[Stamford House, Chipping Campden]
IFabers, the1938 summer holiday with;e4 was very happy to get your dear letter here (onlyJames, Henryparodied;b2 regretting that my parody of James had not quite ‘come off’ – but if one plays the buffoon incessantly one is sure to do so half the time mal a propos) and I hope you have had better weather than we: so far only the day of my arrival was really warm and sunny. A friend of Geoffrey and his son were here until yesterday morning, leaving behind a cold which I hope not to catch and five pairs of shoes which they forgot; and now there is no visitor but myself, which I like. TheFaber, Thomas Erle ('Tom', TSE's godson)bought telescope;b1 telescope was a great success, it seems more so than my previous present; for it proves that Tom was already interested in astronomy, and he got the hang of it in no time. AndEliot, GeorgeTSE finally reads Middlemarch;a2 Ireading (TSE's)Middlemarch;f5 have finished Middlemarch, for which I entertain a grave respect. Itravels, trips and plansEH's 1938 summer in England;d1EH's September London stay;b2 shall write again when I find out about trains, meanwhile write to say by all means come up on Tuesday afternoon, though I am not sure that I shall be free for lunch on Wednesday: as all the directors will be in town but Geoffrey, it is possible that we shall start the committee at house lunch as in normal times. Wedogswish to buy EH dog develops;b1 might visit a dog shop in the morning, unless you have become too lukewarm about a dog: of course it is only a chance now of finding the right (RIGHT) Dog in time to take him.
We shall meet again in five days, and I am impatient for that time to come.
4.ThomasFaber, Thomas Erle ('Tom', TSE's godson) Erle Faber (1927–2004), TSE’s godson and principal dedicatee of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, was to become a physicist, teaching at Cambridge, first at Trinity, then for fifty years at Corpus Christi. He served too as chairman of the Geoffrey Faber holding company.