T. E. Lawrence to Mrs Thomas Hardy

21.5.23.

Dear Mrs. Hardy

I'm afraid I'll come on Saturday next at tea-time! De la Mare is known to me only by his books - but he should be delightful, if he lives up to them: and most good people are better than their books.

It sounds greedy, always to come when you ask me: but your house is so wonderfully unlike this noisy room that it is difficult to resist, even for it's own sake: and then there is Mr. Hardy, though you mustn't tell him so, for the thrill is too one-sided. He has seen so much of human-kind that he must be very tired of them: whereas for me he's Hardy, and I'd go a long way even to see the place where he had lived, let alone him living in it.

There, you will think me absurd: but still I'll arrive on Saturday!

Yours sincerely

T. E. Shaw