| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, Valence, to her relatives, regarding leaving Valence; plans for departure for Paris; both the Havre-Southampton line and Boulogne-Folkestone line are open to civilians; she will arrive in Paris before Aunt and Uncle leave Rome; the Boy Scouts are having a reunion in the Maison Parroissiale, previously the annexe, and she is to attend to please Jacques Delattre; the hall looks very different now; she feels cramped at Mme. Delattre's; description of the situation; Macé has left the 201; it is odd that one or two patients come to represent the whole, and to symbolise friendship; his wound is nearly closed; he is asthmatic and she has been treating that, too; he can now control his attacks better; the asthma developed from a severe cold, neglected when he was a boy; gas attacks gave him bronchitis; because of an unhappy romance he went grey at 27 and found it impossible to relax; she has really been treating his nerves; she is still worried about his arm - the radius was smashed and the cubitus shortened to be joined the radius by bronze wires; 'One day I heard a rusty sound in the arm and reported at once to the doctor, knowing that the continued slight suppuration meant probably the removal of the wires as soon as the bones were strong. To my great distress Dr. Rigal so manipulated the arm that he broke it, in five minutes undoing the work of two months'; summary of its current state; he is now being moved to hospital in Brittany, and will ensure that an x-ray is taken before any operation; the doctors are selfish and bad-tempered, and are then surprised when volunteers refuse to work with them; case of Gautier, who was told by the doctor that the doctor did not relish the thought of extracting shell fragments from his leg - Gautier told him that it was worse for the patient; he has confessed to Amelia that his wound was not in the course of battle but the result of carelessness when clearing a trench; the men are free to be rude to Dr. Rigal now as they were not as soldiers; she will leave Valence with very mixed feelings; Dr. Michaud and Mlle. Vernaz were both far superior to any of the staff in Valence; letter from Captain Fonsagrive, who is to command a group of artillery in Poland; he is pleased at his treatment and all he has learned. [Letter breaks off without signature] |