BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, [18 AUG. 1917]
BRACERS 19192. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<London>
Sat. aftn.1^, 2^, 3

My Darling

Your letter4 from Annan5 has just come — wonderfully quickly — it was a joy to get it. So was your telegram6 last night — a real flash of delight.a But I am afraid Annan sounds fearfully dull. Dearest you don’t know how dreadfully I miss you — every moment. But I am full of energy and prepared to demolish mountains of work. I went to the office yesterday — had a long friendly talk with CEM7 — nothing much for me to do there — Unwin8 has sent me in MS a very interesting set of letters from a C.O. which he is thinking9 of publishing as a book — they are admirable — I went to see him about them — he promises me another £100 from America soon.

Otherwise I have seen no one. My brother10 and Elizabeth11 are in the country.

Dearest loved one, I love you with all my heart and with all my soul. I am filled with a store of joy and love that makes all life shine — Goodbye my Beloved — Love to Miles12 — also to Nellie and the Yellow Peril.13

B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200172.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | Queensbury Arms Hotel | Annan | Dumfriesshire | Scotland. Pmk: LONDON.W.C. | 5.15 PM | AUG 18 17c

• 3

  [date] The date is taken from the postmark on the envelope.

• 4

  Your letter Her letter of 18 August 1917 (BRACERS 113044).

• 5

  Annan Colette was staying with her husband, Miles, at the Queensberry Arms Hotel, in Annan, Scotland.

• 6

  your telegram Telegram of 17 August 1917 (BRACERS 107342, document 200936).

• 7

  CEM Catherine Marshall (1880–1961). For information on her, see BRACERS 19043, n.5.

• 8

  Unwin Stanley Unwin (1884–1968), BR’s publisher, beginning with Principles of Social Reconstruction (1916). He had founded George Allen & Unwin in 1914 and went on to become one of the most respected publishers in Britain.

• 9

  letters from a C.O. which he is thinking Possibly Made Free in Prison by Edward Williamson Mason, a collection of letters by a conscientious objector, published by Allen and Unwin in 1918.

• 10

  My brother John Francis (“Frank”) Russell (1865–1931). For further information, see BRACERS 19046, n.3.

• 11

  Elizabeth Mary Annette von Arnim (1866–1941), novelist. For further information, see BRACERS 19080, n.7.

• 12

  Miles Miles Malleson, Colette’s husband. For further information on him, see BRACERS 19046, n.4.

• 13

  Nellie and the Yellow Peril Colette’s sunshade and dressing gown. The sunshade had been damaged “as the result of rough treatment by the mob in Southgate Road” (BRACERS 113045).

Textual Notes

• a

  So … delight. inserted