BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 13 FEB. 1917
BRACERS 19123. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

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13 II ’171

My Beloved

Your dear letters are such a joy to get — the thought of you is like sunshine in the midst of all the darkness and dreariness of the world.

Next week I am keeping Tues. Wed. Thurs. free for C.A.2 —  as soon as I know which day I see him, I will see you the evening of one of the others — either Tues. or Wed. pretty certainly.  Maidstone3 is a prohibited area4 so I may not be allowed to go.

From the answer to Butcher, it looks as if they meant to prosecute me5 for evading the censor about the letter to Wilson,6 but not for the contents of the letter.

Is Marie in love with Cap. White?7 I hope you have contradicted the statement that he is a lunatic — she is sure to pass it on to him, and he is sure to put it down to me. He is sane now I think.

The week-end at Leith Hill8 went off very well. I felt kindly to C.E.M.9 and liked her parents — we smoothed over differences and had satisfactory talks.

Since then I have been busy every moment.  Now I am just off to York — back tomorrow  — Cambridge10 Thurs. and Fri. (no address there) —  N.C.F. Comee Sat. and Sunday.

I do understand what you said about the way Spring’s pictures come back and hurt you.

It was very interesting about Harold and the Canadians.11 When we meet I want to hear all about it.

Darling one, I am sure there is a future for us after the war. I have come oddly to feel you my good angel. My soul is like Russia, liable to domination by “dark forces” — but you bring out its best. Goodbye my dear dear love. I bless you every hour of the day.

B

• 1

  [document] Document 200096.

• 2

  C.A. (Reginald) Clifford Allen (1889–1939). For further information on Allen, see BRACERS 19046, n.7.

• 3

  Maidstone in Kent where Clifford Allen was being held.

• 4

  prohibited area On 1 September 1916 he had been banned by the government from all prohibited areas, including all the sea-coasts.

• 5

  answer to Butcher ... meant to prosecute me J.G. Butcher was a Conservative backbench M.P. who raised a pointed question in the Commons. The Home Secretary, Sir George Cave, dealt with it. See “Press Censorship”, Parliamentary Debates (Commons), (5) 90 (12 Feb. 1917): 263–5 (cited in A. Bone, “Russell and the Other DORA”, Russell, 38 (2018): 101–30 (at 110). BR was not prosecuted for evading the censor.

• 6

  letter to Wilson BR’s open letter to President Woodrow Wilson (B&R C16.31, A26; 2 in Papers 14).

• 7

  Marie in love with Cap. White? Marie was a friend of Colette’s from the theatre. Captain James Robert (“Jack”) White, (1879–1946), son of Field-Marshal Sir George White, served in the Second South African war. He resigned his commission in 1908, and within a few years became a supporter of Irish home rule. He was imprisoned in 1916 for his agitation against the death sentence of James Connolly.

• 8

  Leith Hill The home of Catherine Marshall’s parents in Surrey.

• 9

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

• 10

  York  ... Cambridge The nature of his presumed speech in York is not known. In Cambridge he spoke to the UDC as well as on “Scientific Method in Philosophy” to the Moral Sciences Club.

• 11

  Spring’s pictures and Harold and the Canadians Since Colette’s letter to BR that mentions these topics is not extant, it has not been possible to identify these references.