To Daniel MacGhie Cory
Hotel Bristol,
Rome. November 15, 1934
The other night in bed, when I happened not to be feeling very well, I thought that perhaps I might have to send for you, because in any long illness, it would be rather dismal to have nobody about to look in upon one, and cheer one up. I was all right again the next morning—merely a touch of indigestion—and thought no more of the matter. But now that you suggest coming, as if telepathically, the idea seems doubly attractive. Decide the matter entirely according to your own inclination. You are always free to live where you like: I will simply continue your allowance as usual, and pay your travelling expenses to Rome, if you decide to come. . . . I warn you that you will find me grown much older and uglier; also deafer, and more easily tired, so that you can’t expect much pleasure from my society.
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Five, 1933-1936. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003.
Location of manuscript: Butler Library, Columbia University, New York NY