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comb, & after innumerable punchings
rappings, squeezings & soundings,
he gave me a fairly reassuring report.
If, as he & the surgeon both think,
the surgical part of my troubles
is now at an end (after 4 bloody
operations!) my bad lung will
gradually be reduced to peaceful
& orderly behaviour. Since Sept 1
it has been in revolt & was
greatly encouraged by the
two knifings I had in Nov.
& Dec.

My chief trouble lately has
been that I have hardly seen
any of my friends - not because

they wd.n't come, but because "I wasn't
let". Consequently I have got into
a condition of mind nearer mutiny
than I have yet been in - all the
more dangerous because I hadn't been
able to do any work.

I've been surprised at the kind
reception my book has had (mainly
of course from people who have not
read it, but only amiably skimmed).
For I wrote it to please myself & a
few friends, & I didn't suppose that
that odd creature the reviewer was
likely to find it to his taste.
So far he seems on the whole to
have done so - except for two or
three who seem to have got
"Ordeal by Battle" on the brain, &
a crosspatch pedant who can't forgive