BRACERS Record Detail for 19222
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"I have just had your letter."
The date presumably comes from the envelope which was noted as missing in December 2009.
BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, [28 SEPT. 1917]
BRACERS 19222. ALS. McMaster. SLBR 2: #301
Edited by S. Turcon and N. Griffin. Reviewed by K. Blackwell
I have just had your letter.3
I am more sorry than I can say, but I find I can’t bear to see you at present.
If, later on, your relations with Maurice4 come to an end, let me know, and I will do my best to come back to you. In the meantime, there is nothing for us both but to try to forget each other. I wish I felt differently — but it is no use pretending.
I do not feel critical of you — you are acting according to your nature, and that is right. But I also must act according to mine. Goodbye. May all happiness be yours.
B.
You have given me a year of happiness, for which I shall always bless you.
- 1
[document] Document 200204.
- 2
[date] BR is replying to Colette’s letter of 28 September 1917 (BRACERS 113069).
- 3
I have just had your letter. In this letter of 28 September, Colette writes of her visit to Maurice Elvey to say goodbye to ?. During the visit she changed her mind as she realized that she could never love him and her relationship with him would never threaten her bond with BR (BRACERS 113069).
- 4
relations with Maurice BR clearly implied his concern about her director Maurice Elvey on 17 September (BRACERS 19213). Colette wrote that there is not one shred of evidence to substantiate the rumour that Elvey had syphilis. Her husband, Miles, has agreed to discuss the matter with Elvey that evening. She then goes on to add: “I don’t need to tell you that Maurice is not my lover in the sense that you are the lover of Ottoline and of Mrs. Eliot; but I do need to tell you, Beloved, and to assure you absolutely that, if he can’t clear himself, I shall of course decide not to see him again. I have you and Miles to consider” (BRACERS 113069). This statement by Colette has been interpreted by various commentators in different ways. It could mean that BR had an emotional commitment to both women while she had none for Maurice. However, she will continue to have sex with him as long as he is disease free.
