Mrs. Keppel and Her Daughter

by Diana Souhami

  Violet to Vita, 22 July 1918

  all things seductive

  Vita Sackville-West, Challenge (Collins 1974)

  Her humour

  ibid

  so marvellously

  Violet to Vita, 27 August 1918

  God knows

  ibid, 19 August 1918

  I hate lies

  ibid, 26 August 1918

  How right you were

  ibid, 23 July 1918

  I want you for

  ibid, 25 August 1918

  I have greatly dared

  ibid, 26 August 1918

  O Vita get away

  Violet to Vita, 15 September 1918 (Beinecke Library)

  What is the good

  Violet to Vita, 23 September 1918

  Mitya, even you

  ibid

  This is the best

  Vita and Portrait of a Marriage

  It does seem unfair

  Violet to Vita, October 1918 (Beinecke Library)

  Chinday was at her worst

  Violet to Vita, October 1918

  As Mrs Nicolson

  Sidney Russell Cooke to Violet, 31 October 1918 (Lilly Library)

  ELEVEN

  Mitya will never leave

  Violet to Vita, 21 March 1919

  that swine Violet

  Harold to Vita, 5 December 1918 Vita and Harold

  She flatters you

  Vita

  It is nobody’s business

  Victoria Sackville, Book of Reminiscences, 1922, published in Susan Mary Alsop, Lady Sackville

  You say Violet

  Harold to Vita, 14 February 1919 (Lilly Library)

  I have destroyed

  Harold to Vita, February 1919 (Lilly Library)

  I’m glad

  Violet to Vita, 16 March 1919 (Beinecke Library)

  She talks in a voice

  Vita to Harold, 20 March 1919 (Lilly Library)

  Mitya I can’t face

  Violet to Vita, March 1919

  You know how I loathe

  ibid, 21 March 1919

  hell of having to endure

  Violet to Vita, March 1919 (Beinecke Library)

  What’s going to happen?

  Violet to Vita, March 1919

  I feel really

  Harold to Vita, 29 March 1919 (Lilly Library)

  Poor Denys

  Vita to Harold, ibid, 30 March 1919

  I certainly told

  Violet to Vita, 8 May 1919

  his word of honour

  ibid, 30 March 1919

  specialise in Russian

  Denys to John Schomberg Trefusis, 1910 (Phyllida Ellis)

  You look as though

  ibid, April 1919

  very county

  Phyllida Ellis to author, April 1994

  caged up

  Denys to his sister Betty, 1911 (Phyllida Ellis)

  I hate them, Mitya

  Violet to Vita, 2 May 1919

  Living permanently

  Portrait of a Marriage

  You simply can’t

  Harold to Vita, 29 March 1919 Vita and Harold (Lilly Library)

  he will say

  Violet to Vita, undated March 1919

  Hadji this

  ibid, 19 April 1919

  O darling

  All I can do

  Harold to Vita, 22 May 1919 (Lilly Library)

  She says I would

  Violet to Vita, 29 April 1919 (Beinecke Library)

  I don’t absolutely

  Portrait of a Marriage

  My dear Vita

  Denys Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West, 3 May 1919 (Lilly Library)

  rigidly suppressed

  Denys Trefusis to his sister Betty, 1911 (Pyllida Ellis)

  ought to be confined

  Violet to Vita, 5 May 1919

  Really, how nice

  ibid, 6 May 1919

  I don’t think any

  Pat Dansey, to Vita, May 1919

  We are making

  Violet to Vita, undated 1919

  When I say care

  ibid, 23 September 1918

  I nearly struck

  ibid, 6 May 1919

  I can’t, can’t have one

  ibid, 9 May 1919

  Unless you make

  Pat Dansey to Vita, undated 1919

  I should like to

  Harold to Vita, 24 May 1919 (Lilly Library)

