[No surviving envelope]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
MS
Oxford & Cambridge University Club
Friday, Dec. 20, 1935
My own dear Emilie

I have just sent you a cable to greet your arrival, to the boat, but I have been exasperated, my darling, by having to dine out every night, and I do not know whether this note will catch a boat tomorrow. But I am looking forward to the weekend when I shall have time to write at length as I please.

(TuesdayHuxleys, the;a6 nightMonro, Alida (née Klementaski);b8 theUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wellsvisited in Rochester;c5 HuxleysCheetham, Revd Eric;b7, Wednesday Alida, Thursday Rochester, & tonight I am waiting for Cheetham. I think incessantly of your arriving. I did get your last dear letter posted from a French boat. When I am alone, I am alone with you, as we have sat alone together & the back of your head reflected. I shall write tomorrow & Sunday, & this will just kiss you goodnight – Emily, Emily.

Your
Tom.
Cheetham, Revd Eric, TSE's rent to, as landlord at 9 Grenville Place, asks TSE to be churchwarden, to which TSE agrees, invited to Sweeney Agonistes, taken ill, offers prayers for EH's passage, his pageant for Mothers' Union, on London colds, given wine for Christmas, possible flatmate, pleased to welcome EH, advice in case of fire, unfolds tale of French holiday, and St. Stephen's wartime finances, remembers TSE's birthday, indifferent to rationing, during Blitz, paid to house TSE's books, starts lending library in tube, living in modern penthouse, TSE drafts testimonial letter for, hosts TSE in penthouse, his testimonial, requests TSE's presence for Bishop of London, by whom he is chastened, and Elvaston Place, exhausted by war, prevented from giving TSE customary birthday greeting, one of TSE's few intimates, TSE on, hounded by Time, and the Bishop of Tokyo, retires under doctor's orders, TSE's outgoing tribute and succession, apparently in Hong Kong, leaves affairs in a mess, insouciant letter to parishioners,

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.

Huxleys, the, TSE's wish that EH meet, and Sweeney Agonistes, host tea at Albany flat, host sherry party without Aldous, tempt TSE to visit Provence,
Monro, Alida (née Klementaski), deputises for husband at Poetry Bookshop, reads at the Eliots' party, TSE worries for, and the Poetry Bookshop's future, TSE loses bet with, reports on VHE, coincidentally recommends that the Eliots separate, antipathetic to VHE, considers closing Poetry Bookshop, detects life in Willard Thorp, goes on about dead husband's ex-wife, regales TSE with Irish escapades, reports from Selsey, in straitened circumstances, breeding poodles,

3.AlidaMonro, Alida (née Klementaski) Klementaski (1892–1969) married Harold Monro on 27 Mar. 1920: see Alida Monro in Biographical Register.

Underhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wells, receives TSE's confession of love for EH, consulted on 'Thoughts After Lambeth', suggests separation from VHE is TSE's duty, confession with, introduces TSE to his cousin Evelyn, TSE's only confidant as to EH, becomes Dean of Rochester, writes to TSE about separation, against TSE shirking Oxford Movement Centenary, and TSE's 1933 return, invites TSE to school prize-day, at King's School prize-day, consulted on question of divorce, supportive over TSE's separation, his books commended to EH, visited in Rochester, and wife as TSE's Rochester hosts, and Miss O'Donovan, becomes Bishop of Bath and Wells, his consecration attended, perhaps, as Bishop, above receiving TSE's confession, takes Evelyn Underhill's funeral, visited in Wells, adjudicates on limit to godchildren, hosts Gordon George for week, dies,

2.Revd Francis UnderhillUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wells, DD (1878–1943), TSE’s spiritual counsellor: see Biographical Register.