XX
Yearsly was now a hospital. Less serious cases were sent on from the big General Hospital, or convalescents. The garden was full of bright blue suits, as the streets in London had been. There were ten wounded soldiers there at this time. One of the Lacey girls was there with Cousin Delia to nurse them. How she made room for us I do not know, but there was room, and I had my own bedroom, and my old bed that I had had always when I was a girl.
It was quiet at Yearsly, and the War seemed further off; even the soldiers did not bring it close, for they were getting better, and they were happy to be there.
It was like a dream somehow being there with the babies and the soldiers; the same and yet not the same; and the men were gone away from the garden and the farm.
I went down to the village with Cousin Delia, and saw the same people that I used to know, but they too were different. Old Joseph’s son had been killed, and John Elliot from the farm was missing, and all the young men were away.
It seemed more changed in a way at Yearsly than in London, or I realized the changes more distinctly.
The horses were gone too, commandeered by the Government, except Guy’s hunter, which he had got with him; and the flower garden was partly growing vegetables and partly run to grass, for old Joseph was alone now, with no young man to help him.
The roses were still the same, and the High Wood, and Cousin Delia was the same herself, as always.
It was like stopping still awhile to be with her. I did not think ahead; I tried not to think of going home.
Cousin Delia kept the nurse for a fortnight longer. She said I was not fit to look after the children myself.
I thought:
‘It is wrong; I ought to do it’; but I blessed her for the decision and was glad.
She spoke to me of Hugo’s visit. ‘You must see him on his next leave,’ she said.
She said he was well, but unhappy, how could one expect otherwise. She spoke of George too, and Mollie.
She said:
‘I wish I could have seen Mollie, but she cannot get away from her hospital. She is going to Salonika soon, that is better for her I think.’