Page:Tex; a chapter in the life of Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (IA texchapterinlife00mcke).pdf/193



Everything is provisional to Mrs. Van Swinderen's agreement; and I am to lunch there on Friday and hear more

When Couperus returned to Holland, my correspondence with Teixeira was suspended. We were meeting or communicating by telephone almost daily; and it was only when we left London to stay with friends that the letters were resumed.

Weather hot and stuffy, he writes, 1. 8. 21, from Sutton Courtney''. Lawns running down to a perfectly full river and absolutely dry: and I with not much to tell you I am sleeping beautifully and eating lightly; and I feel too indolent for words. Good-bye and bless you! My wife, ''he writes, 5. 8. 21'', pictures me surrounded by people who, if she broke my heart by dying, would thrust women of forty on me, "dear, dearest Mr. Tex," to look after me. Is it not a beautifully witty tag to a letter? I think so''

To my reproach that he had left London without saying good-bye to me, he replies, 16. 8. 21 with complete justification: