23 North Parade
Penzance.
May 29. [1920]
Dear Garnett
I am now sending you the story[1] which you see is the old historical one of Edgar and Elfrida, a subject most unsuitable for me, which was forced on me so to speak, and so I should not be surprised to hear that I am out [?] of it here and that it is no good. Well, you will tell me, and all I can say is I will not rewrite it as I've now finished with it and very glad too, as I should have preferred one of my own natural history subjects—the book I had half written before I came down in fact. But when I came down I put some old envelopes, each containing some notes I had made on some subjects which had interested me at one time. I thought it best to bring them down and look over them to destroy most of them as now useless when I turned out and looked at the Edgar and E. note I had made years ago. I thought I might just try to make a little thing of three or four thousand words and get rid of it in that way instead of destroying it. But the confounded subject would not let me go until I had made this long short story which runs to over 21,000 words. And now I'm fairly sick of it and can do nothing beyond mending any glaringly wrong passage. But you will tell me about that. I want it back in a few days if you can look at it soon, as it is just possible that I may be able to go up pretty soon. I haven't got much benefit from being here, though the London winter would perhaps have carried me off before now if I hadn't got away in November. I haven't been over to St. Ives yet, nor to the Land's End, nor anywhere outside of Penzance as I haven't felt well enough for anything.
What I feel about this thing is that I haven't succeeded in producing the effect aimed at in the character of the woman as the whole and sole interest is in that—the woman who was capable of a horrible crime and who was yet essentially noble in spirit. But as to its being a story of a thousand years ago, that doesn't matter at all seeing that human passions then were what they are today and always, and all the archaeology stuff is left out. You must say Use it or Burn it and I'll obey.
W. H. Hudson
- ↑ Dead Man's Plack.—E. G.
