Sylvia du Maurier to Florrie Gay - 1890

Description

Letter from Sylvia du Maurier to her close friend Florrie Gay, 26 March 1890

{NOT IN PETER'S MORGUE]

Transcription

[no address]
Wednesday
March 26th [1890]

My dearest girl,
What will be your feelings when I tell you that I am engaged to Arthur Llewelyn Davies! Will you write and say sweet things to me? - at the present moment I don't know what I feel like but I know I should like to see you and talk to you. The only thing is I don't know if I shall have time. I go to Westmorland on Monday I think to stay with Arthur's people - don't look forward to [???], we shall have 2nd and no more - you must have the £s. But still it is better to have 2nd with someone you love than a lot with someone else, isn't it Florrie?
It will be a long engagement I think but don't say anything about this to anyone because I barely know myself yet, but I always like you to know as much as I know.
Write soon
Yours always
Sylvia
You have seen him haven't you at Trixie's

[AB comment: This delightful letter is not in Peter's Morgue. I can only assume that he came by it later, as with one or two other letters. It provides a perfect miniature of Sylvia, still dazed by the speed of events, and betraying a few nerves on the eve of her journey to Westmoreland to meet Arthur's somewhat foreboding family. "I go to Westmorland on Monday I think to stay with Arthur's people - don't look forward to [???], we shall have 2nd and no more - you must have the £s."
What was it she didn't look forward to? Any suggestions? It looks like Baronchis, but makes no sense. Then it occred to me that there might have been a second folded sheet - that there's a jump between page 2 and what would then be page 7. There seems to be a jump in thoughts, from nerves at the approaching visit, to something about "you must have the £s" - money she'd promised her friend Florrie? And then this idea that she'd sooner settle for a 2nd class life-style on Arthur's meagre salary "than a lot with someone else, isn't it Florrie?" Here is surely the key to Barrie's great attraction for Sylvia, or at least a major part of it - he could indulge her frivolous appetites without threatening her marriage.
Incidentally, it was to Florrie Gay that Sylvia wrote her heartbreaking letter after Arthur's death, and to whom she turned in her Will, "to make a home for them till they are out in the world." I know no more about her than that.]