to E V Lucas - 1918

Description

Michael's letter to Audrey has told you of our adventures at Tillington where we had a very happy time, and M. discovered an old shop at Petworth and triumphantly bought a soap-dish for his room here. That room is not finished yet, indeed three rooms are still in confusion which will give you some idea of the difficulties with workmen nowadays. I have got into the study now, however, and at last the chimney behaves and certainly it is a very attractive room, and the little kitchen off it is good too. I had begun to feel in my bones tho' that it was all too fine a flat for me and that for my lonely purposes all I really needed was this room and the bedroom. Brown could have done for me so, and I had quite planned letting the rest with its own door. However the way has been cleared by trouble at Campden Hill. Mary is going sometime in February. This means Michael and Nicholas making this their home, as my idea is to put caretakers into Campden Hill for a little and then store the furniture and dispose of the lease. Of course it is a great thing for me to look to having M. and N. here though they are so much away. A sad thing is that Michael is now 17½ and in a year or less is eligible for the army. The Depression of it all! I shy at thinking of it because it has no doubt a great deal to do with the gloom in which one seems to get enveloped.... You will have heard of the Red Cross work we are doing... I promised them the MS. of P. Pan and then could not find a single page of it.