But in these places where horrors have been committed, the birds still flit about their nests. When the tanks and the cavalry and the guns have pushed forward, Nature returns to her task of beautifying the world.
How I would like to sit down and talk with you all. When the war is over I can see us going away to some quiet place and re-living the past and re-building the future with words. I may see you sooner than either of us expect; there's always the chance of a Blighty. So far, beyond an attack of trench-fever from which I've almost recovered, I've come through scatheless.
By the time this reaches you I shall be looking forward to leave. Casualties have thinned out the numbers on the leave-list and I stand fairly high now. I ought to see England again in October.
LXXIV
France
August 30,1918
This is only a brief note to say that all is well with me and to ask you not to worry. It's two years to-morrow since I first saw the Front—two centuries it seems. I'm different inside. I don't know whether my outside has changed much—but I wish sometimes that I could be back again. I begin to be a little afraid that I shan't be recognizable when I return.
The journalists have been very free in their descriptions of our doings—they have told you everything. If I told a tithe, my letter would not reach you.
LXXV
France