  I think he will

  Violet to Vita, June 1919

  V’s wedding

  Vita to Harold, 1 June 1919 (Lilly Library)

  you must come

  Harold to Vita, 3 June 1919 (Lilly Library)

  Violet thinks I will

  Vita to Harold, 9 June 1919 (Lilly Library)

  All that time

  Portrait of a Marriage

  TWELVE

  I treated her savagely

  Portrait of a Marriage

  Don’t you know

  ibid

  What are you thinking

  Violet to Vita, July 1919

  If only I knew

  ibid, 26 June 1919

  O God another

  ibid, 8 July 1919

  All this will

  ibid, 21 July 1919

  Will the young

  Edwardian Daughter

  I see no one

  Violet to Vita, September 1919 (Beinecke Library)

  when you are not with me

  Vita to Violet, fragment, 1919 (Beinecke Library)

  Tomorrow you will go

  Violet to Vita, September 1919 (Beinecke Library)

  I had another frightful

  ibid

  I can’t impress

  Violet to Vita, 17 October 1919

  I said nothing

  Victoria Sackville, unpublished diary, 18 December 1919 (Lilly Library)

  I feel I ought

  Violet to Vita, 6 January 1920

  I felt blackened

  Portrait of a Marriage

  I know you can

  Vita to Harold, 1 February 1920, Vita and Harold

  It was a sort

  Violet to Vita, 16 February, 1920 (Beinecke Library)

  she refused so positively

  Vita to Harold, 9 February 1920. Vita and Harold

  He was pompous

  Portrait of a Marriage

  Denys was very cool

  Victoria Sackville, unpublished diary, February 1920 (Lilly Library)

  This must never go

  Portrait of a Marriage

  She calls it banishment

  Vita to Harold, 14 February 1920 (Lilly Library)

  I am simply dazed

  Violet to Vita, 14 February 1920

  Every day L telephones

  Vita to Harold, 18 February 1920 (Lilly Library)

  O my darling

  Violet to Vita, 16 February 1920 (Beinecke Library)

  You can’t seriously

  Violet to Vita, 29 January 1920

  THIRTEEN

  Pat is a powerful

  Violet to Vita, February 1920

  he does nothing but

  ibid, 16 February 1920

  he yelled

  ibid, 20 February 1920

  I only called

  Edwardian Daughter

  ‘My dear Lord’

  ibid

  I know that just

  Denys Trefusis to Violet, 24 February 1920 (Beinecke Library)

  I am afraid

  Pat Dansey to Vita Sackville-West, 2 March 1920. Violet to Vita

  I could not be

  Violet to Vita, 9 March 1920

  Darling, I saw

  Pat Dansey to Violet, 15 March 1920. Violet to Vita

  a debased crippled

  Violet to Vita, 1 May 1920

  I am singularly pure

  ibid, 7 May 1920

  Before I had always

  Portrait of a Marriage

  You have told me

  Violet to Vita, 12 March 1920 (Beinecke Library)
/>
  My dear I worry

  Pat Dansey to Vita, 8 May 1920 (Nigel Nicolson)

  I saw the sort

  Portrait of a Marriage

  In the Middle

  Violet to Vita, 8 May 1920

  How can you expect

  ibid, 19 March 1920

  What a dreadful

  ibid, 11 May 1920

  Hate seeing her

  Vita Sackville-West, unpublished diary, 22 April 1920 (Lilly Library)

  I can’t bear

  Violet to Vita, 22 May 1920

  I am twenty-six

  ibid, 5 June 1920

  O Mitya, you can

  ibid, 7 July 1920

  I fear the scandal

  Mrs Keppel to Violet, undated (Beinecke Library)

  I could not live

  Violet to Vita, 21 July 1920

  Jean is a nice

  Harold to Vita, 17 January 1919 (Lilly Library)

  Can you arrange

  ibid, 19 July 1920

  Having written it

  Portrait of a Marriage

  Darling it’s true

  Violet to Vita, 24 August 1920

  three dozen nightgowns

  Edwardian Daughter

  She has been gardening

  Violet to Vita, August 1920 (Beinecke Library)

