BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 6–7 FEB. 1919
BRACERS 19432. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<Garsington>
Feb. 6. 1919.  After dinner.1^, 2

My Darling Love

I was interrupted today by the post going earlier than I expected — so I am making sure this time. Everybody is gone to the village dance, except the old cook, so I am left to my own devices. Thank you for sending me Martha’s letters,3 which interested me. They are very definitely love-letters. I shall be interested to hear what Nini4 said. You must be fearfully busy, with a man staying at Bury Str. I hope tubes and trains5 will get right again soon.

I have been working at Introspection, on which I have to write a paper for the Aristotelian6 in a few months. No one will understand a word I say.

My Beloved, I long to be away with you — it will be heaven. Oh, I do love you, and I am hungry for your arms.

Marlow.7 It is fairly nice house, but in a street (nearly the last house before the country). The river there is lovely, and there are hills and woods. The house is badly furnished — most of the things hideous. But I fancy Eliot8 would like to be rid of it — it would be no expense, as one could let half the year. It is very hard to get anything, and unlikely one would get anything better. It would be very nice to have a place to go to — hotels will come expensive, and are not as nice in the long run. Whenever we were tired of it we could let it. What do you say?

My work still goes well — But I shall be all the better for a few days off. I got a letter from the Dial (an American Journal) asking me to write an article for them every 6 weeks9 and offering £10 an article. So I accepted. That means an extra £80 pounds a year.

Here they are back again. I will finish this tomorrow. My heart’s Life, I cannot tell you the hundredth part of the love I am feeling for you.

Goodnight my Cherub.

Friday. No letter today. I suppose strikes, waifs, snow and rehearsals10 all together were too much for you. — A heavenly day — I went a long walk alone in the snow — it was very beautiful. — Who is the Duchesse de Clermont-Tonnerre? — she wants to translate Roads to Freedom.11

Must write other letters. All my love, Darling. I long to know how your rehearsals go and everything about you.

B

• 1

  [document] Document 200422.

• 2

  [date] Although begun on 6 February, the letter was not finished until 7 February.

• 3

  Martha’s letters Presumably Martha Allan, whom Colette writes about in After Ten Years (London: J. Cape, 1931, pp. 42–4). Colette met her at school in Dresden before the First World War. She describes her as possessing a “magnetic personality”, “amazingly attractive”, and “exquisitely dressed”. Martha was a daughter of Sir Hugh Andrew Montague Allan (1860–1951), a Canadian banker and owner of the Allan Line of steamships. Martha’s only brother was killed in the War and her two sisters drowned when the Lusitania sank in 1915. She founded the Montreal Repertory Theatre in 1930.

• 4

  Nini Unidentified.

• 5

  tubes and trains The strike of London Underground Railways workers began on 3 February 1919. The dispute concerned the reduced work-day (from nine to eight hours) with the sticking-point being that the usual thirty-minute meal break was not being allowed. The dispute was settled on 7 February. Some above-ground railways around London were also affected.

• 6

  working at Introspection ... the Aristotelian The paper “On Propositions: What They Are and How They Mean” was given to Aristotelian Society in joint session with the British Psychology Society and the Mind Association on 11 July 1919. The paper is 20 in Papers 9.

• 7

  MarlowThe Eliots leased a cottage at 31 West Street, in Marlow, Bucks., from 5 December 1917 to 15 November 1920. BR both had a financial interest in the cottage and contributed furniture. The furniture was returned to him in installments. In her reply of 7 February she cast a negative view of completely taking over the house from Eliot (BRACERS 113174).

• 8

  Eliot T.S. Eliot (1888–1965). For information on him, see BRACERS 19062, n.5.

• 9

  write an article for them every 6 weeks The first article that appeared in The Dial was “Democracy and Direct Action”, 3 May 1919 (B&R C19.13; 28 in Papers 15). Although BR published many articles in The Dial (his last was a book review in April 1929 [B&R C29.12]), the frequency of these articles was not every six weeks. There were no contributions from him in 1920.

• 10

  rehearsals Colette was preparing for her role as “Ila” in Rabindranath Tagore’s play, The King and Queen, on 12 February 1919 at the Comedy Theatre.

• 11

  Duchesse de Clermont-Tonnerre ... Roads to Freedom Elizabeth de Gramont, Duchesse de Clermont-Tonnerre (1875–1954). Roads to Freedom (1918) was not translated into French until 1973. Colette either did not reply to BR’s request for information on the duchesse or her response is not extant.