NATASHA SPENDER
65
theatrical to ugh -gu y heave o f the shoul ders,
" Y ou' ll
never go straight,"
Fran k repli ed qui etl y: " I hope, if I have to, tha t I'll have the guts to
earn my li ving mending roads."
Raymond also came to stay in the Ox(ordshire cottage where we
were li ving fo r the summer, in one o f the most beautiful large gardens
in England , but Londo n seemed
to
have become hi s center of grav ity a t
last and enj oyment of the Co tswold qui et, if he had any a t a ll , was
transient. He was ami able, unusuall y tolerant , and bored. During tha t
autumn hi s letters were cheerfull y nos talgic, parti cul arl y a bout Veni ce
where Stephen and I had stayed . In the New Year the Spender famil y
moved to San Francisco.
In Ma rch 1959 we were planning to dri ve down from Berkeley to
visit hi m in La Jo ll a but a t the las t moment he telepho ned to say he
was suddenl y leav ing fo r Eng land with Helga who, we were g lad to
hear, had just accepted hi s proposa l of ma rri age.
It
was a gossipy,
affectionate telephone call : and I was happy (amid la ter sorrow) to have
had that half-hour of cloud less friendshi p, for less than three weeks
later he was dead.
