30 Jan
30 Jan
30 January 1920
No letter from him today - other letters came. I tried all day to work and feel dog tired. Perhaps it's the massage. Jinnie[Jinnie Fullerton was the close friend and companion of KM's cousin, Connie Beauchamp, both of whom retired to Menton.] came to see me & brought me a present from her little dog. [KM Notebooks]
Just as a last straw my nice thick overcoat was stolen from the Casetta the day I left! Stolen out of the hall by a beggar while I was getting him some bread. Viva Italia. However we got here at last & Con & Jinnie were here. They had filled my rooms with flowers, bought cigarettes - an ash tray, all those small things which mean so much - and there was Jinnie. She opened her arms and said ‘Well darling you're safe, thank God!' My child, I never was so near turning R.C. on the spot! ‘Here' is a very large exquisitely clean and most sumptuous maison de cure climatique. Its not a nursing home. One is absolutely free and ones own mistress but at the same time there is a very nice Swiss masseuse on the premises, the food is particularly good & nourishing - one has heaps of butter & milk & so on and the bed-rooms are most comfortable with large windows, chaises longues, good beds, and central heating. Theres a gorgeous garden and view. A doctor lives on the premises & keeps an eye on one if one wants an eye kept - don't you know? But at the same time no serious cases are taken - people are just here to rest and so on. Its really ideal. I sometimes feel I died in Italy & have gone to Heaven! Its fearfully expensive but drat the expense as Mummy would say. I can do twice the work in this comfort & Oh Marie Im getting better - coming back to Life! [To Charlotte Beauchamp Perkins Collected Letters, 31 January 1920]