till I come back and you shall go to church with the biggest bunch of
roses that ever were pinned to a feminine chest. I wonder when that will
be.

We have heaps of humour out here. You should have seen me this morning,
sitting on the gun-seat while my batman cut my hair. A sand-bag was
spread over my shoulders in place of a towel and the gun-detachment
stood round and gave advice. I don't know what I look like, for I
haven't dared to gaze into my shaving mirror.

Good luck to us all,
CON




XXI

October 18th, 1910

Dearest M.:

I've come down to the lines to-day; to-morrow I go back again. I'm
sitting alone in a deep chalk dug-out--it is 10 p.m. and I have lit a
fire by splitting wood with a bayonet. Your letters from Montreal
reached me yesterday. They came up in the water-cart when we'd all begun
to despair of mail. It was wonderful the silence that followed while
every one went back home for a little while, and most of them met their
best girls. We've fallen into the habit of singing in parts. Jerusalem
the Golden is a great favourite as we wait for our breakfast--we go