BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 7 JULY 1920
BRACERS 19667. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<letterhead>
70, Overstrand Mansions,
Prince of Wales Road,
Battersea, S.W.1^, 2
7.7.20

My Beloved

How dear of you to write to me such lovely letters, and I have written so very few to you! But I have nearly got through the pile that was waiting, so it is easier to write now.

Your letters3 are just as good as mine, Dearest. They do have a lofty quality — they are sincere and passionate, and sometimes flash like a lighthouse; and they are well-written: you have a real sense for rhythm and choice of words. It would never do to have “delicate sadness”4 at your age — if you had it now, life would beat you before 30. You want more fight for the present.

My Heart’s Life, you have been so very wonderful these days — I am hushed and awed with the happiness of it. I feel nearer to you than ever before — Through you I know that love can be what I had dreamed.

B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200670.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | 6 Mecklenburgh Square | W.C.1. Pmk: BATTERSEA S.W.11 | 1.15 PM | 7 JUL | 20

• 3

  Your letters The four letters (numbered 2–4 and 7) that she contributed to their Russian section of their letter project. Colette had written on 5 July 1920 that her letters were not as good as his, and that perhaps hers should not appear (BRACERS 113207). For further information, see BRACERS 19585, n.6.

• 4

  “delicate sadness” This phrase does not appear in the four literary letters that she wrote, nor does it remain in any of the letters that she wrote to him after his return — letters that are extant, not as originals, but in their edited form.