ption of the ludicrous.

When I said that I had plenty to think about besides Randall, I meant
to string off a list. My prolixity over the Volunteer Training Corps
came upon me unawares. I wanted to show you that my time was fairly
well occupied. I was Chairman of our town Belgian Relief Committee. I
was a member of our County Territorial Association and took over a good
deal of special work connected with one of our battalions that was
covering itself with glory and little mounds topped with white crosses
at the front. If you think I lived a Tom-tabby, tea-party sort of life,
you are quite mistaken, if the War Office could have its way, it would
have lashed me in red tape, gagged me with Regulations, and
sealing-waxed me up in my bed-room. And there are thousands of us who
have shaken our fists under the nose of the War Office and shouted,
"All your blighting, Man-with-the-Mudrake officialdom shan't prevent us
from serving our country." And it hasn't! The very Government itself,
in spite of its monumental efforts, has not been able to shackle us
into inertia or drug us into apathy. Such non-combatant francs-tireurs
in England have done a power of good work.

And then, of course, there was the hospital which, in one way or
another, took up a good deal of my time.

I was reposing in the front garden one late afternoon in mid-June,
after a well-filled day, when a car pulled up at the gate, in which
were Betty (at the wheel) and a wounded soldier, in khaki, his cap
perched on top of a bandaged head. I don't know whether it is usual for
young women in nurse's uniform to career about the country driving
wounded men in motor cars, but Betty did it. She cared very little for
the usual. She came in, leaving the man in the car, and crossed the
lawn, flushed and bright-eyed, a refreshing picture for a tired man.

"We're in a fix up at the hospital," she announced as soon as she was
in reasonable speaking distance, "and I want you to get us out of it."

Sitting on the grass, she told me the difficulty. A wounded soldier,
discharged from some distant hospital, and home now on sick furlough
before rejoining his depot, had been brought into the hospital with a
broken head. The modern improvements on vinegar and brown paper having
been applied, the man was now ready to leave. I interrupted with the
obvious question. Why couldn't he go to his own home? It appeared that
the prospect terrified him. On his arrival, at midday, after ei