BR TO KATHARINE TAIT, 27 JAN. 1944
BRACERS 52588. ALS. McMaster
Proofread by K. Blackwell

<letterhead>
Peacock Inn
Twenty Bayard Lane
Princeton, N.J.
Jan. 27, 1944

My dear Kate

I didn’t get your letter till yesterday or I would have answered it sooner. I must write quickly and put the points baldly.

1. You can’t marry till you and he are of age. If you do, it is valid, but you both go to prison for perjury, as you will have to say you are of age. His mother will ferret things out and tell the police.
2. You can’t tell where he will be, but England is just as likely as America.
3. My chief reason for wanting you to come home is that if you don’t I shall go to prison — unless Chancery gives you leave to stay, which is unlikely. Your mother will go to prison too.
4. If you defy the Court of Chancery, you can’t ever go to England without risk of prison; moreover they will probably confiscate your money.

These reasons are pretty drastic. I haven’t exaggerated them. So I think you had better go to England in June and do some form of national service, like Pam.

I am afraid I have seemed very unsympathetic but I am not so underneath. I know it is hard for you. But in wartime horrible things happen to most people.

Great haste. Goodbye my dear Kate, with much love and sympathy.

Yr aff
Diddy