2110-2-7-9

[Typed] TAPTON HOUSE, CHESTERFIELD.

June 1st, 1912.

My dear John,

Thank you for the book you have so kindly sent me. I suppose in a dim and misty future I shall find my old interest in social and political matters revive, but for the moment all that side of me seems wiped out. I want to tell you, however, how immensely I have enjoyed and appreciated your last volume of stories. I have read and re-read them with ever growing admiration. "Streams of Water" touched me to the point of tears. The "Green Glen" will always have a very special and tender interest for me. When it came out in Blackwood I read it to my dear Mother one evening and it touched and moved her so much. She spoke about it several times and said what a beautiful story it was. More power to your elbow! I wish you would leave politics alone and give us more books such as this one.

I shall be in London for a few days about the 17th of June, and if you and Susie are quite alone one evening perhaps you would let me come and see you.

Yours ever,

Violet Markham

[Handwritten] I am but a poor creature dear John. My

Mother's death has knocked me sideways. She was the whole centre of my busy life & now she has gone. I seem to have no principle of gravity left & all my mental chairs and tables are floating on the ceiling. And the sense of desolation only grows more keen as the days pass by. I loved the lines you added to your Father's dedication. They are great favourites of mine and I want to put them on a cross in the garden where my Mother rests. She is buried in our own grounds, a great comfort to me as I shall go on living here. V. M.