A letter came yesterday from the Red Cross enquiry office. In it was a statement by Private Loder of the fifth Dorsets who was with Bob on January 11, to the effect that he saw Bob fall during the attack & he went on to say that a friend of his lance Cpl Parsey said he saw him dead.

Now all this D & I don’t believe, as the Private’s do make up such tales. However I have written to the adjutant of the regiment to ask him what he thinks about it. We must try & keep this away from father he has had a good deal of pain lately, which makes him very weak & weary.

There has been a fearful air raid on Folkestone, 16 enemy aeroplanes dropped bombs, killed 75 people & injuring over 100. This is the worst thing of that sort that has happened, & just when we were congratulating ourselves that there are raids were a failure. This happened between five & six in the afternoon.

A wild rumour is about that Lord Kitchener is alive & will be seen in London in a few days time. This tale has been going for some time it is difficult to trace its origin.