The Wars

Juliet d’Orsey provides more details of the relationship between Robert and Barbara, recorded over the course of a weekend. The events take place in a village name named Stourbridge St. Aubyn’s. The abbey of St. Aubyn’s was consigned to the d’Orseys as their family seat by William the Conqueror. The Marquis of St. Aubyn’s—Barbara and Juliet’s father—is mostly absent. Their mother, Lady Emmeline, longed for a simpler life; “her children, her gardens and her belief in God were all that mattered to her” (132). Her children are Clive, Michael, Barbara, Juliet, and Temple. So many of their friends come to the country house seeking to avoid “the horrors of Kitchener’s army” (132) that Lady Emmeline turns the house into a convalescent hospital. After being injured at St. Eloi, Robert accepts an invitation to visit St. Aubyn’s. It is sent by Taffler with a forged signature. Juliet considers Clive and Temple to be the family geniuses and Barbara and Michael to be “beautiful beyond compare” (133), while her role is to write everything down and remember everything that happened.

Robert arrives while Barbara is away, so Juliet offers to take him to his room. She “liked him at once” (135).