Baghdad Aug 3 Dearest Father. This week a mail extraordinary brought me your letters of June 5,18,19 and 20 and Mother's of June 13. The quickening up of the post is due to the advance of the rly up the Tigris, Heaven bless it. The Father of Rlys dined with me last night, Gen. Lubbock, Mr Percy's brother, a very attractive creature though not so interesting as my dear Mr Percy. Gen. L. has made most of his career in India. He has got a wife and baby at home. The last bit of rly built, from Kut [Kut, Al (Kut al Imara)] to Baghdad, has been a very creditable business, for it was pushed through in the middle of the great heat. Col. Willcox - well I must tell you I've been on the sick list this week and am not off it yet. Having survived the heat I caught cold with the first chill morning and a cold in this country reduces me at once to a state of maddening and unconquerable feebleness. It's no good fighting it; one has to knock under. So for 4 days I've done absolutely nothing and am still much as before, confound it. But the irst day when I was lying in my comparatively cool room in the office, and cursing, in came Col. Willcox to pay me a friendly call - I could have embraced him, his visit was so opportune. So now he comes regularly to see if I have pneumonia or consumption - but I never have. Well, he told me some interesting things about the heat wave and its consequences. (It began on July 11 quite suddenly with a temp. of 122 and ended on July 20 with a temp of 122.8. In between it was frequently over 120.) He notes that 115 is the limit of human endurance. The moment the temp. rises above this point heat strokes begin, and when it drops Bellow they end. We could have saved many lives if after the crisis was over there had been any cool place to put the men into. But there wasn't and after fighting through the heat stroke they died of heat exhaustion. I suppose if we had had masses of ice we could have made cool places, but ice was lacking. It happened once or twice that we well people went without it because the hospitals needed all there was. I don't think I shall stay through the whole of next hot weather unless there is any very strong reason for it. I shall come to England for a month and return in Sep. - But who knows what we shall all be doing by then. I don't believe we shall still be fighting. Some way or other peace will have come about.
Yes, Lady Maxwell is impossible. I didn't feel called upon to make her acquaintance and so didn't make his, which I regretted.

When this reaches you the worst of our summer should be over, so that unless you hear that I've unostentatiously died, you may conclude I'm flourishing. After all, so far I've got through very easily - not a single day of fever.

Richard drops in often after tea - it's so nice seeing him and so refreshing to talk to him. I'm ever the affectionate daughter of both of you. Gertrude

I'm deeply interested by your tales of kings and dukes. No, don't send me the Syrian architec. book nor yet the Encyclopaedia livraison.