Another curious thing is that our trouble seems to make us more
like each other. Of course we are not more like, but we all somehow
take the same tone, and seem to have given up our own particular
ways and fancies.
"Now the men don't seem like that. Mr. Hunter, for example, whom
I used to think an even tempered and easygoing sort of man, has
become fidgety and querulous. The Major is even more genial and kind
than usual. The Doctor snaps and snarls at everyone and everything.
Anyone listening to my husband would say that he was in the wildest
spirits. Rintoul is quieter than usual, and the two lads have grown
older and nicer; I don't say they are less full of fun than they
were, especially Wilson, but they are less boyish in their fun,
and they are nice with everyone, instead of devoting themselves to
two or three of us, you principally. Perhaps Richards is the most
changed; he thinks less of his collars and ties and the polish of
his boots than he used to do, and one sees that he has some ideas
in his head besides those about horses. Captain Forster is, perhaps,
least changed, but of that you can judge better than I can, for
you see more of him. As to Mr. Bathurst, I can say nothing, for we
never see him now. I think he is the only man in the station who
goes about his work as usual; he starts away the first thing in the
morning, and comes back late in the evening, and I suppose spends
the night in writing reports, though what is the use of writing
reports at the present time I don't know.
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