Pièce 273 - Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Edward Marsh

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5 Barton St. - Bob's 'old woman' [housekeeper] told him when he returned [from Italy?] that a 'young man in a cab with a portmanteau' called when he was away; seems that Edward 'appeared at no 14 [home of Crompton and Theodore Llewelyn Davies] hunting for a lunch'; hopes he found 'a friend or restaurant in time' as he knows his friend needs 'constant supplies... to stave off dissolution', like moles which cannot go without worms for more than twelve hors. Went round to Bruton Street yesterday, but found that Edward had gone back on Sunday; this means he missed meeting 'a rose of Shiraz, the direct descendant of the one which intoxicated Hafiz... You would have had this rose, had you been here' but instead Bob 'took it round to [Roger] Fry, who fell violently in love with it, and fell to painting it' [this appears to refer to the first meeting between Fry and his future wife Helen Coombe]. Supposes Edward is caught up in 'the last act' of his academical careers [final exams]; he should not be 'despondent and doubtful'. Tells Edward to excuse his 'sermons', but not his spelling, as he swears 'never to look at or correct' a letter to him again, 'after the outrageous fables' Edward circulated about his 'beautiful and chaste letters from Italy'.