He then settled himself comfortably in the armchair and proceeded to entertain me.  I only wished it didn’t hurt so much to laugh.  I asked him if he had any new songs, and he accordingly gave me a selection sotto voce.  He would stop occasionally and say, “Noa, I can’t sing you that verse, it’s too bad, aye, but it’s a pity!” and shaking his head mournfully he would proceed with the next!

He was just in the middle of another when the door opened suddenly and Sir A——­ S——­ (Inspector-General of Medical Services) was ushered in by the Colonel. (The little corporal positively faded out of existence!) I might add he was nearly if not quite as entertaining.

“Nobby” Clark, a scion of the Labour Battalion, was another visitor who called one afternoon, and I got permission for him to come up.  He was one of the local comedians and quite as good as any professional.  I would have gone miles to hear him.  His famous monologue with his imaginary friend “Linchpin” invariably brought the house down.  He was broad Lancashire and I had had a great idea of taking him off at one of the FANTASTIK Concerts some time, but unfortunately, it was not to be.  He came tiptoeing in.  “I thought I might take the liberty of coming to enquire after you,” he said, twisting his cap at the bottom of my bed (I had learnt by this time to keep both hands hidden from sight as a hearty shake is a jarring event).  I asked him to sit down.  “Bein’ as you might say fellow artistes; ’aving appeared so often on the same platform, I had to come,” he said affably!  “I promised ‘the boys’ (old labour men of about fifty and sixty years) I’d try and get a glimpse of you,” he continued, and he sat there and told me all the funny things he could think of, or rather, they merely bubbled forth naturally.

The weather—­it was June then—­got fearfully hot, and I found life irksome to a degree, lying flat on my back unable to move, gazing at the wonderful glass candelabra hanging from the middle of the ceiling.  How I wished each little crystal could tell me a story of what had happened in this room where fortunes had been lost and won!  It would have passed the time at least.

A friend had a periscope made for me, a most ingenious affair, through which I was able to see people walking on the sands, and above all horses being taken out for exercise in the mornings.

The first W.A.A.C.s came out to France about this time, and I watched them with interest through my periscope.  I heard that a sand-bagged dug-out had also been made for us in camp, and tin hats handed out; a wise precaution in view of the bricks and shrapnel that rattled about when we went out during air raids.  I never saw the dug-out of course.  We had a mild air-raid one night, but no damage was done.

My faithful friends kept me well posted with all the news, and I often wonder on looking back if it had not been for them how ever I could have borne life.  The leg still jumped when I least expected it, and of course I was never out of actual pain for a minute.