all very depressing, so we talked together and went on a
voyage of discovery and found an hotel; then we went back to the
billet and said "good-bye" to Madame and moved our stuff there. But
the hotel wasn't a dream--at least we had no chance of dreaming--bugs,
lice and all sorts of little things were active all night. I had been
told by the War Office to go slow and not try to hustle people, so we
decided we would not go and report to the Colonel till the next day
after lunch.

Looking into the yard from my window in the afternoon, I saw two men I
knew, one an artist from Chelsea, the other a Dublin man, who (p. 014)
used to play lawn tennis. They were "Graves." My Dublin friend was
"Adjutant, Graves," in fact he proudly told me that "Adjutant, Graves,
B.E.F., France," would always find him. We dined with them that night
at H.Q. Graves. They were very friendly, and said we could travel all
over the back of the line by going from one "Graves" to another
"Graves." All good chaps, I'm sure, and cheerful, but we did not do
it.

The next day after lunch we drove to Rollencourt, and found the Major
in his office (a hut on the lawn in front of the chateau). He left,
and returned to say the Colonel could not see us then. Would we come
back at 5 p.m.? So off we went and sat by the side of the road for two
hours. Then again to the Major's at 5 p.m., when he informed us the
Colonel had gone out. Would we come back at 7 p.m.? (No tea offered.)
This we did and waited until 7.50, when the Major informed us that the
Colonel would not see us that evening, but we were to report the next
morning at 9 a.m. (No dinner offered.) We left thinking very
hard--things did not seem so simple after all. We reported at 9 a.m.
and waited, and got a message at 11 a.m. that the Colonel would see
us, and we were shown in to a wizened, sour-faced little man, his
breast ablaze with strange colours. I explained to him that I did not
like the billets at Hesdin, that Hesdin was too far away from anything
near the front, and that I intended to go to Amiens at once. To my
surprise he did not seem to object, and just as we were leaving, he
said: "By the way, General Charteris wants you to go and see him this
morning. You had better go at once." So that was it! If General
Charteris had not sent that message I might not have been admitted to
the presence of the Colonel for weeks. Off we went, full of hope, (p. 015)
packed our bags and on to G.H.Q. prop