‘That could not have been true!’
When they were in bed for their midday rest I took the paper up again and looked, and it was there:
‘Hugo John Laurier, Second Rifle Brigade . . .’
And I turned all cold . . . cold like a stone . . . and I thought:
‘I must see Guy . . . I must see Guy at once . . .’
I could not go out yet, not till the afternoon; then I went upstairs and put on my hat and coat; then I went out and along to the tube station, and got into the tube. I changed at Leicester Square, and got into another tube, and that went very fast, and I got to Dover Street. Then I got out and walked into Park Lane, and along Park Lane to the hospital where Guy was. It was not the time for visitors, not for another hour, the nurse told me so at the door, but I said it was important, I said it was bad news. She looked at me hard, oddly I thought too, and then she told me to wait. She went away and came back, and then she told me to go upstairs. I knew my way to Guy well enough by this time, and I walked up the stairs, wondering what to do.
Diana met me at the top of the stairs. She smiled her flashing smile.
‘Hulloa,’ she said, ‘what a funny time to come!’
I said:
‘Has Guy seen the paper yet, this morning’s paper I mean?’