"... que de tristesses depuis notre déjeuner à St Rémy ! C'est le dernier moment agréable que j'ai vécu depuis de longs mois, et je vous le dois..."

Autograph letter signed by Reynaldo Hahn, dandy, composer and great love of Marcel Proust (30 lines in blue ink from the Hôtel de la Réserve in Monte Carlo) addressed to Marthe Daudet, wife of the journalist and monarchist writer Léon Daudet, principal collaborator of Charles Maurras at Action Française.
Fold mark inherent to posting, the ink of some letters having bled on the verso.
Since the death of his sister, Reynaldo Hahn is inconsolable and recalls the all too rare joys he has experienced in recent times. He thanks Marthe Daudet who tempered his despondency: "... what sadness since our lunch in St Rémy! It is the last pleasant moment I have lived in long months, and I owe it to you..."
He also recalls the sufferings of his late sister: "... it is only at the end that she knew some rest. What courage she showed these past two years! " and draws a parallel with the tragic death of Philippe Daudet which shook the Daudet family: "... I think very often of him (Léon Daudet) and of your painful ordeal."
On November 23, 1923, traveling in a taxi, Philippe Daudet committed suicide at the age of 14, his father accusing anarchist circles or the Third Republic police of having disguised this "crime" as suicide.