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Thorpeness, Suffolk. - Robert's poems ["From the Shiffolds"] were a 'delightful surprise': it is a great 'comfort... to turn away from the utterly beastly war to poetry, or music or the like'. The world is 'nearly intolerable' and the war 'seems quite interminable'; hopes it has not treated Robert 'too cruelly' and that he has not had too many doodlebugs. They [she and her friend Lady Dorothea Gibb] were 'on their route for many nights', and the guns against them 'made a devil of a row', but it has been more peaceful recently; she sees however that the death toll from the doodlebugs was 'dreadfully high' last month. Is glad Roger [her brother] is not here to 'endure it'. 'Poor Holland must be suffering terribly': expects the Trevelyans are 'longing for news', as she is herself of 'one dear friend there'. Sends some of her 'own products', though quite different to Robert's; he need not read or acknowledge them. Her anthology, "Ruth's Gleanings", is 'obstinately out of print like most books'. Hopes next year will bring 'a happier world in every sort of way'.

Thorpeness, Suffolk. - Wanted to write to Robert with but could not remember his address, and her 'invaluable card-index' let her down; she is therefore 'extra pleased' to receive his poems [this year's "From the Shiffolds"] today. It is a 'mercy to get away from thoughts of the war', as she sees Robert does, as in his 'charming poem' to his kitten ["Pusska"]; wishes he were here to write one about their 'very dear Peke'. Wonders whether the people of the earth will 'learn anything from these awful years', or whether they will just 'commit planet suicide'; feels 'much more hope with Labour than the Tories, at all events', and it is good not to have 'any fear from the skies' and feel that the 'devilish destruction is over', at least.

On headed notepaper of the National Liberal Club, Victoria Street, S.W.1. - On returning to London, he talked to Ruth Fry, Roger's sister, who is the president of the 'Mission des Amis' [Friends War Victims Relief Committee]. She said that communication with Russia was very difficult at the moment, but that if Marchand wants to arrange to get his niece [actually Olga Lewitska, daughter of Sonia Lewitska -see 22/56] out of Ukraine, it would be best to write to [Maxim] Litvinoff at the Hotel Cosmopolite, Copenhagen, asking for his help and advice as the one responsible for admitting foreigners to Russia and getting them out. Ruth Fry doubted that Litvinoff would consent to helping with such a case, but it might perhaps still be worth trying, and strongly suspected that it would not be possible to get the girl out. Might be possible to send letters to Kiev through Litvinoff.

Trevelyan will write to [Francis] Birrell to go and see Marchand as soon as he arrives in Paris; Roger Fry will also give his advice when he arrives. If it is better to send a letter as soon as possible, advises him to write to Litvinoff and send that letter to Trevelyan, who will ask Ruth Fry to send it as she is in communication with Litvinoff; this may make him pay more attention to the matter. Necessary to decide before writing whether they want to try and get Marchand's niece out of the Ukraine, or simply to send letters. Wishes he could give more definitive advice, but will do his best to help if he sends a letter. Marchand knows how much Trevelyan is sorry for the pain Madame Marchand [Sonia Lewitska] is experiencing at the moment, and how much he would like to help if he could.

Thanks Trevelyan for his letter and what he has done to help her: it is a 'great moral path' for her, and she hopes that with the help of a heart 'as great and generous' as Trevelyan's, she will be able to 'remedy this misfortune'. She encloses her letter to [Maxim] Litwinof and also that to her little one [her daughter Olga]. Adds in a postscript that she is also enclosing her letter to 'the sister of Monsieur Fray' [Roger Fry's sister Ruth, general secretary of the Friends War Victims Relief Committee]: asks him to read it, and if he does not think it too foolish to give it to her; also to let her know the response as soon as possible. If there is no hope of sending a Quaker to search for her daughter, she will go herself immediately to Warsaw (she is applying for her passport) and perhaps there will be a way of getting to Kiev from there. Marchand despairs and does not want her to leave because she is so weak; she is made worse due to her 'torment' [of worry for her daughter]. She went to the Ukraninian mission [embassy?] again yesterday, and spoke there to a colonel who came from Kiev a month ago, who says that Kiev has become a 'totally dead city', and that everyone who can has left; the peasants no longer bring their produce as when they do the Bolsheviks requisition it and take it to Moscow; they take everything from 'unfortunate Ukraine', which is becoming increasingly poor. There are no trams or streetlights working; worse, there is no piped water, and those like her family who live a distance from the river are suffering terribly. People cannot get new clothes, or shoes; they go bare-footed with boards tied to their feet; lack of water means that there is much dirt and fever. The colonel said the 'atmosphere is so sad and overwhelming', and that he himself was maddened almost to suicide, but preferred to 'do even the lowest work here and eat only dry bread than to return there'. He travelled for a week in goods wagons, standing all the way, 'packed in like cattle' with ill, dirty, drunk and coarse people. She does not know if she can live knowing that her daughter is so much suffering there.

Marchand writes to Trevelyan on the back of Sonia Lewitska's letter: thanks him for everything he has done for Sonia: is very saddened by all that [Sonia has learned] . Had news this January from Mademoiselle [Angela] Lavelli. Asks how Trevelyan's family is. Has not seen [Francis] Birrell again.

Thorpeness, Suffolk. - Robert's 'attractive book of translations' [this year's "From the Shiffolds"?] has just arrived; her morning is busy, but she has already 'sampled & enjoyed the feast' and thanks him for remembering her. Hopes all is as well with him as 'this mad world allows': the 'stupidity of it all is most frightfully annoying' and 'one wonders whenever mankind is going to learn the laws of life' which 'the ancients seem to more about than we'.