[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
Just another short letter before the week is out, asMcKnight Kauffers, the;b2 I am going to the Kauffers near Henley, and shall be very glad to get a couple of idle days in the midst of this heat. Your letter no. 38 (which, as I expected, was by ordinary mail) arrived yesterday together with several other letters from America, and mentions more distinctly than 39 my cable. Iftravels, trips and plansTSE's 1940 visit to Dublin;d9in national interest;a2 for any reason I do not go to Dublin for the 30th, I will let you know in the same way, but I see no reason why it should not come off, when the necessary formalities have been completed. My reason for going is so obviously in the national interest that there should be no difficulty. I have [been] busy with local activities too, the recital of which will, I hope, some day be amusing, and have enlarged my acquaintance in this not ordinarily very matey borough of Kensington. Otherwise, nothing in particular to report: poetry must wait for mid-summer. I am glad that you do not like my photograph very much: it seemed to me especially round and characterless; but at least it looks healthy. What about one of you, perhaps? I think that I am probably as well off in Kensington as anywhere. I think constantly that it is more difficult for you having to carry on occupation and social activities (the latter still more difficult, in the circumstances, than work) pretending that life is normal – and putting up with its seeming more or less normal to those who have no vital interests at stake here, or are not aware of having – than it is for me, meeting people who feel, according to their degree of imagination and sensibility, the same as I do. I put out my hand to you night and morning.