April 14, 1929

My dear Klarkash-Ton:—

Yes—that letter from a witch-descendant was rather unusual, & I am still hoping for dark data when she gets ready to unfold some real family history. It appears that her forbears were well acquainted with the Marblehead witches Edward Dimond & his daughter Moll Pitcher, (whose home, "The Old Brig," still stands on Burying Hill) & that she herself, through the Easty or Este line, is a scion of the D'Estes of Ferrara, Italy, & a descendant of no less a malign character than Lucrezia Borgia! Some ancestry! The wildest progenitors on my own family charts seem pretty tame beside this array of glittering sinistrality.

* * * * *

It interests me to hear of your first perusal of A Dreamer's Tales. Mine was in the fall of 1919, when I had never read anything of Dunsany's, though knowing of him by reputation. The book had been recommended to me by one whose judgment I did not highly esteem, & it was with some dubiousness that I began reading Poltarnees-Beholder of Ocean. The first paragraph arrested me as with an electric shock, & I had not read two pages before I became a Dunsany devotee for life. It was such a discovery as I shall never experience again, for I am too old for such emotional effects now. Thank Pegana I came across Dunsany when I did!

Yr obt Servt
H P L

Selected Letters (Arkham House) 351