[Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool]
One more little note to the Adelphi Hotel, beforeJanes, Adadies;a1 I start to go to Mrs. Janes’s funeral. I shall not, therefore, be wearing the carnation this morning, but shall again tomorrow. ThenHarris, Revd Charlesvisited in nursing home;a6 after lunch I have to go to see Dr. Harris in his nursing home, and after that have appointments to see two people; and I shall write my letter to the boat after that andCulpin, Johanna ('Aunt Johanna', née Staengel);b4 before dining with Jan Culpin. I don’t think that I have really grasped the fact that you have gone yet; mercifully that takes time. And my rooms are so full of your presence that I can hardly believe that you may not come in at any moment, and we shall sit down on the sofa together and talk about ourselves and I shall listen to your lovely voice. I had a long night, and still feel exhausted. ThisTandys, theTSE's Hampton weekends with;a1 weekend I go to the Tandy’s, to immerse myself in other people’s domestic life and play with other people’s children; and after that next week is clear and I shall rest quietly and stay at home in the evenings. I still resent, and think that now I always shall, all the things that take my mind and prevent me from thinking constantly about you and going over one occasion after another when we have been together. I shan’t be going to the theatre much, or to concerts at all, I expect, now; and if I do I shall prefer to go alone, for who is there whom I would not resent being with in such places after being with you? To enjoy a play, or a concert, or a painting, or a place, in the company of the person you love is so intense a delight that the same occupations are unbearable with anyone else.
Now I must go, my dearest, my darling; and I am impatient until the end of the afternoon when I shall be writing to you again. I try to imagine you in Liverpool, without me, but I can’t very well.
12.RevdHarris, Revd Charles Charles Harris, DD (1865–1936), Prebendary of Hereford Cathedral from 1925; Vicar of South Leigh, Witney, Oxfordshire, 1929–34; Chairman of the Book Committee of the (English) Church Union since 1923; Assistant Editor of Literature and Worship, 1932. Works include Creeds or No Creeds? (1922); First Steps in the Philosophy of Religion (1927). TSE to Group Captain Paul J. Harris (son), 12 July 1961: ‘I was very happy to work with him many years ago on the Literature Committee of the Anglo-Catholic Congress. Your father was, incidentally, an extremely able and dynamic Secretary of the Committee and the publications reached a high level of importance and authority during his term of office.’
4.W. L. JanesJanes, W. L. (1854–1939), ex-policeman who worked as handyman for the Eliots. Having been superannuated from the police force early in the century, he worked for a period (until about 1921) as a plain-clothes detective in the General Post Office. TSE reminisced to Mary Trevelyan on 2 Apr. 1951: ‘If I ever write my reminiscences, which I shan’t, Janes would have a great part in them’ (‘The Pope of Russell Square’). TSE to Adam Roberts (b. 1940; godson of TSE), 12 Dec. 1955: ‘I … knew a retired police officer, who at one period had to snoop in plain clothes in the General Post Office in Newgate Street – he caught several culprits, he said’ (Adam Roberts). HisJanes, Ada wife was Ada Janes (d. 1935).