I have been persuaded back into journalism again, but not as a reviewer. I see myself now as a sort of moralist for the people. It is a strange role but I find that I am a most serious man at bottom. And though I can't for the life of me see what is the objection to sodomy (vide recent German trial) I seem to be getting more and more earnest every day.
By the end of this year I shall jolly nearly have written 365,000 words, and most of them good words. My new novel is a long one about two sisters from the Five Towns who lead very different lives but come together again in old age; it is really about the romance of life, wherever it is lived. It is a prodigious canvas. It would be daunting were I not in such splendid health and form.
The most curious thing that has happened to me is that I have practically lost all my ambitions except the ambition to be allowed to work quietly. This remarkable phenomenon coincides with my marriage, and I think one component of the change is to do with sexual contentment. I have been frankly surprised to find that the sexual act with a woman you love is both satisfying and perpetually improving. I think it is to do with mutual confidence. It is also to do with being free from external stressors. I can make all the money I want and need; and as for other things that are necessary to philosophic calm, I have them. I have always said that I only lived in the capital because I couldn't stand the country alone by myself. Now that I am no longer alone, you don't catch me living any more in Paris.We are going to England in December. Marriott announces that he is going to give a grandiose musical evening on December 14th. in our honour. Marguerite's English will certainly amuse England. I don't know what they will make of her in Burslem when we get there for Christmas. I feel as if I had always been married. I can't imagine myself not married. It suits me profoundly and I never did so much work in the time as I have done since my marriage
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