Just as he was going into battle a man of the Staffordshire Regiment
received a letter announcing the sudden death of his wife and baby
daughter. There was no time for tears or vain regrets, and he had to go
into the fight with his heart stricken with that terrible grief. In the
fighting he acquitted himself like a hero, and just as we were retiring
he received a mortal wound. I offered a word of sympathy, but he would
not hear of it. “Never mind,” he said, “I’m booked through; but I have
sent a few Germans before; and, anyhow, I am going to see the ones I
love”: _A Sergeant of the 9th Lancers_.