Peace and seclusion at the club afforded no relief however. George was really very trying at tea. He accused the bread because the crust had not a hairy exterior (generally accumulated by its conveyance in a blanket or sandbag). He ridiculed the sugar ration--I don't believe he has ever been short in his life; and the resources of the place were unequal to the task of providing tea of sufficient strength to admit of the spoon being stood upright in it--a consistency to which, he said, he had grown accustomed. When I left him he was bullying the hall-porter of the club for a soft-nosed pencil; ink, he explained, being an abomination. I also saw him pay 2½d. for a _Daily Mail_. * * * * * I got a letter from George just before he went back. He patronized me delightfully--seemed more than half a Colonial already. He said he was glad to have seen us all again, but was equally glad to be getting back, as he was beginning to feel a little homesick. He hinted we were dull dogs and treated people we didn't know like strangers. Didn't we ever cheer up? He became very unjust, I thought, when he said that France was at war, but that we had only an Army and Navy. Incidentally I had to pay twopence on the letter, the postman insisting that George's neat signature in the bottom left-hand corner of the envelope was an insufficient substitute for a penny stamp. * * * * * "The raiders came in three suctions."--_Evening News_. So _that_ was what blocked the Tubes. * * * * * [Illustration: THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT. Air Raid Reprisals-- Lloyd George says We'll give them HELL PRIME MINISTER. "YOU YOUNG RASCAL! I NEVER SAID THAT." NEWSBOY. "WELL, I'LL LAY YER MEANT IT."] * * * * * [Illustration: _Keeper_. "ANY BIRDS, SIR?" _Officer (fresh from France)_. "YES. THREE CRASHED; TWO DOWN OUT OF CONTROL."] * * * * * THE WATCH DOGS. LXVI. MY DEAR CHARLES,--Here is a war, producing great men, and here am I writing to you from time to time about it and never mentioning one of them. I have touched upon Commanding Officers, Brigadiers, Divisional, Corps, even Army Commanders; I have gone so far as to mention the COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF once and I have mentioned myself very many times. But the really great men I have omitted. I mean the really, really great men, without whom the War could not possibly go on, and with whom, I am often led to suppose, the decision remains as to what day Peace shall be declared. Take the A.M.L.O. at ---- for example.