Laughing Torso

WAR
pence was just the fare. I was almost in rags when
I arrived and the family were not any more pleased
to see me than I was to see them.
Edgar wrote me postcards now and then. One I
have never been able to understand. It was sent
from the Prefecture of Police. As he always talked
in parables I presumed it meant that he loved me.
If I had decided that it did not I might have had the
sense to stay in England and join the W.A.A.C.*s
and have helped or hindered the Great War.
Basil was in London at the time and one day he
introduced me to Augustus John. I never knew
until then that he came from Tenby. We got on
quite well and, of course, found that we knew every-
one there.
One day I went to see Henri. He was very
pleased to see me. We bought a bag of plums and
walked to Richmond Park. We were both very
gloomy and sat on the grass amongst the bracken.
Henri knew the antelopes quite well and some of
them came up to be patted. He did many drawings
there. We sat silently and ate the plums. Henri
said, " I shall have to go to France and fight and if
I go I know quite well that I shall never come back/3
and I felt that he never would either. We walked
silently back to his workshop under the arch and had
tea and I went home.
This was the last time that I saw him as, when I
came back from France, he had already left.
Everyone was very depressed at this time and no
one knew what was going to happen. Basil was very
kind to me and asked me what I proposed to dp
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