3 February 1913 – 9 February 1913

A Confession H---- B---- invited me to tea to meet his fiancée. Rather pleased with the invitation--I don't know why, for my idea of myself is greater than my idea of him and probably greater than his idea of himself. Yet I went and got shaved, and even thought of buying a new pair of gloves, but poverty proved greater than vanity, so I went with naked hands. On arriving at Turnham Green, I removed my spectacles (well knowing how much they damage my personal appearance). However, the beauty of the thing was that, tho' I waited as agreed, he never turned up, and so I returned home again, crestfallen--and, with my spectacles on again.

... "Now, W----, talk to me prettily," she said as soon as the door was closed on them. "Oh! make him read a book," whined her sister, but we talked of marriage instead--in all its aspects. Bless their hearts, I found these two dear young things simply sodden with the idea of it. In the middle I did a knee-jerk which made them scream with laughing--the patellar reflex was new to them, so I seized a brush from the grate, crossed to Her and gently tapped: out shot her foot, and ----cried: "Oh, do do it to me as well." It was rare fun. "Oh! pretty knee, what do I see? And he stooped and he tied up my garter for me."