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The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Encloses his "Recollections" of Donald [Tovey?]. When Molly has read them - perhaps Desmond would like to do so too - asks her to send them back with the other "Reminiscences" he left with her, but there is 'no hurry'. Had difficulty hearing Hisa[o] Ch'ien yesterday, but liked what he could hear; Desmond was 'very good'. Now has sufficient material for the next "Abinger Chronicle"; hopes that Molly will consider writing something for it about "Donald's childhood, or about something quite different'. He and Bessie think that she has a 'very real gift for writing'; it is a pity she lets it '"fust in [her] unused"' [a quotation from "Hamlet"]. Enjoyed seeing her and Desmond very much.

Newspaper cuttings, sent to Trevelyan by Durrant's Press Cuttings agency, from the "Sunday Times" [by Desmond MacCarthy] and "Listener" [also reviews "A Harp with a Thousand Strings", compiled by Hsiao Chi'en].

West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, Dorking. - Tells Bessie to 'keep the Boswell for Beethovenian cycles'; is glad that Bob is reading aloud from it. Pleased they had 'such a nice visit from [their grandson] Philip. I expect and hope that he cried on the chord of C because a chord is too much of a good thing at once, whereas a scale is just a lot of nothings-at-all in a row, and he could deal with them severally'.

Asks if she has heard how Hsiao Chen is; he wrote to Forster after Dr Bluth took him for an x-ray, and 'was hoping to avoid an operation'. Afraid Margaret's operation 'though not making her worse, did not do her any good'; does not know what arrangements Florence [Barger, her sister] is making for her. Understands that 'Evert and his Molly [Mollie Sinton, who married Evert Barger in Jan 1944]' are being very helpful.

His mother is 'fairly well and sends love'. Forster fears they have 'now left it too late and date in the year' for Bessie to visit; looks forward to coming to see her and Bob at the Shiffolds. Now has a copy of Trilling's monograph', and could lend it to her if she likes. It is 'an intelligent but almost overwhelmingly serious piece of work. It praises me for my seriousness; then censures me for my lack of seriousness... but when summing up it suggest that my very absence of seriousness may imply a seriousness far more serious than superficial seriousness'. Was 'rather difficult to know how to thank the author', but he is 'pleased with the book, and tried to say so'. His mother 'cannot read it for nuts [?]'. Has had 'several letters from America, and some tins of food'.

W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Meant to answer Bessie's 'kind letter' before, but 'these are paralysing days, and it is impossible to write with one's old gaiety, nor has one time to create a new sort'. Went to the London Library the morning after the bombing, and 'saw Carlyle's head stricken from his shoulders, and the theological section ruining [?] through the ceiling of the Reading Room'; wonders whether 'poor Bob has looked in'. Meant to 'do half a days salvaging there, but had to go numbering up all my aunts in Putney. All were intact'. Now he is back home, 'combatting a sore throat and cough with prudence and success'; would like to come over next month, and perhaps as the evenings get lighter she will get to visit them.

Should have 'taken chair for Hsiao Chien on Tuesday', and is disappointed that he cannot; has not seen him recently, but has 'been blessed with an American charmer [William Roerick], a friend of Christopher Isherwood, who has now gone off to Africa'. He was acting in This is the Army [by Irving Berlin], perhaps not known to Bessie 'even by name!', and took Forster a few times to the Churchill Club [at Ashburnham House]. There was a '"musical brains trust" there , Ralph V[aughan] W[illiams], acquitting himself very well, Malcolm Sargent - glib, Wm Walton smartibootified, and Alan Rawsthorne a little drunk'.

Thanks Bessie for the 'cutting for [the National Council for? Civil Liberties'; thinks they are 'a little nervous of adding education to their activities'. His mother seems fairly well, and sends love. 'Bob (policeman) [Buckingham] has been over here mending pokers, window sashes etc. He has had a grim time during the raids'; Forster hears '(from another source) that many more planes come over than we are allowed to know'. Hopes the news of [her daughter in law?] Ursula and family is good.

W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Is signing the card 'After some indecision... with a slight modification of its text'; though there are 'some weighty arguments against it', he feels it is 'a good thing to testify to the possession of compassion and a heart, when one has or things one has them. Everyone is or is pretending to be so hard'.

After he visited Bessie, 'a cloud, then no bigger than a man's hand, turned into the shape of an aeroplane', and now it really seems he will fly to India in ten days for a [P.E.N. ] conference of writers at Jaipur. Can 'hardly believe it, and of course there may be last minute hitches'. Hsiao Ch'ien has lent him a 'wonderful cane suitcase', which he can 'carry with one finger' when empty. Is only meant to be away for two months, and the household 'hopes to limp through' in his absence, with the help of Florence [Barger], Aunt Rosalie and others. Agnes [Dowland] 'has been very sweet about it, her only objection being that I am sure to crash'.

His only companion will be Ould, the secretary of P.E.N., who is 'pleasant and easy to get on with'; they hope to fly via Karachi to Delhi, where Forster will stay with friends [including Ahmed Ali], then to Jaipur for the conference, then he thinks to Calcutta and Bombay. He may of course 'be turned off the plane at the last moment if a V.I.P. (official phrase for Very Important Person) wants my seat'. Looks forward to going, 'despite the unhappiness and the politics which I am certain to find there'; will be 'such a change', though he fears he will be 'in a daze for at least a fortnight, and lose Chi'en's suitcase during it, with all my clothes therein'.

