We could hear the shrapnel like hailstones on the roof, and in the street, and the long wail of the shells, and then between, came the sound of engines, a droning sinister sound.
And I thought:
‘A bomb might fall and kill us any moment; it might fall now, while I think.’
But it had no meaning for me at all, and I thought:
‘How funny we look sitting here in our dressing-gowns.’
For only Walter was still dressed, and I thought how funny the old cook looked with her hair down her back, and I thought Maud looked much nicer than she did in her ordinary clothes.
Maud was trying to talk to the maids, to distract their attention from the noise, and I noticed the tremor in her voice.
And I thought:
‘How funny that is; Maud is quite frightened.’
Now came a dropping of bombs, louder, more reverberating explosions, one after another. I counted seven in quick succession, then there was a lull. Again we could hear the whizzing of the engines, louder and louder, and then less loud, and again the barrage and the wailing of the shells and again the pattering like hailstones in the street.