Pièce 208 - Letter from Ruth to George Mallory, 10 - 11 December 1916

1 Item, paper

Sunday 10 Dec. evening - Describes in detail a visit by Johnstone, John Graves and Raymond. Expresses her wish for him to be home.

Monday 11 Dec. morning - Describes a visit to the Brocks to meet Allan's school master Mr Nastor. Expresses her opinion on the character of Mr Nastor in detail. Acknowledges his letter and asks if he is feeling better and how he feels about his comrades moving away. Tells him about the items she is sending him.

Robert Graves attended Charterhouse School where Mallory taught before the war. He sang in the choir, where he met an aristocratic boy three years younger, G. H. "Peter" Johnstone, with whom he began an intense romantic friendship. The scandal led ultimately to an interview with the headmaster. Graves himself called it 'chaste and sentimental' and 'proto-homosexual,' and though he was clearly in love with Peter (disguised by the name Dick in Good-Bye to All That), he denied that their relationship was ever sexual. He was warned about Peter's morals by other contemporaries.