‘There was a robin and a mouse, a wild mouse. It has made me very happy. It was like Faith and Hope and Charity . . . do you know what I mean? I wish I could see you to-night, Helen . . . but I believe I shall soon. Somehow, I don’t mind the thought of to-morrow as much as I generally do. It is nearly the end now.
‘The mouse was sitting up, looking at me in the shadow of the birch tree, and then it scuttled away under the leaves. Do you remember the mouse at Yearsly, in the Frog Pond? on the stones? It made me think of that. And now, good-night, my dear. . . .’
And that was all.
I thought:
‘Hugo was happy.’
It seemed to me at the moment, that what happened afterwards, could hardly count, and I felt his letter, after all, an answer to mine.
October wore to a close. The certainty of peace grew clearer day by day, but no news came of Hugo. No news ever came.
Cousin Delia came to see me once, and I saw Guy. He spoke of Hugo a little but not much; Diana was there.
He was to leave the hospital soon, in two or three weeks, they said. He was to go to Yearsly. They would be married later, after the New Year.