friday, april 21, 1944

my dearest kitty,

i stayed in bed yesterday with a sore throat, but since i was already bored the very first afternoon and didn't have a fever, i got up today. my sore throat has nearly "verschwunden"* [* disappeared].

yesterday, as you've probably already discovered, was our fiihrer's fifty-fifth birthday. today is the eighteenth birthday of her royal highness princess elizabeth of york. the bbc reported that she hasn't yet been declared of age, though royal children usually are. we've been wondering which prince they'll marry this beauty off to, but can't think of a suitable candidate; perhaps her sister, princess margaret rose, can have crown prince baudouin of belgium!

here we've been going from one disaster to the next. no sooner have the outside doors been reinforced than van maaren rears his head again. in all likelihood he's the one who stole the potato flour, and now he's trying to pin the blame on bep. not surprisingly, the annex is once again in an uproar. bep is beside herself with rage. perhaps mr. kugler will finally have this shady character tailed.

the appraiser from beethovenstraat was here this morning. he offered us 400 guilders for our chest; in our opinion, the other estimates are also too low.

i want to ask the magazine the prince if they'll take one of my fairy tales, under a pseudonym, of course. but up to now all my fairy tales have been too long, so i don't think i have much of a chance.

until the next time, darling.

yours, anne m. fran

k