Walter said we must cut down expenses, and put all possible money
into War Loan. It was the least we could do, he said. So Eleanor’s
nurse was dismissed. I would look after Eleanor myself; I was
glad to do something definite, and enjoyed looking after my baby
for a time.
It was a wet summer; from all sides came complaints of the floods;
crops ruined, cattle drowned, people suffering already from the
strain and anxiety of war longed in vain for sunshine and kindly
weather.
‘It is the guns,’ they said, ‘the big guns cause the rain.’
Rachel was coming now. I tried to look forward to her as I had
to Eleanor, but I could not. I thought again and again:
‘How shall I manage two children, who am so pressed with one?’
Eleanor would wake up early in the morning; she would talk and
jump and keep us both awake, and she was getting very heavy to
push in her perambulator. By the end of the day I was very tired.
When she was in bed I could not think or read; I would drop down
on the sofa and wait for Walter to come home.