ELIOT, T.S. (1885-1965). Autograph letter signed ("Tom") to Peggy [Lady Mallet, wife of Sir Victor Mallet, British Ambassador at Rome]. London, Tuesday (n.d., but envelope postmarked 21 September 1949]. 2 pages, small 4to, creased, original holograph postmarked envelope lacking stamp. Profusely apologizing that he is unable to find an free night and morning to stay with the Mallets at Wittersham House near Tenterden: "My only consolation is, that I know I ought to keep as quiet as possible until the German tour: but I am sorry not to be able to show my proficiency in housework (it was during a blitz that I learned how to make bread sauce). I must think of some mission to take me to Rome next year, which would make it ncecessary that I should be the guest of the Embassy. Yours disconsolately." Though the death of his wife Vivien in 1947 caused guilt, it also brought Eliot some relief. In 1948, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, and by 1949, his play, The Cocktail Party, was a success.