His College offered to pay him some proportion of his salary while he was at Government work, but he refused it.
‘It is the least I can do,’ he said. ‘Other men have to leave their work, whatever it is, and lose everything. We must manage to live more cheaply.’
We decided to do without the gardener who came one day a week; I said that I would keep the garden tidy.
Walter said he would dig on Sundays.
XV
Just after Christmas Guy was wounded, and came home for six weeks. He was shot in the shoulder; it was not dangerous. He was sent to a hospital at Southampton. Cousin John applied for leave to have him at Yearsly, a private hospital now, but that was against the regulations.
Cousin Delia went down to Southampton and stayed in an hotel. I went down to see him one day, before he went back.
He was sitting with Cousin Delia, and his arm was in a sling. They were in a little room with a balcony looking out on to the sea. Guy was laughing when I came in I saw his face sideways against the light, and I thought:
‘How dear he is, and how just the same as before.’ I don’t know why exactly, but I had been afraid of his seeming different.
We had tea together, Cousin Delia and Guy and I, and we were very happy. The War seemed a long way off; we did not talk about it. Guy had another month ahead of him before he need go back. He went to Yearsly at the end of his leave; he had a fortnight there, but I did not see him again that time.