1 Easter. I’m sure you will all be
busy in the next four weeks and I
wouldn’t like to be keeping you
from your work, entertaining a silly
love—sick ass like me so I won’t
speak about it anymore unless you
do it beforehand. Glad to hear
Christy is improving so much.
I suppose Kerrigan was only making
a big fellow of himself by making
him out to be so bad. Hope
everyone at home is well also at
Lockardstown I am writing to Mrs
S. today. Bad job about Johnnie.
Ask him can I help him at all
when you see him. Give my regards
to everyone. I send you my
warmest and sincerest love
and kiss your dear sweet
face and hands a thousand
times.
your happy husband to be
James NATIONAL HEALTH COMMISSION (IRELAND), PEMBROKE HOUSE, UPPER MOUNT STREET, DUBLIN. 13th March, 1916. My dearest love, I was delighted to see by your letter of yesterday that
you were pleased with the watch and with my taste in the selection.
As a matter of fact my one regret in the matter is that I couldn’t afford
to buy you one much more in keeping with my love for you. As regards
my taste being better in the watch than in the wife, I wish to remark
(as Bret Harte would say) that anyone could get that same watch or
a better one any day in the week for a few pounds whereas there is only
one May Fay and money couldn’t buy her. She was fool enough to sell
herself (or rather give herself away) without properly realising her own value.
That’s why I shall always be inclined to reproach myself for taking you at a
mean disadvantage because you were too innocent to value yourself enough and
foolish enough to value me too highly. However as I have already said
in my last letter I do love and honour you to the best of my poor power
for your dear goodness and sweetness and with God’s help I’ll try to manage
so that you may never too much regret confiding in me. I need hardly
say how much I feel proud and glad and flattered to see from your letters
and your manner to me that you do think of me and that you do love
me 2 me — perhaps even a good deal. I can never understand why it should
be so but I hug myself with pleasure that it is so. I shall be looking forward with great interest to your letter
of to—morrow morning (I hope) with a full and true account of what
happened at the Kelly’s party on Sunday. I am quite sure you will be
able to keep your end up with Mrs Duffy. When you put on that consequential
air of yours, it requires quite a lot of courage I should say to resist it. In
my case anyhow I find it very difficult to resist you at any time but
I think the emotion produced is not fear so much as something very different.
I always want to take you in my arms and smother you with kisses.
By the way talking of kisses I must say that I have formed a very high opinion
of the intelligence and good sense of Father Flynn, your recent confessor,
and I feel quite grateful to him for making your tender conscience easy
on that score. The prospect sounds so promising and appetising that I
feel almost inclined to swoop down on you some weekend soon and take
advantage of the greater generosity which I presume you are now prepared to
show me. To tell the honest truth, I’m beginning to feel the want of you more
and more every day and worse and worse so that I very much doubt if I
shall be able to hang on till Easter without seeing and kissing your dear
face again and hearing your voice. So don’t be surprised if you hear of
my arrival in the country about the end of the month. Seriously however,
if you wouldn’t like me to come — I mean if you think it would be better
for me not to come, I will wait and possess my soul in patience until