Item Info

Accession Number: 87-896
Physical Description: [2] pages
Transcription:

OFFICE OF ALL THE YEAR ROUND,
Friday Fourth October 1861.
My Dear Mrs. Watson
Your letter has come to me here, as I have been in town since Wednesday. Poor Mr. Arthur Smith is dead; and as I knew very little of the Reading arrangements he had made for me, I have been greatly at a loss--only knowing generally that I was bound to read fifty times, and but dimly knowing where or when.
Unfortunately Mary being away, Gad's Hill is in the dull possession of myself, Georgina, and Frank. But--worse than that--it is in the possession of an army of workman; for I am making an improvement, and am doing it vigorously. I couldn't bear you to see, for the first time, what is really a pretty little place, at such a disadvantage. And therefore I sternly and in an adamantine manner, say to myself "No. She Shall NOT come until after Christmas."
But will you come here, and lunch tomorrow (in the smallest bachelor room, known to mankind) at half past one? Georgina will be here. Then I will tell you what (to the best of my present knowledge) my reading movements are, and then we will try in earnest whether we cannot arrange prospectively for your really coming to Gad's Hill--at last!
Ever Affectionately Yours
Charles Dickens

MssDate: Friday Fourth October 1861
Media Type: Letters
Source: Rare Book Department
Notes:

Record created by BZ.

Recipient: Watson, Lavinia Jane Quin, 1816-1888
Provenance: Gift of Mrs. D. Jacques Benoliel, 12/56.

Bibliography:

The Letters of Charles Dickens, Pilgrim Edition, Volume Nine, page 469.

Country: Creation Place Note:Office of All the Year Round, No. 11, Wellington Street North, Strand
Country:England
City/Town/Township:London. W.C.

Creation Year: 1861
Call Number: DL W335 1861-10-04
Creator Name: Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 - Author