7 SEPTEMBER 1945, Page 10

Had I said all this to my demobilised friend in

Sloane Square should I have encouraged or discouraged him? There are other things I might have said. I might have warned 'him of the dark days when his book would grow stale to him as the sound of his own voice. I might have warned him that there would come moments when his material, however carefully arranged, would become disorganised and flap round him in confusion like a colons- of rooks. I might have warned him that there would come a time when he hated his characters and his narrative with a wearied loathing. And I could have told him that the morning would come when he would write the last word of the last chapter and walk elatedly thereafter upon pavements glistening in September rain.