[No signature - incomplete?]

W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Bessie ‘cannot imagine how consoling’ her letter was, ‘nor Bob how well placed his flounce. The whole thing was done without my knowledge [the adaptation and broadcast of his story The Eternal Moment], and the first news he had of it was ‘the ghastly sketch in the Radio Times’. As she may imagine, ‘rows are in progress’: with his publishers, who gave permission without consulting him, as they are bound to do by the terms of the contract; and with the producer [Howard Rose] ‘for his discourtesy in ignoring me, and for supposing that an author doesn’t know anything [crossed through] can’t help over his own book’.

The contrast between ‘this insensitive hack’ and Leonard Cottrell, producer of The Celestial Omnibus, is ‘extraordinary’; Cottrell consulted him throughout, and invited him to Manchester for the rehearsal. Will let her see the letters if she likes. Is ‘taking it all to the Society of Authors’, and then will ‘ask for an interview with someone in the B.B.C., as this sort of thing must be stopped’. Notes that they acted legally [in obtaining permission from his publishers].

Looks forward to visiting soon. The cold has been ‘terrible’, and they are ‘still not feeling the better for it’. Chi’en was ‘nice’, but Forster criticises his English: ‘I once ventured to Chi’en that his lectures were becoming difficult to follow. He beamed and continues to deteriorate. Something is wrong with the Chinese after all, I fancy’. Went to Cambridge last week ‘to speak to Indians’; did not see Bertie [Bertrand Russell], but his lectures ‘continue a huge success, and the other dons are most critical: - jealousy partly, partly the uneasy knowledge that he upholds humanism in a community which has betrayed it’. His mother sends her love.

W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Returned yesterday from Nottingham to find her letter; agrees they ‘have much to talk about’, and he has been meaning to write or visit; ‘all sorts of things’ have been happening to him, and he doesn’t ‘like the present, nor the future’. However, ‘Everyone is very kind’; Hsiao Chi’en saw him immediately on his return. Asks if Thursday or Friday next week would suit for him to visit; hopes he would see Bob too; would arrive after lunch. Was ‘so sorry’ not to see her in ‘the Harmer [?] Monday’; thanks her for writing.

W[est] H[ackhurst] (Postmarked Abinger Hammer, addressed to ‘Mrs Trevelyan, The Shiffolds, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking’) . - Thanks Bessie and Bob for their 'kind letters' and for [Hasan Shahid] Suhrawardy's address; thinks he only met Suhrawardy once, at the Shiffolds. Expects to stay in Calcutta, probably in November.

Now looks as if he leave London on Thursday for an 'airport near Poole. All very odd'. Is 'looking forward to it - with occasional tremors'. Has 'been inoculated against 3 sorts of typhoid, cholera, smallpox', and Chi'en has lent him 'a lovely light suitcase'; asks if he has mentioned that before. Sends love, and says that air-letter is best if she writes [to India].

A postscript in another hand gives Forster's address to the beginning of December as c/o Thomas Cook, Queensway, New Delhi.

W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Does not know Binjori's [Abdul Rahman Bijnori?] works as he ought to, and does not feel able to take the chair; wishes Trevelyan would do it himself. Suggests asking someone from the East such as Narayana Menon, though perhaps he is too little known. Discusses [Elizabeth] Daryush's poems. George Thomson should have organised the [Apostles'] Dinner, but is going into hospital. Took tea with Chi'en [Xiao Qian]. Agrees that Silvia S. [Sylvia Sprigge?] is now far away.

Monk's House, Rodmell, Lewes, Sussex. - Would not object to [Hsiao?] Chien using the 'extracts from the letters', and would like to look at the letters themselves 'sometime'. Is usually in London for a day or two a week, and would like to see Bob; as however he 'much prefer[s]' being in the country he 'pack[s] everything' he has to do in so tight that he rarely has time for anything else. Will let Bob know when he might be able to see him, but cannot do next week. Would like to come and see Bob and Bessie at the Shiffolds, but finds it 'very difficult to get away'; will let them know when it may be possible.

Contains: poem, "Love Matched With Time", by Kenneth Hopkins; "The Purple Jar", by Mildred E. Bosanquet; poem, "Invitation to Write" by S. S. [Sylvia Sprigge]; piece in Italian, "Esuli d'Italia" by Z.Z., with a translation of an included poem by [Sylvia Sprigge]; "Dreams" by R. C. Trevelyan; "A Dog Lover" by Hsiao Ch'ien; poem, "The Rose", by Oliver Lodge

W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Thanks Bessie for her letter. Knew that Hsiao Ch'ien was coming to the Shiffolds; has seen him in London and asked him to 'turn up' whenever he likes on Thursday afternoon. They would be 'equally delighted' if it were more convenient for Hsiao Chi'en to come in the morning and stay to lunch: Forster will be in all day. However, could not give him a bed, as Miss Hill is stopping with them.

Thought he would write rather than calling from 'that dreadful buzzy telephone kiosk'. Sends love, and would like to come over and see her soon.