He says he is not growing a beard but he refuses all offers of a razor, soap and a mirror. I’m not sure I want him to have a beard.He has become addicted to soup, which he says is much easier to eat than meat and vegetables when you’re in bed. He’s been lying up there for ten days now. Sometimes he coughs just to let me know that he’s still suffering from a bad cold, or flu, but most of the time he sits up with a sketch pad resting on his knees drawing very unlikely faces. He says he may never get up again, but he has to move at least once a day, as I refuse to come up and down the stairs with a chamber pot, despite his requests that I do so. I have told him that I may go to bed myself soon too, as I’m not in the full bloom of health either and he says I will be very welcome but we’ll have to put Isona into an orphanage.Isona, who has now fallen asleep, has been a nuisance all morning. Her cheeks are red from moaning and crying. I try to send her up to her father but Miguel has developed a cunning way of forcing her to come back down again.
