BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, [7 NOV. 1917]
BRACERS 19238. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

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My Beloved

Your dear letter3 just come — I hadn’t one moment yesterday — I too still feel a little shy — and there are still moments when the stab of jealousy hurts unbearably —

I had a very satisfactory time with Mrs Eliot4 last night — got out of the troublesome part of the entanglement by her initiative5 — she behaved very generously — it is a great relief.

Tomorrow at 11 — what fun it will be6 —

I don’t believe in the Cat and Fiddle7 — I am sure something will happen to stop it — I dare not let myself believe in it.

My heart’s love, it will be joy to be with you. Not another moment — My heart is yours my Darling.

B

• 1

  [document] Document 200226.

• 2

  [date] Colette wrote “Wed. 7 Nov. 1917” on the letter.

• 3

  Your dear letter Her letter of 7 November 1917 (BRACERS 113086).

• 4

  Mrs Eliot Vivienne Eliot (1888–1947), wife of the poet T.S. Eliot.

• 5

  got out of the troublesome part of the entanglement by her initiative The “entanglement” appears to be a reference to BR’s plan of sharing a country cottage with Mrs. Eliot. By the “troublesome part” BR must have meant his sexual involvement with Mrs. Eliot. The Eliots leased a cottage at 31 West Street, in Marlow, Bucks., a month after this letter was written, from 5 December 1917 to 15 November 1920. BR had both a financial interest in the cottage and contributed furniture. The furniture was returned to him in installments. Vivienne Eliot wrote to Lady Ottoline Morrell about BR fetching some of his possessions on [4 June? 1919], arriving at her London flat, “dreadfully out of temper” (The Letters of T.S. Eliot, Vol. 1, ed. Valerie Eliot and Hugh Haughton [London: Faber and Faber, 2009], pp. 358–9).

• 6

  what fun it will be They were going to look for a place together.

• 7

  Cat and Fiddle An isolated pub on the moors near Buxton, Derbyshire. For further information on this pub, see BRACERS 19065, n.5.