The Importance of Folly and Slackness

Tolkien prohibited him from meeting talking to or even corresponding with her until he was 21. In a 1941 letter to his son Michael Tolkien recalled I had to choose between disobeying and deceiving a guardian who had been a father to me more than most fathers. "I don't regret my decision though it was very hard on my lover but it was not my fault she was completely free" Edith said however that she had agreed to marry Field only because she felt on the shelf and had begun to doubt that Tolkien still cared for her.