To the Other Club

Thursday, December 2nd., Cadogan Square, London.

As I had not got my ideas clear for the next chapter of the novel, I went out for a walk after finishing correspondence and oddments, and walked to the XXI Gallery in Durham House Street, Strand. I found my idea all right. The gallery is very dark, appropriately in the circumstances as it has an exhibition of Cosmo Clark's pictures of the Black Country. I wasn't awfully pleased with them, but I bought one because I had known Cosmo as a baby and was an old friend of his father's.

I walked all the way to the Savoy Hotel for the dinner of the Other Club. Birkenhead came in, and we were very affable to one another, and everybody laughed about the just-finished scrap between us in the Daily Mail. Afterwards he was most friendly and asked me to lunch with him alone. Reading was in the chair and the dinner was the most agreeable that I remember of this Club. I sat next to Charles Masterman and opposite Alf Mason, and we had a great time. Afterwards I went and sat next to Jim Garvin. He talked exceedingly well, and is full of knowledge and ideas. Churchill and Jack Seely came in very late, long after dinner. Churchill said to me: "Receive the congratulations of Tom Hogarth" (over my row with Birkenhead). There was a great deal of "Raingo" throughout the evening.

Social activity

Wednesday, October 27th., Cadogan Square, London.

At 6 o'clock Lewis Mannering came, to ask me to open the new establishment of Foyle the bookseller. He then asked me for a play for the Q Theatre, and then we talked about religion and books. He is a great collector of folk-lore books. He got 20,000, was bored, and sold 'every leaf' and then he began again and has now reached 5 or 6,000. He is a firm rationalist. Not a bad sort.

Andre Maurois

We had Andre Maurois, Ethel Sands, Jeanne de Casalis, Ruby Lindsay, Alfie Mason and Arthur Waley to dinner, and it was a very good party. Maurois showed extraordinary charm. He spoke once more about doing a French very free adaptation of "Milestones". I encouraged him. He said that he thought "The Old Wives' Tale" was one of the finest works in English literature. I was quite pleased!

Richard is envious that I lead what appears to him to be an exciting social life. Well I do, but I didn't at his age. I have paid for my festivities during a long course of years. When I was his age I worked in an office 9.45 to 6 (stealing an hour or so in the middle of the day to go to the British Museum), and I worked, chiefly on bibliography and articles, at night. I scarcely ever went to a party, never to a retaurant (except ABCs for lunch), never to a dance. And so on, and so on. I don't think he will be convinced!