[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]
Your letter was handed to me to-day by the Porter as I went in to lunch – that’s 14 days, but it may have taken less, as I have not been in since Friday, having been away for the weekend, so it may have come sooner; fourteen days seems long but I wish that I could be with you in a fortnight; I had to put it in my pocket and was not able to read it until 3.30, as ISmith, Guy Vernon, Bishop of Willesdenand TSE's three-bishop lunch;a1 wasSimpson, Dr Bertram F., Bishop of Kensingtonand TSE's three-bishop lunch;a1 lunchingCurzon, Charles, Bishop of Stepney (later Bishop of Exeter)and TSE's three-bishop lunch;a1 with the suffragan-bishops of Willesden,1 Kensington2 and Stepney3 (It is confusing lunching with 3 bishops at once, I kept getting them mixed up ‘I know Kensington very well’. ‘I am not the Bishop of Kensington, that is he opposite; I am the Bishop of Willesden’ etc.) so of course my mind was very distracted thinking about my letter. I am distressed that my letter should have caused you anxiety and unhappiness; so in compensation let me tell you that this letter of the 6th made me very happy, as happy as any letter I have ever had from you, if it were possible to compare letters in that way. It was just the letter that I should have prayed that you might write. (You seem to me an exceptionally good letter-writer, if I may say so; I mean you can write exceptionally good letters: not that I have any basis for comparison). In the circumstances, nothing could have made me happier. ItHale, Emilycorrespondence with TSE;w3TSE doubts having pursued;f7 was not anything that you said or suggested, that made me doubtful about my continuing to write to you: only a natural wave of uncertainty after considerable self-reproach and abasement. I shall still have twinges of conscience about having begun it, but as for the present and future I feel more confident and assured; and perhaps shall expand more and more under your benign influence. It has all become rather bitter at the moments when I believed that I was really giving nothing in return for all this; but so long as you can keep me under the sweet delusion that I give as well as receive, that there is an even balance more or less, I am more happy. ButHale, Emilyrelationship with TSE;w9EH again offered manumission from;c7 I want to say once again that if at any time you find this kind of relationship a strain or a drain, I wish you to say so, and I shall make no fuss over stopping. MeanwhileHale, Emilyrelationship with TSE;w9TSE's only truly intimate relationship;c8, I shall take the advantage of pursuing the only real intimacy of my life, with any person. You may be sure, my dear, that your letter has been kissed a number of times, with especial attention to the signature.
I cannot bear in this letter to descend to such common matters as [in an] ordinary diary of little events; I will do that separately for the next mail. And now, my dear Girl, please remember that at your leisure I want you to give some account of yourself, and especially of your health.
IHastings, Donald Pierrewhich TSE sends photographs of;a2 am posting (not by Air Mail) at the same time the three photographs of the Ugly Mug Bust – upon which you are not called upon to comment: but please tell me just how much difference of time the Air Mail makes, between them and this letter. I am curious to know. If it’s only a day, that is worth it to me.
I9 Grenville Place, Londondelights TSE;a4 amCheetham, Revd Ericas landlord at 9 Grenville Place;a2, by the way, extremely comfortable and contented in my new abode c/o the Revd. Eric Cheetham.4 The food is good, and an excellent well-trained elderly maid looks after me.
1.GuySmith, Guy Vernon, Bishop of Willesden Vernon Smith (1880–1957), Bishop of Willesden, 1929–40: Vice-Chairman of the Forty-Five Churches Fund, Diocese of London.
2.DrSimpson, Dr Bertram F., Bishop of Kensington Bertram F. Simpson (1883–1971), Bishop of Kensington, 1932–42.
3.CharlesCurzon, Charles, Bishop of Stepney (later Bishop of Exeter) Curzon (1878–1954), 6th Bishop of Stepney, 1928–36; later Bishop of Exeter.
4.RevdCheetham, Revd Eric Eric Cheetham (1892–1957): vicar of St Stephen’s Church, Gloucester Road, London, 1929–56 – ‘a fine ecclesiastical showman’, as E. W. F. Tomlin dubbed him. TSE’s landlord and friend at presbytery-houses in S. Kensington, 1934–9. See Letters 7, 34–8.
4.RevdCheetham, Revd Eric Eric Cheetham (1892–1957): vicar of St Stephen’s Church, Gloucester Road, London, 1929–56 – ‘a fine ecclesiastical showman’, as E. W. F. Tomlin dubbed him. TSE’s landlord and friend at presbytery-houses in S. Kensington, 1934–9. See Letters 7, 34–8.
3.CharlesCurzon, Charles, Bishop of Stepney (later Bishop of Exeter) Curzon (1878–1954), 6th Bishop of Stepney, 1928–36; later Bishop of Exeter.
12.DonaldHastings, Donald Pierre Pierre Hastings (1900–38), English sculptor; son of the sculptor William Grenville Hastings (1868–1902); noted for ecclesiastical, architectural and portrait commissions.
2.DrSimpson, Dr Bertram F., Bishop of Kensington Bertram F. Simpson (1883–1971), Bishop of Kensington, 1932–42.