But they are!
"This past week has been terrible for us all, since the news came of the
fighting around Ypres and the battles of Langemarck and St. Julien. Our
Canadian boys have done splendidly--General French says they 'saved the
situation,' when the Germans had all but broken through. But I can't
feel pride or exultation or anything but a gnawing anxiety over Jem and
Jerry and Mr. Grant. The casualty lists are coming out in the papers
every day--oh, there are so many of them. I can't bear to read them for
fear I'd find Jem's name--for there have been cases where people have
seen their boys' names in the casualty lists before the official
telegram came. As for the telephone, for a day or two I just refused to
answer it, because I thought I could not endure the horrible moment that
came between saying 'Hello' and hearing the response. That moment seemed
a hundred years long, for I was always dreading to hear 'There is a
telegram for Dr. Blythe.' Then, when I had shirked for a while, I was
ashamed of leaving it all for mother or Susan, and now I make myself go.
But it never gets any easier. Gertrude teaches school and reads
compositions and sets examination papers just as she always has done,
but I know her thoughts are over in Flanders all the time. Her eyes
haunt me.
"And Kenneth is in khaki now, too. He has got a lieutenant's commission
and expects to go overseas in midsummer, so he wrote me.
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