BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, [21 MAY 1919]
BRACERS 19477. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<Battersea>
Wed.1^, 2^, 3

My Darling

Thank you for your letter4 which came this evening — Yes, the vase and the bell and the flowers all arrived yesterday — thank you again and again — We both like the bell — the vase is a complete substitute for the other — I filled both it and the orangea vase with your tulips and lilies — Oh you are so dear, Beloved.

I do hope you will find time for your long letter — I shall long for it — Remember letters to and from Paris are read by the Censor so one must write formally — like the letter you wrote to Brixton that I only got when I came out5 —

No news of Eve6 or Elizabeth7 — Cole and Mrs Cole8 are next door — they dined here9 and are talking business with C.A.10 They bore me dreadfully —

Goodbye my loved one — I send you all my heart —

B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200465.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | 34 Russell Chambers | Bury Street | W.C.1. Pmk: BATTERSEA S.W.11 | 11. PM | 21 MAY 19

• 3

  [date] The date is taken from the envelope’s postmark.

• 4

  your letter Not extant.

• 5

  the letter you wrote to Brixton that I only got when I came out It is not known which letter that might be. Most letters between them were smuggled so formal language was not needed. BR was only allowed one official letter per week. These were written by his brother, Frank, Gladys Rinder, with one done by Eva Kyle. These letters contained messages from his many friends, as well as Colette.

• 6

  Eve Evelyn Walsh Hall, film and stage actress. For information on her, see BRACERS 19394, n.8.

• 7

  Elizabeth Elizabeth Russell (1866–1941), novelist. For information on her, see BRACERS 19080, n.7.

• 8

  Cole and Mrs Cole George Douglas Howard Cole (1889–1959), economist and guild socialist and Margaret Cole (1939–1959), political activist and guild socialist. The couple had married the previous year, 1918, and went on to publish a number of joint works.

• 9

  here In the Battersea flat that BR shared with Clifford Allen.

• 10

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

Textual Notes

• a

  orange after deleted  “yellow”.