Cooper, Ethel – August 1917
7.8.17
My dear Emmie,
I went to the Dutch Consul yesterday. He has put me on the list of civil prisoners here, so that if the pass is again refused, I can depend on getting money that way. In the mean time I am getting on through selling a variety of things that I really don’t need – an oven, a gas-ring, a hall-stand, a sofa-cover, and so on.
The 4th of August has come and gone for the fourth time – this is the first of the third [in fact, fourth] year’s letters that are waiting here for you – I only hope there will not be many more to add to my secret pile. Last week the police sent me back two old diaries of 1911 and 1912 that I gave them when they last came house-hunting – they kindly told me there was nothing incriminating in them, and that they were quite reassured about me!
12.8.17
My dear Emmie,
…Still no news about my pass – I am getting so sick of waiting for it.
There is an outbreak of something here that they don’t call cholera, but which is certainly an extremely infectious dysentery. Dr. Knopf tells me that the hospitals are crammed, and people are dying of it by hundreds.
19.8.17
My dear Emmie,
…Still no news from the police, and I am beginning to lose hope again, for the matter has dragged on now for two months. There is nothing more that I can do till the final packing, or, if I can’t get away, begin to move into a pension. Anyway, I shall be glad not to have the bother of my own household any longer – it is really too difficult now for one person.
