BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 21 DEC. 1929
BRACERS 19768. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<letterhead>
Beacon Hill School
Harting,
Petersfield,1^, 2
21 Dec. 1929

My very dear Colette

Yesterday I got back from America3 and found your letter.4 Some letter of mine must have gone astray. I was glad of yours. And thank you very much for the picture of yourself.5

I could probably come to Blagdon6 for a week-end in April during school holidays. I suppose you will be too busy in London Jan. 6–20? If not, that would be easiest for me, as well as sooner. — It was lovely seeing John7 and Kate8 again at Southampton; it was almost worth having been away.

What a pity a year has been lost!9 It makes me anxious to see you again as soon as you are not too full of work.

I want to know about your writing.““10

B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200774.

• 2

  [envelope] Miss Colette O’Niel | Blagdon | Somerset. Pmk: PETERSFIELD | 21 DE | 29

• 3

  back from America From18 September to 20 December 1929 BR had been on a lecture tour of America to help finance Beacon Hill School. This time he again began on the east coast, followed by the mid-West, then north to Winnipeg, crossed western Canada to Vancouver, down the American west coast, then through some western states (Utah, Colorado, Texas) and into the South. He then travelled back north as far as Minnesota, back to the East coast with stops in the mid-West, again went to Montreal before ending in New York. It’s not surprising he ended up in bed with bronchitis when he returned home. He spoke on the topics of civilization, world peace, marriage, his faith, and education, again mainly on college campuses and to women’s groups, although this tour also included some philosophical talks at the California Institute of Technology and Harvard.

• 4

  your letter Her letter of 12 December 1929 (BRACERS 98402) indicates that she will be touring with Sir Frank Benson’s Farewell Tour; she will also be in Ireland in late January 1930. She thinks that March 1930 would be the earliest they could meet. Interestingly enough, this letter also contains the following bombshell: “Strictly speaking, I no longer have any ambition to act. I keep on from a variety of reasons. Stage ambition went out like a snuffed candle when I was at Weybridge in 1921.” Her series of letters written from Weybridge marked their complete break after his return from China; acting is not mentioned in them.

• 5

  picture of yourself It is not known what photograph she sent him.

• 6

  Blagdon A village in Somerset where Colette had lived since 1925.

• 7

  John Russell’s son, John Conrad Russell, born 16 November 1921.

• 8

  Kate Russell’s daughter, born on 29 December 1923. Her surname changed to Tait upon her marriage.

• 9

  What a pity a year has been lost! Lost letters may be the reason, but that seems a rather weak explanation if they had really wanted to meet.

• 10

  your writing BR had always encouraged her to write, preferring that she do that rather than act. Although she was now only going through the motions with her acting, she “passionately” wanted to write (12 Dec. 1929; BRACERS 98402). She would publish two novels and two memoirs; she had already published fiction in TheEnglish Review. See S. Turcon, “A Bibliography of Constance Malleson”, Russell,n.s. 32 (2012): 175–90, and “A Bibliography of Constance Malleson II”, Russell, n.s. 45 (2025): 79–82.