Friday
HMS Bee, Holyhead, Anglesey
My Dear Stella,
It is not possible to compare my own sorrow to that of yours. I can’t begin to do it.
I can give no consolation or comfort to you in words, and knowing the futility of this I feel ashamed to write to you.
I am with you all the time in thoughts. I want with all my heart to be near you – to try to give you some sort of comfort – but that’s impossible. I can’t get to Liverpool.
You’ve suffered the greatest blow that any woman can suffer. Your mind is a hell and your heart’s in agony – no words of mine can alter that, but I know that my sister is a brave woman and slowly life must come back to her.
You will see again, and live again.
Hold on! For God’s sake, Stella. Hold on! For Arthur’s sake. Get a tight hold. Through Wendy and Michael you will learn to see, to live again. Through Wendy and Michael you will learn that he can never leave you.
And as long as I myself am with the living you will never need, you and the children. I swear it, all that I have, or will have, is yours – always.
I swear it.
All my love and sympathy to you. God bless you, Stella.
Hal.
Oct 061944