The Letters of Katherine Mansfield: Volume I

May 6, 1919

May 6, 1919

It is indeed thrilling to think that Higher Tregerthen is yours. God forbid that you should find the rooms too small or some Dreadful Inconvenience that I have forgotten. But when you sit at the tower window and look out upon that amazing hill I cannot but believe you'll feel its enchantment…. Early this morning there was a white mist here and a smell of burning. It made me think of Cornwall—of those enchanted misty days, when you go just outside the door and are spirited away. It will be great happiness if I may come and stay with you in the summer— great joy to look forward to. White and purple veronica would grow excellently well there. But wait until you see the yellow irises and the foxgloves over six foot high—red indian encampments of foxgloves burning with passion and pride in the field next to yours.

The brilliant but cynical hero dined with us on Saturday. We ran over the eighteenth century in a very lively and high-spirited fashion—a kind of small tour with a basket of wine under the front seat—in the dog cart of the period! A. H. came in later, lay upon the sofa buried his head in a purple pillow and groaned over the hor-rible quality of Smollett's coarseness.