May 14. G.H.Q. Basrah [Basrah, Al (Basra)]. Dearest Father. Today's mail brought me your letters of Ap. 7 and 14 and Mother's of Ap. 6. I am so dreadfully sorry about Hugh - I have a note from Moll telling me that he was very ill, but from your second letter I fear that it must have ended long ago. Also I am much distressed about Mother's malady; she writes so cheerfully that I should not have known how bad she had been. You tell me nothing of Maurice, from which I hope he has not yet returned to France. You will tell me, won't you, if you think I ought to come home. I will do exactly what you think right and what you wish, but if you do not send for me I shall stay here as long as they will let me - I might be recalled to Egypt where they are fussing to have me back, but I am persuaded that for the moment I am much more useful here - indeed I am beginning to feel that I am being really useful. I should have to go a long way back to tell you how many gaps there were to fill. None of these people from India know Arabic and what that means in an Intelligence Dept. I leave you to guess. I have got hold of the maps and am now bringing them out in an intelligible form, but that is only one among the many odd jobs which I do. Also the natives here are beginning to know me and drop in with news and gossip. Finally, and I think most important of all, there is the difficult gap between Mesop. and Egypt to bridge and I hope I am going to be the person who is charged with the task. Sir P. Cox wants me and as I have a great respect and admiration for him and get on with him excellently, I believe I can keep the matter going without friction. There is so much, oh so much, to be thought of and considered - so many ways of going irretrievably wrong at the beginning, and some of them are being taken and must be set right before matters grow worse. I do know these people, the Arabs; I've been in contact with them in a way which is possible for no official, and it is that intimacy and friendship which makes me useful here now. That is why I want to stay; but when I have letters from home telling of sickness and sorrow I can scarcely bear to be away from you. You know how much my heart goes out to you.
George Lloyd has just come out to work with Sir Percy. It will make a great difference to me to have him. I hope he will find time to ride with me sometimes in the morning when we can talk things over and help each other. But if I become the Egyptian link I shall probably go into Sir Percy's office too and that is where I ought to be. My work is political, not military. The sole drawback is that it is a quarter of an hour from where I live and one can't come backwards and forwards in the middle of the day. Also it's not so luxurious as G.H.Q. where we sit under electric fans all day and really don't feel the heat. The moment you get away from a fan you drip ceaselessly but I suppose one will get accustomed to that. I am absolutely fit and don't suffer at all from the climate.

You were on your way to France when you wrote last - I shall be much interested to hear the account of your visit. Goodbye Belloved Father. Gertrude

I sent a letter by General Gilman and told him when he returned to England to come and see you. He was out here for the W.O.