1 Hanover
2 Dec 26 / 04
3
4 My dear Friend
5
6 I can’t remember whether I gave Miss Greene Alice Corthorn’s address
7 30 St Mary Abbotts ^Terrace^
8 Kensington
9 London W.
10
11 She has not been very well & I wish so much you could go out & see her
12some time when in London.
13
14 I have just got your dear long letter & the Cambridge card. Yes King’s
15Chapel & the backs of those colleges at Cambridge ^seen from a boat in
16the river^ are to me the most lovely of all the things in England; they
17& the snow drops & daisys when they come out after a long winter! What
18is it that is so absolutely wonderful about that chapel. The only
19other things in architecture which touch me as much are Notre Dame &
20the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Notre Dame must be looked on a dark
21quiet night just as the darkness is gathering over it. If you have not
22yet seen the Sainte-Chapelle you must go & see it when you are in
23Paris, best on a bright spring day when the light is shining through
24all the windows & you feel just like a little insect buried in the
25heart of a beautiful transparent flower. It is in the Palais de
26Justice you know. It dates from the 13th century. That always seems a
27century with which I had so much sympathy. I am glad you are going to
28settle at ?Norwich. You will both feel more happy & restful when you
29have your own house. I am so very very glad you both feel better. I
30got such a happy little note from Miss Greene. It is beautiful to
31think she is well & happy again. I am writing to Mrs Reitz for
32addresses for you in Holland.
33
34 No dear, I can’t possibly come to Europe. You don’t understand my life
35one; it’s all ended there’s nothing more for me. The meerkats are all
36well. Arriet is going to have fresh little ones, all the other three
37including Litti Von the tiny one, have been working desperately hard
38in the yard to make a hole for Arriet to keep her little one’s in when
39they come. They have made a hole feet deep & seem to think of nothing
40else.
41
42 Good bye dear heart. May the new year that is coming be a good one to
43you both.
44 Olive
45
46 I think the South African party are going to take up Sievewright &
47Logan. As far as I can judge, things are not so degrading & miserable
48in the Transvaal & Free State as in the Cape South African Party. One
49would think that Hofmeyr & the Bond had learnt something by their
50experience with Rhodes. But the dogs is returned to its vomit again as
51the bible puts it. After next week Cron will always be away at de Aar
52for ten days of each month. Hes is going to live with some young Boer
53girls who are serving in a shop there & who live in a house of their
54own with their young brother. The half of the month he spends here he
55will be very busy so I shall see if possible less of him than now. But
56I feel less than ever that I can go away. I can’t explain; one can’t
57explain these things to other people. Its Good bye my darling friend.
58It will be such a comfort & joy when I can really know you are strong
59& well too.
60
61 Have you read a very interesting book on Holland by Nico Jungman? I
62would get it & read it before you go, if I were you. If yo I am so
63anxious to hear how it goes on a Norwich. I passed through it once I
64think on my way to ?Cramer. That east side of England is more
65stimulating than
66
67 ^the west or south.
68
69 OS.^
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