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The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett - 1925

By A. T. Barker

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Letter No. 10B

H. P. B. Corresponding Secretary of the T.S.A.S.

Bombay,
March 30.

My dear Mr. O'Conor,

Your letter reaching me the same day that it was written by you, namely — March 24, did not surprise me in the least. But here I am brooding over it for a whole week. Shall I answer it now, or shall I not. If I do, there will be a great outcry about the phenomenon at first, and then the usual compliments of "fraud" — "imposture" — "humbug" — "confederacy." Now, as you are a F.T.S. though not one of the most active, I regret to say, I do not want to lose you through sheer disgust. My best friends are wavering at the present moment between the "to be, or not to be," between "Is she or is she not a fraud?" So that I rather wait for the appearance of "Hints on Esoteric Theosophy" which Mr. Hume is preparing to publish and see how the wind blows. If it is favourable — all right; if not — you will never receive this letter. I go to-morrow through Allababad to Calcutta where Mrs. Gordon has already received her letter from Eglinton. I merely write to her — "Is Mr. O'Conor, our F.T.S., a passenger on board the 'Vega?' I did not know he was gone." I'll see what she answers. Then, when at Calcutta, I may tell her what Koothoomi said to me, namely — how he laughed at your persisting to put a cabalistic sign on Mr. Eglinton's envelope, and at your disgust when it was destroyed and what you thought of all this. Not very complimentary anyhow. Well, however, there was no fraud that time, though you may believe to the contrary I will tell her many things but not a word of your letter to me for I want to test "Ernest" myself. I leave Bombay and this letter in the hands of Guala K. Deb. with orders that if he does not receive from me orders to the contrary that he should forward this letter to its address in the first days of June. When you receive it — if you do — I will watch and see what you think of all this, and then — tell of it when I see you.

No; I did not receive your letter at the same time as that for Mrs. Gordon but an hour later, in the presence of two theosophists.

I hope your little girl has not forgotten her pretty little "d — d" expression she used when she fell over the threshold. Well may our Lord Buddha's glory shine upon you and yours. N'oubliez pas une vieille amie.

Your's
H. P. Blavatsky.

P.S. Of course I do not expect you to believe my story; but I want to watch the developments anyhow. What a fraud all round, mon doux Jesus!

Note by A. P. Sinnett on preceding and following letters.

Of course it is exasperating in the highest degree that this letter was not sent at the time it was written. Common sense would have dictated that it should have been sent through one of us, but to bottle it up in this way was simply conduct of a piece with so much else that is extraordinary not only on the part of the O.L. but even on that of their lordships, who seem to take an infinitude of trouble sometimes to provoke suspicions on the part of people half inclined to believe. That may be all right in one way: they may be anxious to turn away half-hearted inquirers, but then so much they do seems as if done for the sake of conveniencing the outsider!

But we can talk of this another time.
Last night I received from the Old Lady the next letter, in answer to one of mine enclosing a bit from Mr. Scott's letter and O'Conor's which you asked me to send on at the time we first heard of the letter from O'Conor.