"We have just got another tent--we have been so short and have been sleeping five in. Now we shall be two in each. The new one is a lovely dove-grey--like a thundercloud. After the war I shall buy one. "I shall be quite insufferable, I know; I shall want everything done for me on the word of command. Never mind--roll on the end of the war! "Cheer-ho, lovely weather, great spirits! Aeroplane [English] came down in our field yesterday slightly on fire. All right though.--Good-bye, much love, "RAYMOND [MAURICE]." "_Sunday, 12 September 1915, 2 p.m._ "You will understand that I still have the Company to look after, and we are going into the front-line trenches this evening at 5 p.m. for an ordinary tour of duty. We are going up in motor buses!... "Capt. T. thinks he will be away a month!" TELEGRAM FROM THE WAR OFFICE "_17 September 1915_ "Deeply regret to inform you that Second Lieut. R. Lodge, Second South Lancs, was wounded 14 Sept. and has since died. Lord Kitchener expresses his sympathy." TELEGRAM FROM THE KING AND QUEEN _21 September 1915_ "The King and Queen deeply regret the loss you and the army have sustained by the death of your son in the service of his country. Their Majesties truly sympathise with you in your sorrow." [Footnote 3: See Note by O. J. L. at the end of this letter.] [Footnote 4: This must have been part of my book "The War and After."--O. J. L.] [Footnote 5: Thos. Walker & Son, of Oxford Street, Birmingham, had kindly given me two periscope rifle-stock attachments with excellent mirrors, so as to allow accurate sighting.--O. J. L.] [Footnote 6: Lieutenant Case himself, alas! was killed on the 25th of September 1915. It was a fatal time. Lieutenant Fletcher also has been killed now, on 3rd July 1916.] CHAPTER III LETTERS FROM OFFICERS Some letters from other officers gradually arrived, giving a few particulars. But it was an exceptionally strenuous period at the Ypres salient, and there was little time for writing. Moreover, some of his friends were killed either at the same time or soon afterwards. The fullest account that has reached us is in the following letter, which arrived eight months later:-- LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT WILLIAM ROSCOE TO SIR OLIVER LODGE "_7th Brigade Machine-Gun Company, B.E.F., 16 May 1916_ "DEAR SIR OLIVER LODGE,--When I was lately on leave, a brother of mine, who had met one of your relatives, encouraged me to write and tell you what I knew of your son Raymond. I was in the South Lancashire Regiment when he joined the Battalion out here last spring, and I think spent the first spell he had in the trenches in his company.