I put on girl's underclothes under the dress. Whenever I was left alone in the house my first thought was to go to my mother's or the maid's bedroom and look at the underclothes and, if there was time and' it was safe, to undress and try them on. I never put on cor- sets for I didn't dare to let out the laces lest it should be not- iced they had been tampered with, but I clearly remember the unsat- isfied thrill of clasping them round my chemise-clad body.

or

There was, too, the rare delight of the sight of a girl's woman's underclothes, whether freshly clean and starched from the laundry, or better, on her person. A glimpse of a white lace petti- coat gave a lasting thrill but such opportunities were very few and far between.

Partly through lack of opportunity and partly due to the var- iety of interests and activities, Eonist tendencies remained dor- mant or, at least, undeveloped in the years following adolescence, though I was always ready to play voyeur if opportunity offered.

--

I became sub-editor on a technical paper and later assistant editor on popular educational publications of wide circulations. Hard work--I worked up to 18 hours a day 5 days a week and wrote over 100,000 words on technical subjects for popular presentation- left little room or opportunity for repressed desires... Then, as now, desire was completely heterosexual. There has never been any thought of abnormal sexual practices--I have never discovered any homosexual tendency in myself.

During the first World War I served as an infantry officer in Ireland, France (wounded on the Somme) and Germany. During the War, I married a lady with whom I had been close friends for a number of years. She soon discovered that my keen interest in her lingerie was partly personal to myself and when after the war we came to live in London I explained my secret desire to her. I had always thought that such desires were entirely peculiar to myself. I could not imagine there was another man so absurd as to wish to wear women's clothes and I could not believe that anyone who dis- covered it would think anything but that I was an effeminate fool. But ours was a marriage so happy that complete mutual confidence was easy and when she saw, as she did in a fairly short time, that it was not a passing fancy, she helped me in every way, particular- ly, I think, because I did not fail her as a man, a husband and a

lover.

After the War, persistent stomach trouble (bad enough to

43.