Editing Evelyn Waugh (section)

=== "He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn" ===

[[File:069 Canonbury Square.jpg|thumb|upright|Canonbury Square, where Waugh and Evelyn Gardner lived during their brief marriage]]
In December 1927, Waugh and Evelyn Gardner became engaged, despite the opposition of Lady Burghclere, who felt that Waugh lacked moral fibre and kept unsuitable company.<ref>Hastings, pp. 164–165</ref> Among their friends, they quickly became known as "He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn".<ref name= StannardODNB/> Waugh was at this time dependent on a £4-a-week allowance ({{Inflation|UK|4|1927|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) from his father and the small sums he could earn from book reviewing and journalism.<ref>Hastings, pp. 160–161</ref> The Rossetti biography was published to a generally favourable reception in April 1928: [[J. C. Squire]] in ''The Observer'' praised the book's elegance and wit; Acton gave cautious approval; and the novelist [[Rebecca West]] wrote to express how much she had enjoyed the book. Less pleasing to Waugh were the ''[[Times Literary Supplement]]''{{'}}s references to him as "Miss Waugh".<ref name= Hastings168/>

When ''Decline and Fall'' was completed, Duckworths objected to its "obscenity", but [[Chapman & Hall]] agreed to publish it.<ref>Sykes, p. 84</ref> This was sufficient for Waugh and Gardner to bring forward their wedding plans. They were married in St Paul's Church, [[Portman Square]], on 27 June 1928, with only Acton, [[Robert Byron (travel writer)|Robert Byron]], Alec Waugh and the bride's friend [[Lady Pansy Lamb|Pansy Pakenham]] present.<ref>Hastings, pp. 175–176</ref> The couple made their home in a small flat in [[Canonbury Square]], [[Islington]].<ref>Stannard, Vol. I p. 157</ref> The first months of the marriage were overshadowed by a lack of money, and by Gardner's poor health, which persisted into the autumn.<ref>Hastings, pp. 177–179</ref>

In September 1928, ''Decline and Fall'' was published to almost unanimous praise. By December, the book was into its third printing, and the American publishing rights were sold for $500.<ref>Hastings, pp. 180–182</ref> In the afterglow of his success, Waugh was commissioned to write travel articles in return for a free [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] cruise, which he and Gardner began in February 1929, as an extended, delayed honeymoon. The trip was disrupted when Gardner contracted [[pneumonia]] and was carried ashore to the British hospital in [[Port Said]]. The couple returned home in June, after her recovery. A month later, without warning, Gardner confessed that their mutual friend, [[John Heygate]], had become her lover. After an attempted reconciliation failed, a shocked and dismayed Waugh filed for divorce on 3 September 1929. The couple apparently met again only once, during the process for the [[annulment]] of their marriage a few years later.<ref>Davie (ed.), pp. 305–306</ref>