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Page 12
MY DEAREST SISTER,
I have heard nothing from you or Helen for so long that I was
really getting desperate. I have had a very rough time here,
but by the grace of Providence I stumbled up against an old
friend the other day, Bertram Maderstrom, whom you must have
heard me speak of in my college days. It isn't too much to say
that he has saved my life. He has unearthed your parcels, found
me decent quarters, and I am getting double rations. He has
promised, too, to get this letter through to you.
You needn't worry about me now, dear. I am feeling twice the
man I was a month ago, and I shall stick it out now quite easily.
Write me as often as ever you can. Your letters and Helen's make
all the difference.
My love to you and to Henry.
Your affectionate brother, RICHARD.
P.S. Is Henry an Admiral yet? I suppose he was in the Jutland
scrap, which they all tell us here was a great German victory. I
hope he came out all right.
Philippa read the postscript with a little shiver. Then she set her
teeth as though determined to ignore it.
"Isn't it wonderful!" she exclaimed, turning towards Helen with
glowing eyes. "Now yours, dear?"
Helen's voice trembled as she read. Her eyes, too, at times were
misty:
DEAREST,
I am writing to you so differently because I feel that you will
really get this letter. I have bad an astonishing stroke of luck,
as you will gather from Philippa's note. You can't imagine the
difference. A month ago I really thought I should have to chuck
it in. Now I am putting on flesh every day and beginning to feel
myself again. I owe my life to a pal with whom I was at college,
and whom you and I, dearest, will have to remember all our lives.
I think of you always, and my thoughts are like the flowers of
which we see nothing in these hideous huts. My greatest joy is
in dreaming of the day when we shall meet again.
Write to me often, sweetheart. Your letters and my thoughts of
you are the one joy of my life.
Always your lover,
DICK.
There were a few moments of significant silence. The girls were
leaning together, their arms around one another's necks, their heads
almost touching. Behind them, their visitor continued to eat and
drink. He rose at last, however, reluctantly to his feet, and
coughed. They started, suddenly remembering his presence. Philippa
turned impulsively towards him with outstretched hands.
"I can't tell you how thankful we are to you," she declared.
"Both of us," Helen echoed.
He touched with his fingers a box of cigarettes which stood upon the
tea-table.
"You permit?" he asked.
"Of course," Philippa assented eagerly. "You will find some matches
on the tray there. Do please help yourself. I am afraid that I
must have seemed very discourteous, but this has all been so amazing.
Won't you have some fresh tea and some toast, or wouldn't you like
some more sandwiches?"
"Nothing more at present, thank you," he replied. "If you do not
mind, I would rather continue our conversation."
"These letters are wonderful," Philippa told him gratefully. "You
know from whom they come, of course. Dick is my twin brother, and
until the war we had scarcely ever been parted. Miss Fairclough
here is engaged to be married to him. It is quite two months since
we had a line, and I myself have been in London for the last three
days, three very weary days, making enquiries everywhere."
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