BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 26 APR. 1930
BRACERS 19779. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

Battine House
East Marden
Chichester1
26.4.30

My dearest Colette

At last I have a moment to write to you. When I was with you2 John3 had measles; as he was getting over it, Kate4 got chicken pox. Then Wittgenstein5 came and had to be argued with on account of a job he wants for which I have to recommend him; also a Swiss whom we are engaging as a master.6 So I had not a moment.

It was heavenly being with you again and I long to be with you when you are well. I do hope you didn’t get worse7 after I left. — I feel something towards you that is indestructible, and that I feel for no one else. And I want to be with you when it is possible for us both.

B

• 1

  [document] Document 200785. Written at Battine House to avoid chicken-pox at Telegraph House.

• 2

  with you During their time together BR had asked if they could become lovers again and she replied in the affirmative (“Letters to Bertrand Russell from Constance Malleson, 1916–1969”, 2, p. 15).

• 3

  John John Conrad Russell, born 16 November 1921, to BR and his wife Dora.

• 4

  Kate Katharine Jane Russell born, 29 December 1923, to BR and his wife Dora. Her surname changed to Tait upon her marriage.

• 5

  Wittgenstein Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951), eminent philosopher and former student of BR’s. The visit is described in letters in Auto. 2: 116–21.

• 6

  a Swiss whom we are engaging as a master This man was hired but his name does not appear in any of the standard works on Beacon Hill School. His existence is noted in a report written on 30 October 1930 as a “Swiss man trained under some well known person at Geneva who likes games” (William Bruneau, “New Evidence on Life, Learning and Medical Care at Beacon Hill School”, Russell 23 [Winter 2003–04]: 144). In her memoir about the school, Dora Russell skips from John Goodey to Boris Uvarov leaving out the Swiss man (The Tamarisk Tree 2: My School and the Years of War [London: Virago, 1980], p. 45). Zora Schaupp remembers that the man who followed Goodey was John Lambert from Cambridge (Rec. Acq. 1070, p. 13).

• 7

  didn’t get worse Colette had been ill with laryngitis which had turned into bronchitis during his visit. She became so ill by Good Friday that she was forced to cancel her remaining appearances in the theatre tour with Sir Frank Benson (letter of 30 April, BRACERS 98405).