273/365 05/22/2026

There are any number of things we could say about Robert Hammond. That he used to box at Oxford. That he spent 30 days in a wet hole while all around him artillery shells filled the air with a rain of hot, sharp metal and thunderous blasts so loud as to empty the brain. That he was kind to children and saw them but could only speak to them as if they were tiny adults, a habit the children felt somewhat disconcerting and also quite funny. But the important thing here, and something in which all these other things must be wrapped, was what we’ll say about his love for Agnes Murdoch.