GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 1 June 1863
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 1 June 1863
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 1 June 1863
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Date(s)
- 1863-06-01
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 1 June 1863
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1863. Extracts published: Cross, II, 353.
Blandford Sq. | June 1. 63.
Dear Cara
My mind was very much in need of your letter, for I have been continually wondering what you would do, if you let your house furnished, our hurried talk not having made that clear to me. I hope the brightness of your face and your ready enjoyment of things have not given me a comforting impression about you which a less transient vision would rob me of. But health seems, to those who want it, enough to make daylight a gladness.
We were talking over that unpleasant fact of the Sydenham house 163 not letting, as we walked this afternoon. Mr. Lewes thinks the stronger presumption must be that the cause lies in the casualties which beset house-letting generally rather than in any false play of the agent, since he has hitherto served you well. But the explanation of evils is never consoling except to the explainer. Sara or you will be writing soon, I hope, to tell me that the house is let. Dear Sara -- I feel for her poor head! And a slight cough which is teazing me helps to make me think of her, for I see her shaken by that wearying depressing little hacking which is just now tormenting me.
We are just as we were -- thinking about the questionable house and wondering what would be the right thing to do -- hardly liking to lock up any money in land and bricks, and yet frightened lest we should not get a quiet place just when we want it. But I daresay we shall not have it, after all.
Charlie's words just after he first saw you were -- "a pretty little woman" -- so you perceive the admiration is mutual. And Mr. Lewes says you are a "femme de relations charmantes." It is much nicer to be admired than despised, in my opinion. Love to all.
Ever yours
Marian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1863. Extracts published: Cross, II, 353.
Blandford Sq. | June 1. 63.
Dear Cara
My mind was very much in need of your letter, for I have been continually wondering what you would do, if you let your house furnished, our hurried talk not having made that clear to me. I hope the brightness of your face and your ready enjoyment of things have not given me a comforting impression about you which a less transient vision would rob me of. But health seems, to those who want it, enough to make daylight a gladness.
We were talking over that unpleasant fact of the Sydenham house 163 not letting, as we walked this afternoon. Mr. Lewes thinks the stronger presumption must be that the cause lies in the casualties which beset house-letting generally rather than in any false play of the agent, since he has hitherto served you well. But the explanation of evils is never consoling except to the explainer. Sara or you will be writing soon, I hope, to tell me that the house is let. Dear Sara -- I feel for her poor head! And a slight cough which is teazing me helps to make me think of her, for I see her shaken by that wearying depressing little hacking which is just now tormenting me.
We are just as we were -- thinking about the questionable house and wondering what would be the right thing to do -- hardly liking to lock up any money in land and bricks, and yet frightened lest we should not get a quiet place just when we want it. But I daresay we shall not have it, after all.
Charlie's words just after he first saw you were -- "a pretty little woman" -- so you perceive the admiration is mutual. And Mr. Lewes says you are a "femme de relations charmantes." It is much nicer to be admired than despised, in my opinion. Love to all.
Ever yours
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 1 June 1863, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/93262