to
explain after the war, tho'
perhaps then - but not now -
I shall drop a hint to Craig
of how it has happened. Poor old Sir G he would be
sorry if he knew, & would proba-
bly do something even worse such
as write to the G or get Carson to
do so, which would be too awful. 5 You know the kind of feeling
of silent sorrow when one
little boy has been naughty,
the atmosphere is like that
now, & I believe the culprit
is the only one who does not
'appear' to appreciate it. All the
others except Comyn & the G are dining
out , & hints have been given
by Place which I'm
hanged if I will take. I've
had far too many smacks in
the past to run away from
another now & can devise
quite a lot of fun out of
the complex situation. Every one here seems fairly
comfortable & Rex may I hope
settle in next week, but I can-
not tell you what an anxiety
his arrival is especially as one 6
is helpless to give him any aid,
& I should only make a mess of
it if I tried - as has happened
before. However there are great
advantages in all these unpleas-
antness, undoubtedly the b w
who would have miffed at any
ordinary b w law will now
be content with the most secluded
& diminutive rabbit hutch, provided
the p v is satisfied to live in
it. Of the war news you know
more than I do. It begins to
bore me ! I hope this week will not be
too strenuous for a p v. Remember
bw it is her business to keep
fit not only for her work but
also for the sake of that very
unsatisfactory tho rather
affectionate animal the b w.
WB Spender