BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, [10 SEPT. 1917]
BRACERS 19209. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<London>
Monday night1^, 2^, 3

My Darling Love

I wonder what were your adventures today and whether anything is to come of them.

It was a wonderfully happy time — I felt so near to you — I feel so warm and full of hope and confidence with you — and I love to feel all reserve melting away — soon I shall cease altogether to be reserved with you — it is only a tiresome instinct, and I am happier when I break it down.

I fully believe in your future on the stage — I think your present long spell of bad luck will come to an end sooner or later — I am sure it will — I realize more than I did that your happiness is bound up with the stage —

I had J.A.C.4 till 1 — Miss Kyle5 till 6 — since then I have been alone — Katherine Mansfield wants me to dine this day week — so I shall probably go then — Let us meet Wed. if that suits you — I may be lunching with the Whiteheads6 — if so I shall be free about 3 — my evening is free. Thursday I dine with the Cobden-Sandersons7 — Friday I have tea with Mrs Hamilton8 to renew acquaintance with her poet sister;9 so Wednesday is the best day if you can manage it. I count on the week-end —

The young woman who saved me at the Bro. Church10 is the Sec. of the Poplar N-C.F. — so Mrs Salter11 tells me.

Russian news is very bad —12

Ever since our time away, I have grown profoundly happier deep down — I feel the madness gone out of me — merely being alive is no longer a nervous strain.  I go about all day feeling a great inward joy —

Goodnight my Beloved — All my tender thoughts surround you every moment —

B

• 1

  [document] Document 200189.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | 6 Mecklenburgh Square | W.C.1. Pmk: LONDON.W.C | 1.15 AM | SEP 11 17A

• 3

  [date] The date is taken from the date of Monday night combined with the postmark of 11 Sept. 1.15 AM.

• 4

  J.A.C. Joint Advisory Committee, which consisted of representatives from the No-Conscription Fellowship, the Friends Service Committee, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

• 5

  Miss Kyle Eva Kyle, No-Conscription Fellowship secretary. She also worked privately for BR on his book Roads to Freedom, which he dictated to her in the early months of 1918, and took down his “Philosophy of Logical Atomism” lectures.

• 6

  the Whiteheads Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) and his wife, Evelyn (1865–1961). For further information on them, see BRACERS 19080, n.6.

• 7

  Cobden-Sandersons Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson (1840–1922) who founded the Doves Press and his wife Anne (1853–1926), socialist and suffragette. Cobden-Sanderson was named as BR’s guardian by his father, Viscount Amberley. However, when Amberley died, BR’s paternal grandparents made him and his brother wards in Chancery, and they were raised by the Russells.

• 8

  Mrs Hamilton Mary Agnes (“Molly”) Hamilton (1882–1966), politician and broadcaster, one of the original members of the UDC.

• 9

  her poet sister Margot Robert Adamson (1898–1979), who in 1917 published A Year of War, and Other Poems (London: D. Nutt). Mary Agnes Hamilton wrote the preface for her sister’s book One Fine Day I Was Walking Along, a Travel Book for Those Who Stay at Home (London: Dent, 1933).

• 10

  saved me at the Bro. Church BR and Colette attended a meeting at the Brotherhood church in Southgate Road, Hackney, organized by the London and Home Counties District to found a Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council, inspired by events in Russia. It was broken up by an angry mob before the Council could be created. BR was attacked by “two drunken viragos … with their boards full of nails” (Auto. 2: 32). The “young woman” who was secretary of the Poplar NCF was possibly Sylvia Pankhurst (M.P. Price to BR, 5 Oct. 1956, BRACERS 2592), and not Ethel Snowden as BR firmly recollected in reply (BRACERS 15082).

• 11

  Mrs Salter Ada Salter (1873–1945), socialist and pacifist; the wife of Alfred Salter.

• 12

  Russian news is very bad. On the day this letter was written, The Times reported that Russia was going to continue to fight in the war, despite the huge unrest in the country (20 September 1917, p. 7).