Letter from Hélène Bricka, White Lodge, Richmond Park, to Dr. William Baldwin, 1896 November 11 : autograph manuscript signed.

Asking for his help with the Duke; saying "I fly to you as I would to a Father Confessor for I know well that you will not betray me & help us. The fact is lately the Duke had such dreadful outbursts of temper that something must be done & he must be told that unless he controls himself H.R.H. will fall ill. Altho' H.R.H. is much better I am not very happy about her. I find her complexion so altered & her memory so bad & very often she gets bewildered & agitated for the least thing. Of course rest & quiet is most required & I do my uttermost to be of use & to save her any extra work. But what is the use of it all if the Duke is always bothering her & always scolding & screaming at her? I talked it over with Princess May & we have come to the conclusion that I had better write to you and ask you to write to me such a letter that I can show to the Duke but in no wise must he guess that I wrote to you. Say that you would like to hear how H.R.H. is feeling. That again you must impress upon me that H.R.H. is ill, very ill, that it is my solemn duty to keep some of the household cares from her, that she must not be agited [sic], worried, otherwise the heart will be seriously affected, that I owe this to the children etc. Say anything to frighten the Duke, but nothing that he could take for himself otherwise he would guess I told about him. Of course H.R.H. is in the secret so she will not be anxious about your report & so is Dr. Wadd. The Duke must learn to control himself otherwise I really fear H.R.H. will fall ill. This outburst of temper are like a madman's. If only you were here, you have some power over him. Princess May is in despair. She thinks that you could write also to her a letter she could show her father only about keeping worries from H.R.H. - otherwise you can't answer for the consequences. The Duke is clever & rusé so write a diplomatic letter & yet try to frighten him;" adding, in a postscript, "O'Callaghan is very busy I hear. I have seen him only once. I wonder if ever we can get H.R.H. to appoint him Surgeon to the Household? it would be worth everything to him in this land of Snobs. You must have spoken kindly of my friend to H.R.H. who seems to realize that O'Callaghan is not Le premier venu as Hood rather intimated it & was to my belief, cause of H.R.H. not appointing him. With your help we may yet get it for him."