Ajanta. - Is not actually at Ajanta, but has recently been there, thinking about Trevelyan and Goldie [Dickinson]. Was successful, on his third attempt, in seeing the caves and spent a whole day there with the curator. Discusses the paintings. Wonders whether [Ghulam] Yazdani's books about Caves 1 and 2 are in the London Library; the illustrations much better there than in Lady [Christiana] Herringham's. Is grateful for Bessie's 'affectionate enquiries', about which he has heard from Aunt Rosalie. Is enjoying his visit to India very much. Only managed to talk to Suhrawardy briefly, at a buffet dinner: liked him very much. Liked Chanda less, as he found him 'inclined to score off other Indians', but found him 'very pleasant and amusing'. Chanda's brother [Apurba] is Principal at [Visva-Bharati] at Santiniketan, which Forster visited and found 'less shriney' than he expected, with 'some sensible remarks about Passed Master' [Tagore], though he was not impressed with educational standards there. Found Calcutta dreadful, and was very glad to arrive at Hyderabad and find five old friends to meet him. Bombay is improved; he writes from there; is staying with Madame [Sophia] Wadia, who runs the Indian P.E.N. [Hermon] Ould has had two spells in a Delhi hospital and is still ill; he is currently with a "Bombay Chronicle" journalist who will also want to talk to Forster. Hopes to be home around Christmas and to avoid Christmas at home, to help Agnes [Dowland, the maid at West Hackhurst].
W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Wrote to Bob before going to Dorset for a week, but ‘lost the letter [probably TRER/3/26] after it had been addressed. He ‘may seem to have been indifferent to the kindness and sympathy’ of them both [on the death of his mother], but ‘this is not so’. Everyone has been ‘so kind, and Agnes is wonderful’; Ruth [Goldsmith, the Forster's old cook?] is staying with her for three days. Is going to London ‘to broadcast as usual’; when he returns, he thinks on Tuesday evening, would like to come over to see Bob and Bessie if that would suit them. Florence and Aunt Rosie ‘have alternated here’; at the moment he is ‘sustained by Bob Buckingham’. His health is ‘very fair’, and he is eating and sleeping properly.
Stayed in Dorset with ‘some young people [Pat and Joyce Knowles] who are the custodians of Clouds Hill [the former home of T. E. Lawrence]. They were absolutely charming, but the weather was poor’.
Postscript dated ’11.4.45’: ‘Even this has been left about’. Will ring up some time tomorrow.
W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Must send thanks to ‘Dearest Bessie’ for her wire, which did not reach him until ‘too late’, and letter. Thinks he would rather see her ‘a little later’. The death [of his mother] leaves him ‘very tired, but there have been no regrets’. Florence Barger left his morning and now his aunt [Rosalie] is here, ‘very nice, and “saving herself”’. He had to be in Dorking at 8.30 this morning to register the death, and the funeral is tomorrow. Agnes ‘was and is spendid: helpful, deeply moved emotionally, but never pretending that she and mother cared for one another: two bossers [?] naturally couldn’t’. Does not yet know whether she can be ‘left alone at night’, on which his ‘immediate movements’ depend; would like to see Bessie and Bob, but as far as ‘staying away is concerned’ wants to go either to his flat in London, ‘or “right-away”, if there is such a place or state’. Confirms that his mother was ‘very fond’ of Bessie; signs himself ‘Your affectionate (and sleepy) Morgan’.
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]. - Thanks Bessie for her letter about The Celestial Omnibus [an adaptation of his short story broadcast on BBC radio, see TRER/ADD/45], with which he 'disagree[s] pretty completely!'. Acknowledges that 'one can pick holes in the production, as in everything', but thought that it was generally 'intelligent and in good taste, and the boy, with his unpriggishness and unsophistication couldn't have been better'. Asks if he is 'being nasty now'. Encloses Florence [a letter by Florence Barger]; his mother and aunt [Rosalie] agree with her, as does Kathleen Kennet, 'who started listening with the utmost hostility' and 'Mr Herbert E. Gibbs, otherwise unknown'. He will, with his 'noted fairmindedness' forward Bessie's letter to Florence and 'extend this salutary disquiet'.
Hopes that later in the month, after the 20th, she might be able to visit them 'unsupervised by Molly [Trevelyan?]' for coffee and tea. Postscript conveying his mother's love.
Is returning the Beethoven sonata's [in Tovey's edition?] which Bessie 'so kindly' lent him, from which he has had 'so much pleasure'; Aunt Rosalie has just packed them up. Sends love to her and Bob. Postscript: had hoped to visit again, but his 'inoculations have been so many and so various in their results' that his 'movement has suffered'.
W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Thanks Bessie for sending on a letter [from an unknown writer], 'how nice and warm-hearted she is'. Has received two copies of the book and sends one to Bessie; asks if she can post it to Sig and Ruth [Waley] when she has finished with it. It is the 'sort of book' he finds 'impossible to read' in his present mood: 'yet another of those "recipe books" which the earnest and uninfluential continue to turn out on both sides of the Atlantic'.
Comments on the 'bitter cold': they have frozen and burst pipes, but since they have 'so little water at any time' the 'results are in no wise tragic'. Has been to London and brought back his aunt Rosalie to stay, so they are 'now a nice quartet'. Florence [Barger] is 'slowly recovering from her cold'. They hope that Bob and Bessie are keeping well.Adds undated postscript: is starting [Flaubert's] L'Education Sentimentale; wonders whether he will ever finish it.
Another postscript, dated 28 Jan: has received her letter, and is very sorry about Bob's cold; 'We must all take care'. Confirms that her 'Tovey Beethovens are safe here and have been much enjoyed and played', though he has not been playing the piano at all recently. Can send them whenever she wants.
West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, Dorking. - Thanks Trevelyan for coming to the churchyard [for Forster's mother's funeral] and Bessie for her letters. His aunt [Rosalie Alford] and Florence [Barger] have alternated spending time with him, and tomorrow he is going away, probably to Clouds Hill, opposite T. E. Lawrence's cottage. Agnes [Dowland] and [Henry] Bone, the Forsters' maid and gardener, have been very kind. Is taking Auden's new poem ["For the Time Being?"] and Huxley's new novel ["Time Must Have A Stop"?] to Dorset, though neither immediately attract him: 'The feeling in modern poetry seems so often the same and so dispirited.'
West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, Dorking. - Asks if Bessie can recommend someone to cook for the Forsters while the maids are on holiday; his aunt [Rosalie] will help with the housework.