37, Paternoster Row, E.C.
20 . 1 . 36
My dear Bailey,
Many thanks for yours of December 29th from Government
House, Calcutta. It was a relief to know that I had not made life complicated for you
(officially, socially etc) by “Barclays” doings in “Adedoids”. Lacking an exact
perception of your contacts, I might have landed you into something awkward: a poor
return for all the varied ideas with which you, often unconsciously, have provided me,
in the past – and which I have turned into print.
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There was a good group of you and your Nepal royalties in a recent number of
the Illustrated London News: you've probably had a copy sent you.
===
I read out extracts of your letter to Jim B. especially the part about the paper
“forward” and its suggestion of H.E.’s recipe for longevity! He loves a good story –
especially one with a mischievous bit of fun
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in it – like this. He has the most infectious laugh of anyone I know – and is in many
other ways a most delightful man to work for – and with.
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Yes, so far as I know, my job here is permanent. The man whose death caused
the vacancy, died of old age, and I propose to do the same. There is however one
great drawback: the practically complete hanging up of one's own writing – no time
for it, and, at the end of the normally by no means easy day, no energy. However, I
wouldn't be without the job for worlds; the absolute plum of all things literary and
really worthwhile.
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Thanks so much for the cuttings. The Oxford University Press have now taken
over the book: I have no time for running it, and you may find it in their catalogues
sandwiched between a new printing of the Book of Common Prayer and a volume of
Dean
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Inge’s commentaries on Plato. Hardly the place to look for a manual on post
retirement finance: however, I can't complain: they offered me 15% of takings to
begin with – but I stuck out for 50: and after a fortnight's cogitation they most
unexpectedly surrendered. Their big noise, Humphrey Mitford, was knighted in the
New Year's honours – where, by the way, I looked long and closely for your name,
and, to my surprise as much as my disappointment, failed to find it.
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