Page 139 - Life of Gertrude Bell

II

ENCOUNTER I25
journey, the next best thing to being in England with Dick
Doughty-Wylie.
‘Monastir is a nice place/ he wrote, ‘cool and eastern—I feel
almost as if we were back in Konia ... except that there is no
hope of GB walking in covered with energy and discovery and
pleasantness ... ’
On September 29th he was writing from Monastir while coping
with the affairs of Albanians and Serbs and the Balkan Boundary
Commission: ‘It was so very nice of you my dear friend ... I take
this enormous bit of paper to expose to you my enormous
affection ... ’ In October she sent him some books and proofs of
articles she had written, and he responded: ‘I do like your
writing —you very clever and charming person —and you in your
desert... ’ At the end of the month he was wishing her bon
voyage. ‘I don’t know if this will reach you before you push off—if
it does, my dear, it is to wish you all the luck and success, all
safety and reasonable comfort (both of those last your fiery soul
is apt to despise) ... Have a good journey —find castles —keep
well — and remain my friend. Ps. As to proces verbaux, the great
thing is to put in my colleagues and leave out myself.’
She did not leave until mid-September as it happened. On the
9th he wrote again, ‘two long, delightful letters ... And you’ll
be gone—and before you come again, I wonder where we shall
be-I suppose Africa. Thesiger wants to come home-and I
know the run of things. Ma salaam. Dick.’
The flame had not gone out. It still flickered as she set off for
Hail in central Arabia.