Pièce 169 - Letter from Grettie Tovey and Donald Tovey to Elizabeth Trevelyan

Mitre Hotel, Oxford. - Grettie writes that the Toveys would love to come to the Shiffolds, but that she has been feeling most unlike herself recently, and was upset at having to leave home when she thought she was not able. She could not pack up and her relatives had to help, her memory was bad, and she saw the doctor; his opinion was that she had been doing too much but that the change would do her good. She does not feel that it has; her head aches, and she remembers a severe blow she received a while ago which may have caused her trouble. She only came as Don was so anxious for her to be with him, and now feels she should return to Edinburgh while Don comes to the Trevelyans; he however thinks they should both go to the Shiffolds; she feels 'more like going to a hospital than anything else'. Is very sorry for Don, who has got on so well with the opera ["The Bride of Dionysus"] and wanted to work at it first before going to the Trevelyans; now he thinks they should go as soon as is convenient. Bessie's photographs are quite safe: Grettie brought them as she was not able to write and post them. Don has read this and will add more himself.

Two pages in Donald Tovey's hand then follow: he is anxious, but thinks it cannot be anything that quiet and rest would not cure; at the Shiffolds she will feel free to recover slowly, whereas at Oxford she has minded that she is not paying calls with him or finding rooms. Suggests that Bessie should say 'just as if Grettie's letter did not matter' what would be most convenient for the Trevelyans, and the Toveys will know by then whether they ought to come. The blow on the head was from a 'lowered gasolier, and not from a brutal husband' and seems a likely explanation; her appetite is all right - and they have their meat-cards so this 'encouraging remark' should not be 'considered tactless'.