pulled under by the currents

Why were they travelling unaccompanied? 'We are accompanying each other,' said Asa, 'being mistress and maid.' For this attempt at light-heartedness she received a cold-eyed stare.

If these magnific titles yet remain / Not merely titular.

Consuelo was so taken by Freyberg that she presented him with a Jaeger sleeping bag. On their last night of leave at Seymour Street, Flora entertained Eddie Marsh and Rupert Brooke to dinner with Johnny and Freyberg. When they had returned to camp, Johnny wrote to his mother that Freyberg was so pleased with the 'flea bag' that he'd christened it 'Consuelo'.