" 'Grass widow propriety' is a subject engaging us in these dark days. Each week the numbers of these difficulty-placed folk increases, and with them the responsibilities of those who ordain the 'shoulds' and 'shouldn'ts' of others' behaviour. A poor grass widow! 0 Heaven! What is there for her to do except sit at home and mope. 'I don't know how she can think of going there, with her poor dear husband at the front' is the kind of comment every outing of hers is likely to raise.

"But there are many who act foolishly, and whose craving for pleasure is not modified even during this dreadful time of horror."

Here "Clio" discussed "a certain mercurial young matron" who just after learning that her absent husband was wounded "decided to give a soiree on quite a large scale".

"There was even that most outre and condemned of dissipations – dancing! And the hostess herself was among the most light-footed of the revellers, the affair lasting till goodness knows what early hours in the wicked morning.

"But her crime of crimes gave some justification for the most spiteful of comments, for most of the evening she danced with a partner of undoubtedly German name, whose naturalisation has not even been heard of. Her behaviour is foolish, to say the least."