Page 20 - Life of Gertrude Bell

8 GERTRUDE BELL

words and phrases had given way to the dashed-off, sometimes
scrawled writing of later years, and to more serious matters such
as examinations. An undated and unaddressed letter of the period
bridges the gap between the child and the young woman. It was
written from ‘Highfield’, the Marshalls’ home in Leeds:
Dearest Mother, Thank-you very much for letting me stay
here ... I shall be able to go on with my chaticism very easily
after I have gone through it with Aunty Katie, for I am learning
it very throughly and going thorough all the notes. I got my
sum-book and am working at my holiday tasks every day. I do
so want to pass the Cambridge Exam ... I climb all the trees
and walls I can lay hold of here ... I remain your very loving
daughter, Gertrude. PS (a la Maurice) How are Don and
Prince and Fay and Tom and the Canary and Benedicts and
Hugo and Elsa and Abby and Mrs Abby and you and Papa and
the rabbits. P.S. Aunty Katie sends you much love and says she
is rather fond of me on the hole.
The inquiries after domestic pets and servants ceased from then
on, as did her role in the mandatory funeral processions at Red
Barns when one of the cats or other animals died and had to be
buried. Only two factors remained constant in her letters —the
spelling, which improved little in her lifetime so that the reader
is often mystified by untranslatable words, and the deep and
genuine affection.