  You haunt this place

  Violet to Vita, August 1920

  She fusses

  ibid, October 1920

  She is diabolical

  ibid

  If I can’t be

  ibid, 19 September 1920

  This time last year

  ibid, 17 September 1920

  I can only feel

  ibid, 2 October 1920

  I love nothing

  ibid, 14 October 1920

  It was like two

  Portrait of a Marriage

  she seems absolutely

  Book of Reminiscences

  FOURTEEN

  On Saturday we shall

  Harold to Vita, 8 February 1921. Vita and Harold.

  M’elle never leaves

  Violet to Vita, 14 March 1921

  Another letter

  Violet to Vita, 9 March 1921

  My poor mother

  ibid, 18 March 1921

  And what should I

  ibid

  If only you would

  ibid, 29 March 1921

  It is possible

  Portrait of a Marriage

  blazing blue eyes

  Dictionary of National Biography, 1921 entry by Vita

  Tell Dottie she is

  Harold to Vita, March 1921, quoted in Victoria Glendinning, Vita (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983)

  the most corrupt

  Violet to Vita, 1 May 1921

  It seems so odd

  ibid

  Men chinday now completely

  ibid, 27 May 1921

  everything to me

  ibid, 19 July 1921

  I would gladly do

  Pat Dansey to Vita, 15 August 1921 (Nigel Nicolson)

  Her mother refuses

  ibid, 1 September 1921

  Beyond that I have

  ibid, 10 November 1921

  I do wish, Vita

  ibid, 23 December 1921

  I only feel

  Harold to Vita, 8 January 1926. Vita and Harold

  I do not remember

  Raymond Mortimer to Vita, 29 December 1925 (Lilly Library)

  It is only very

  I curse myself

  Vita to Harold, 8 December 1922. Vita and Harold

  And with it all

  ibid, 16 November 1922

  FIFTEEN

  How black is my future

  Violet to Pat Dansey, March 1921 (Beinecke Library)

  Denys would frequently

  Don’t Look Round

  I have to go and see

  Pat Dansey to Vita, 1 August 1922 (Nigel Nicolson)

  I do hate

  ibid, 10 March 1922

  I will go as

  Violet to Pat Dansey, 15 March 1922. Violet to Vita

  Well! I’m damned

  Pat Dansey to Vita, March 1922 (Nigel Nicolson)

  Darling if V

  ibid, 6 May 1922

  Surely from old

  ibid, 17 August 1922

  I was fearful

  ibid, 8 April 1922

  Apparently her mother

  ibid, 4 December 1922

  I loathe being

  ibid, 17 July 1923

  Would it be easier

  ibid, 30 August 1923

  Three perfect days

  ibid, 11 November 1923

  I centralized on

  ibid, 24 November 1923

  I would sooner die

  ibid, 3 August 1924

  I do apologise

  ibid, undated 1924

  I am going to tell

  ibid, 26 June 1924

  in a very amorous

  ibid, 27 May 1926

  She never bought

  Lord Northumberland to Vita Sackville-West, 3 February 1924 (Lilly Library)

  I do not want

  Vita to Harold, 12 February 1923 (Lilly Library)

  I surrendered

  Don’t Look Round

  Every night

  The Hook in the Heart, unpublished manuscript (Beinecke Library)

  How could she make

  ibid

  Her love of love

  ibid

  Disowned by

  ibid

  People quailed

  Don’t Look Round

  Part Three: Chacun Sa Tour

  SIXTEEN

  a cold beauty

  quoted in Michael de Cossart, Food of Love: Princesse Edmond de Polignac and her Salon (Hamish Hamilton, 1978)

  the hideous Hotel

  Horizon Review of Literature, 1941–50

  constantly heard

  ibid

  Together they would

  Don’t Look Round