clothes of mourning cannot
afterwards be hidden under any other disguises; and it is a peculiar
feeling to be called upon to pay for your own funeral expenses.

And when once you are officially dead it is very difficult to come
officially to life again. Months have passed, and I am still waiting
for the official correction to appear.

As I walk through the streets of London my friends stare at me as
though I were a ghost. I feel as though I am a living apology for the
mistake of others.

To the illustrated magazine I have just referred to I wrote assuring
the editor that I had every reason to believe he was wrong in his
contention. He replied, enclosing my photograph, and asking me if I
was sure I was not some other person, as the picture referred to an
officer who was surely dead.

Perhaps even now I am wrong. Yet, I ought to know.

CHAPTER XXIV

WARD 43, RESERVE LAZARETTE 5, HANOVER

OCCUPANTS OF THE WARD. CHIVALRY OF THE AIR

Before the war Reserve Lazarette 5 at Hanover was a military school.
It is now used for wounded military prisoners, and for German soldiers
suffering from venereal disease.

The same operating-room is used for all patients; the wounded
prisoners receiving treatment in the morning, and the Germans in the
afternoon.

There is a fair-sized garden, not unattractive, and the wounded are
permitted to take the fresh air, and to walk about freely, if they are
able to do so. So are the German patients, and so are their visitors,
on Tuesdays and Saturdays, from 2 till 4 in the afternoon. There is no
separation of the two classes of patients, and honour must share the
company of disgrace in her captivity.

Ward 43 was a billiard-room in the old days, and the small-sized
billiard-table is pushed against the wall and used as a table. There
were nine beds in the ward; and four British and four French officers
lay side by side in captivity.

The friendship of the two great nations was reflected in the maimed
and pain-ridden bodies of these soldiers lying side by side, helpless,
uncomplaining, but still champions of Anglo-French unity. Their cause
is the same; their pain is the same; and side by side they lay, as
side by side they had fallen.

Of the French officers I got to know but little, for they could speak
no English, and the English could speak no French.

On my left was an officer of the Royal Flying Corps, Lieutenant
Donelly. He had been brought to earth after a fight thirtee