I am waiting anxiously to hear if the report of the new British advance yesterday is true. When fighting really begins we are going to be in for a big thing; one dreads it for the sake of the boys we are going to lose. I want things to start now just to get them over, but I rather envy the people who died before this unspeakable war began. * * * * * _To Mrs. Keays-Young._ CARE OF FIELD POST OFFICE, DUNKIRK, _17 March._ MY DEAREST BABY, [Page Heading: CAPTAIN L. M. B. SALMON] I have (of course) been getting letters and parcels very badly lately. I am sending this home by hand, which is not allowed except on Red Cross business, but this is to ask how Lionel is, so I think I may send it. My poor Bet! What anxiety for her! This spring weather is making me long to be at home, and when people tell me the crocuses are up in the park!--well, you know London and the park belong to me! Are the catkins out? We can get flowers at Dunkirk, but not here. Not a word of war news, because that wouldn't be fair. A shilling wire about Lionel would satisfy me--just "Better, and Bet well," or something of that sort. Always, my dear, Your loving, S. MACNAUGHTAN. P.S.--Your two letters and Bet's have just come. To be in touch with you again is _very_ pleasant. I can't tell you what it was like to sit down to a pretty, clean breakfast to-day with my letters beside me. Someone brought them here early. I heard to-day that I am going to be decorated by the King of the Belgians, but don't spread this broadcast, as anything might happen in war. * * * * * _20 March._--I met an Englishman belonging to an armoured car in Dunkirk a couple of days ago. He told me that the last four days' fighting at La Bassee has cost the British 13,000 casualties. Three lines of holes in the ground, and fighting only just beginning again! Bet's fiance has been shot through the head, but is still alive. My God, the horror of it all! And England is still cheerful, I hear, and is going to hold race-meetings as usual. At the station to-day I saw a mad man, who fought and struggled. I thought madmen raved. This one fought silently, like a man one sees in a dream. Another soldier shook all over like an old man. Many were blind. "On the whole," someone said to me in England, "I suppose you are having a good time." There is a snowstorm to-day, and it is bitterly cold. It is very odd how many small "complaints" seem to attack one. I can't remember the day out here when I felt well all over. Last night some Belgians came in to dinner. It was like old times trying to get things nice. I had some flowers and a tablecloth. I believe in making a contrast with the discomfort I see out here. We forced open a piano, and had some perfect music. _21 March._--The weather is brighter to-day; the sound of firing is more distant; it is possible to think of other things besides the war.