ambulances are
at last out of the ice at Archangel, and will be here in a fortnight;
but we are not to go to Persia for a month. "The Front" is always
altering, and we never have any idea where our work will be wanted.

[Page Heading: HOMESICK]

We are still asking when the war will end, but, of course, no one knows.
One gets pretty homesick out here at times, and there was a chance I
might have to go back to England for equipment, but that seems off at
present.

Your always loving
A. S.

* * * * *

_29 December._--I have still got a horrid bad cough, and my big, dull
room is depressing. We are all depressed, I am afraid. Being accustomed
to have plenty to do, this long wait is maddening.

Whatever Russia may have in store for us in the way of useful work,
nothing can exceed the boredom of our first seven weeks here. We are
just spoiling for work. I believe it is as bad as an illness to feel
like this, and we won't be normal again for some time. Oddly enough, it
does affect one's health, and Hilda Wynne and I are both seedy. We are
always trying to wire for things, but not a word gets through.

We were summoned to dine at the palace last night. Everyone very
charming.

_31 December._.--Prince Murat came to dine and play bridge. Count
Groholski turned up for a few days. My doctor vetted me for my cold.
Business done--none. No sailor ever longed for port as I do for home.

CHAPTER III

SOME IMPRESSIONS OF TIFLIS AND ARMENIA

_Tiflis. 1 January, 1916._--Kind wishes from the Grand Duke and
everybody. Not such an aimless day as usual. I got into a new
sitting-room and put it straight, and in the evening we went to Prince
Orloff's box for a performance of "Carmen." It was very Russian and
wealthy. At the back of the box were two anterooms, where we sat and
talked between the acts, and where tea, chocolates, etc., were served.
They say the Prince has L200,000 a year. He is gigantically fat, with a
real Cossack face.

Scandal is so rife here that it hardly seems to mean scandal. They don't
appear to be so much immoral as non-moral. Everyone sits up late; then
most of them, I am told, get drunk, and then the evening orgies begin.
No one is ostracised, everyone is called upon and "known" whatever they
have done. I suppose English respectability would simply make them
smile--if, indeed, they believed in it.

_2 January._--I don't suppose I shall ever write an article on war