SPOILERS!!!
The summer is a turning point in the war, and the Allies start to gain terrain and feel that the end is near.
Both William and Edward are in the thick of it, and they manage to remain unharmed. The experience in the war has made Edward realise that life is short and hard to hold grudges, and he feels that his love for Beattie and their long marriage can simply be deleted. He writes to her a lovely letter, telling her that he is willing to go back to the way they used to be, and he asks for her forgiveness as he knows he comes short in his role as lover. When Beattie receives the letter, she is bewildered, especially about the part in which he asks for forgiveness, and she knows that what he means is that he is sorry he is not Louis. Beattie feels she does not regret the times she spent with Louis, and that makes her wonder what that means for him and Edward. When he last came home, he was so different that it was as if he was a stranger, and she thinks that maybe they could start from scratch from that point on.
David has an operation and after weeks immobile he recovers and can walk with a limp but without so much pain. That means the world to him, and he starts joining the family, joking and even talking to Antonia about what he can do after the war. What he would like is to teach in a school. And to Antonia's surprise and relief they recover their intimacy, which has been absent since Marcus was born.
Diana has had another boy, who she calls Amyas. With the birth of the new baby she and Lady Wroughton manage to have an affable relationship. After all, she is the only person the lady has left. In the wing that has been turned into a hospital Diana hears that Rupert's best friend Guy Teesborough is convalescing, and she starts visiting him. Then she gets a letter from Ersking, who has been wounded, in which he tells her that Rupert only married her to be respectable but the one he loved was him (Erskine), and he just went to the war to escape her, so she is to blame for his death. Diana is very upset, and she decides to show the letter to Guy, who tells her that Erskine has always been crazy and unstable, and she shouldn't heed what he says. Diana remembers the secret that Rupert hinted at but Guy insists that she forget.
Sadie hasn't heard from John and is worried. Christopher Beresford is someone she considers would make a good husband, and when he proposes, she almost agrees to marry him, but she thinks that she can't do that to him. She likes him, but he deserves real love. So she turns him down.
In the servants' hall things are also changing. In summer Emily refuses to go with Cook to visit the latter's sister, saying that she is now eighteen and can decide not to go. What she wants to do is to go and visit her mother in Ireland with the money she has saved. Everybody tells her that it is dangerous because she will have to cross the Irish Sea and there is danger that the ferry will be torpedoed. Emily is adamant to see her mother. Then when she is supposed to be back, Emily doesn't return. At first, they think that she must have missed the bus or something, but then Ada and Ethel wonder if maybe her boat was sank by the Germans. Cook speaks to Beattie, who tells her she can wait a few more days, but when Emily fails to turn up, a new kitchen maid is hired, a twlve-year-old girl, called Eileen. I really hope that Emily reappears because she is one of the loveliest characters in the book.
Ada has bad and good news. First, she gets a letter, telling her that Len has died in action, and she is clearly upset. Then a few days later she is surprised when she gets a letter, telling her that she is entitled to a war pension as Len's widow, and when she sees the money, it is more than anybody among the servants earn. Ada considers that the right thing will be to leave service because it would dishonest to have that kind of money, and keep earning money from the Hunters, but she doesn't want to leave. Cook tells her to think for a bit, and Ada plans to talk to Beattie.
And the Spanish flu has spread all through the country, and many neighbours from Northcote are dying. I really hope that it doesn't reach the Elms.
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