Dear Miss Waterman,
You will probably be very surprised to receive this letter, but let me first explain. I was feeling very lonely and just a bit sad. I was “somewhere “ and you were there as well. I have travelled the world extensively, and it has been one of my hobbies to study people, and get to know their temperaments by appearances. Well, as I looked at you I saw that you were sensitive and had a sympathetic nature so just for a little while I just imagined that you were a girl pal of mine. After a little while I felt lots better and brighter. I suppose I ought not to write to you but I thought it might interest you to know your influence helped somebody. If it is so decreed by fate that I receive a formal introduction to you I will tell you that I wrote this letter. Please do not be cross. Although I do not know you to speak to I just felt I had to express my appreciation. I wonder if I shall meet you one day.
Yours sincerely, at present –
A stranger.
*
I discovered this extraordinary letter amongst my mother’s belongings; it is both a treasure and a mystery of the loveliest kind from another time when people had to ask formally for introductions and follow strict etiquette rules. Ruby was my Grandmother and the letter was written pre World War 2 although there is no date other than 5th July. I know nothing about it nor do I know why it has been kept. I’m thinking those days were so innocent and romantic. There may be a great saga of unrequited love here.
Like Monte Christo, this person has travelled the world extensively and is well educated. Yet I sense a woman’s hand more than a man’s, there are no declarations of heartfelt desire, no need to possess and little, if any sexual expression in the letter. The style of writing suggests to me an older, well educated woman. Ruby worked with her family at the New Stanley Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya so it is likely this person was a frequent guest at the hotel.
Nowadays we’d be thinking this is too ominous, this is some kind of stalker or scammer. A person not to be trusted or one who wants something in return for something else.
Nevertheless it is a lovely letter and it is a beautiful memory to keep. It wasn’t written by my grandfather, he didn’t travel the world and hadn’t been anywhere else before his arrival in Kenya at some point in the 1930’s.
We will never know why she kept it or whether she met this admirer.
I smile as I write this and remember my beautiful, kind and gifted Granny. One of my children bought me a digital photo frame and I’ve uploaded the photo of my mum and Ruby having a Sunday morning picnic breakfast in Nairobi National Game Park in the 1980s. Even now, and through an old photo I understand how my ‘Ganny’ as I called her, Ruby or Roo to others was able to make you feel better when you were feeling lonely or just a bit sad.
She was a treasure.
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