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3 Oct 1898, 61 Shelgate Road, Battersea

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Letter from Edward Thomas to his wife, Helen Thomas. Archival reference: 424/1/1/1/1/77
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61 Shelgate Road,
Battersea Rise, S.W
3.x.98

My dearest friend,
I hope you have
better dreams by now, for they
are a lovely portion of that
maidenliness which you shall never
lose. And you surely will, -
perhaps you did after Saturday
when our cheerfulness at
parting was of such good
omen, that I hardly lost
my composure before I had

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hours of it at Wimbledon, in the
warmth and strange visible light of
the late afternoon. I made a note or two,
I fancy; and by the way, I wrote out
a longish note of my visit to the
statues on Saturday, after my late
return; how they will be directly useful,
I do not know.
Goodbye now in a hurry, little
one. I did not know I loved you
so truly until this time, sweetheart.
Goodbye, In life your truest fondest
friend Edw and you ever my own sweet
little one Helen, my anemone
maiden. Helen fach, Goodbye.
I hope you have fair dreams tonight.
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you reassuring (illegible) at
4 this afternoon. Really what were your dreams like on
Saturday night? -
So now I am settling
down again to my work, -
lessons and literature; and to the
enjoyment of the kindness of
everyone around, which I never
felt so much as of late, when
it looked as if I was soon to
cast it away with such
apparent rudeness. This
afternoon, I spent some hours at

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Patten Road with enjoyment.
Mary by the way returns tomorrow
probably - they are all well. Tomorrow
I hope to see Mr. Tarrant; Harry
in the evening. Before going
in Harry's at 8, I might see
you for half an hour from 7.15 to
7.48. Shall I? I will see.
Sunday was only a little
uneventful for me; for you not
at all, I hope. Elizabeth did
not come, and has not written, so
I may not see her before going to
Oxford; which is a pity
spent most of the day in
killing time with Arthur, some

Owner:
Cardiff University and Special Collections and Archives
Creator:
Edward Thomas
License information:
Item uploaded:
18/2/2026
Date originally created:
3/10/1898
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