It is unfortunate that throughout this important and critical period,
from the end of November to the end of February, we should have no help
from the Milsom correspondence. It seems that Miss Milsom and Mrs.
Farebrother had a renewed quarrel during the Christmas period, on the
subject of the youth Ronnie Farebrother, mentioned in former letters,
and that as a result they remained for some time not on speaking or
writing terms. Mr. Munting’s letters also contain no references to my
father’s domestic affairs during the month of February—no doubt because
he was preoccupied with his own private concerns.
During the last week of January, the wretched young Farebrother shot
himself. This gratifying fulfilment of her prophecies of disaster seems
to have driven Miss Milsom into a highly hysterical state of mind, which
probably precipitated the mental collapse that followed. Her
correspondence with her sister (which was then resumed) is therefore
quite useless for evidential purposes. We can, therefore, only guess at
the development of the situation between my stepmother and Lathom during
February—the month in which my father’s duties took him away from home
for fourteen days, in connection with the electrical installation in
Middleshire. In view of the extraordinary incident which finally broke
up the two households, it is, however, not difficult to form a correct
opinion.