There is a whisper they’re building a military hospital nearer home, so I will apply to nurse there. It’s my dream to take care of our wounded soldiers.

I hope everything is going well for you, dearest Gertie. Try and stand up to Father once in a while. Do write back!

That’s all for now.

Love from your devoted,

Sissy

I touched my cheek remembering Sissy’s goodbye kiss. Oh, I missed her terribly. The correspondence trembled in my hand. I quickly dried the letter when a tear splashed onto her precious words and puckered the paper.

*

When Arthur and Sissy came home on leave, we sat around my brother in the parlour, enraptured by Arthur’s stories. He fed Mother all the best bits of army life, and kept the less savoury morsels for himself.

‘Greece is terrific, Mother, it’s easy to see why kings and queens go there to take the waters and watch plays by Sophocles and Euripides in the ancient amphitheatres.’ She would lower her embroidery hoop and gaze at him. ‘The great marble auditoriums are always outdoors, Mother, and on summer nights they’re filled with thousands of people. Their perfect design means everyone can hear the actors and music with no need for a single microphone.’

Mother’s eyes widened in wonder, Sissy and I exchanged gleeful glances.

‘Tell us more, dear brother!’ Sissy cried.

Arthur smiled softly at Mother and at that moment, I loved him more than ever.

‘Greece lay beneath a sky bluer than anywhere else in the world. Magnificent marble temples with columns double the height of this house strewn all over the city.’ He kissed Mother’s hand and bowed, as if she were royalty. ‘One day, after this war, I’m going to take you to see the Parthenon, a great temple on a mountain, right in the centre of the city of Athens, Mother.’ Enraptured, her face shone with love for her son. ‘I will take your hand and lead you down the centre aisle as if you are the Goddess Athena herself, the Queen of Athens . . . the Queen of Greece.’

When I look back, I remember poor Arthur’s hands trembled sometimes. A distant stare in his eye preceded an unexplained look of revulsion. Later, I discovered he was in torment, remembering the battle of Gallipoli. What a noble gesture, to fill our mother’s heart with glory when he was suffering horrors too diabolical for us to imagine.

*

Both Sissy and Arthur came home for Christmas that year and we planned to have a wonderful time together. I had no true concept of what ‘war’ meant, or where it would lead, or how it would change our lives.

On Christmas Eve, a plane flew over and dropped a bomb on Dover. Mother and I had spent all morning baking mince pies for the carol singers when there was a terrific explosion outside.