Tuesday, August 2nd.
Housman left early this morning. We sat on the beach and read Les Misérables.
Wednesday, August 3rd.
Lady Jarvis arrives to-morrow. We continued Les Misérables in the afternoon and after dinner. Mrs Housman said that some conversations and the reading of certain passages in books were like events. Once or twice in her life she had come across sentences in a book which, although they had nothing extraordinary about them and expressed things anyone might have thought or said, were like a revelation, or a solution, and seemed to be written in letters of flame and had a permanent effect on her whole life; one such sentence was the following from Les Misérables: "Ne craignons jamais les voleurs ni les meurtriers. Ce sont là les dangers du dehors, les petits dangers. Craignons nous-mêmes. Les préjugés, voila les voleurs; les vices, voila les meurtriers. Les grands dangers sont au dedans de nous. Qu'importe ce qui menace notre tête ou notre bourse!" She said: "Of course this has never prevented me from feeling frightened when I hear a scratching noise in the night. That paralyses me with terror."
Thursday, August 4th.
We continued our reading. The weather has been propitious. Lady Jarvis arrived in the evening. We continued our reading after dinner.
Friday, August 5th.
A. arrived this evening. He was exhausted after the journey and went to bed at once. Housman arrives to-morrow—he is only staying till Monday.
Saturday, August 6th.
A. sat in the garden and Mrs Housman read out some stories by H.G. Wells from a book called The Plattner Story, which we all enjoyed.