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31 July 1912 — 3 Savile Row | |
Wednesday. 31st [July 1912]. Connie fetched me in the morning in her carriage & drove me to shops & then left me at 17 Cav. Sqr where I lunched & Nela met me. We walked home together by 4.30– Nela went out again & I remained & had a visit from Lord Kitchener who told me that he has decided to return to Egypt by the German Lloyd steamer wh leaves Venice on 29 Sept. & he will spend 2 days with me. He invited me to go & stay with him at Cairo in Nov. which I hope to do. He also said he would like to show me Broome Hall & we agreed that we will both be back to town on 7th & he will take me down in a motor. He says he has now decided not to have his leg broken & reset as the Drs here are against it. He went on to talk about the copies of pictures wh he has had done for Broome & on my saying I should like to see them he said “Would you not come round with me now to see them at Agnews close by in Bond St.” I said I wd gladly do so & I put on my bonnet & we started off. As we walked along he said “How funny it seems that we should be walking along together here instead of at Venice!” & so we went along chatting till we got to Agnew’s galleries & he asked Agnew to show me his copies. We saw copies on “Pinkie” by Lawrence—another & a copy of a Gainsboro which Bss Rothschild had given Lord K. were brought in & showed to me– When Lord K. introduced Agnew to me as a connaisseuse of pictures, Agnew answered that he had known me at Venice & had been taken by Mr Woods RA to Ca’ Capello. After we had admired the copies Lord K. fell to talking of Broome Hall & how he would require other pictures for the older part of the house. Agnew proceeded to bring forward a portrait of Q. Elizabeth which he said he had bought from an old house & was adapted for a Jacobean room. It is one of those flat unshaded portraits of the Queen in a dark wood & gold frame. Agnew said he wd let Lord K. have it for £250 & after some hesitation he agreed to buy it. I laughingly said that Agnew was a great tempter & he answered “if we dealers were not eels we should make no money.” At the door of the shop we parted– Lord K. saw me safely across the street on my way home & we went off in a taxi cab. I found Blanche & Connie at Savile Row come to tea with me & Mrs Montague Eliot joined us. Nela dined with the Eliots & I with the Oranmores. | |
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