You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
20 Maresfield Gardens
London N.W. 3
July 16, 1939
Dear Mr. Wells
Your letter starts with the question how I am. My answer is I am not too well, but I am glad of the chance to see you and the Baroness1 again and happy to learn that you are intending a great satisfaction2 for me. Indeed, you cannot have known that since I first came over to England as a boy of eighteen years, it became an intense wish phantasy of mine to settle in this country and become an Englishman. Two of my half brothers had done so fifteen years before.
But an infantile phantasy needs a bit of examination before it can be admitted to reality. Now my condition is the following: There are two judgments on my case: one of them represented by my physicians maintains the hope that the combined radium and X-ray treatment I am now undergoing will cure me of the last attack of my malignant growth and leave me free to meet other adventures in life. Perhaps they only say so officially. There is another party much less hopeful to which I myself adhere in view of my actual pains and troubles. Now let us suppose the fact that you know the affair of the Act of Parliament cannot go through before half a year or more. In such a case, I expect you would prefer to drop your intention. So I have an interest not only in seeing you but also in your seeing me.
As regards the time available for your visit, I see that you are ready to call on me any afternoon except the eighteenth. Sunday afternoon after four o'clock would be best for me. If I should not be in a condition to see you, I would let you know Sunday morning by telephone.