I have spent the most perfect Ascot week in London. I have enjoyed every
moment of it. I went to the opera every night in the Housmans' box,
which besides being fun was most convenient as I was able to ask people
who had done things for me. I dined on Saturday with Jimmy Randall, who
had been at Ascot all the week. He says that Housman has fallen
violently in love with a Mrs Rachel Park. You may possibly have heard of
her. She used to sing at concerts under the name of Rose Sinclair. She
was quite beautiful, with enormous eyes and flaming hair, but quite
brainless and quite unmusical. She married a barrister who is now Park,
K.C. He works like a slave, but she spends money more quickly than he
can make it. This explains the Cornwall arrangement. Jimmy R. says that
H. has violent scenes with Celia R. and that the end of that idyll is
only a question of hours. He says Mrs P. will lead him a dance. She is
mercenary, stupid, common and a real harpy. Poor "Bert," as Jimmy
Randall calls Housman. He is so good-natured. And poor Mrs H.! Mellor
hardly speaks at all now, and George doesn't say much. He goes nowhere,
but talks of yachting on the west coast during the summer.
Yours,
G.
_P.S_.--Just got your telegram. I am delighted you are coming to London.
I particularly wanted you to meet Mrs Housman--and "Bert." You must
come. And now I shall just be able to manage this if you will dine with
me on Monday night. She leaves for Cornwall on Tuesday morning. I've
asked George too. He stays in London till Parliament is over, and then
he is going away and I shall be free. How much leave will Jack get?
Three weeks at least, I hope. The Shamiers want you to stay with them
Sunday week, and Lady Jarvis wants you to go down there. If you don't
want to stay there, we might go down for luncheon one day. I shall be in
London till the end of July. Then I am going to Worsel for a fortnight.
The Housmans have asked me to go to Cornwall, and I shall try and fit
that in between Worsel and the Shamiers. They have been lent a lodge in
Scotland and have asked me to go there in September. I have promised to
stay a few days at Edith's as well.
There is a parcel for me at the Embassy. It is too big for the bag.
Could you bring it with you?
_From the Diary of Godfrey Mellor_
_Tuesday, June_ 10_th._
Dined with Cunninghame last night to meet his cousin, Mrs Caryl. She is
the wife of a diplomat who is Second Secretary at Paris. A pleasant
dinner. The Housmans were there, and A. and his sister.
_Friday, June_ 25_th._.
Received a letter from Mrs Housman to-day. She says the change of air is
doing her good. She hopes I will come to Cornwall some time during my
holiday.
_Monday, July_ 5_th._
Dined with Housman last night. Miss Housman was there, and the
Carrington-Smiths, and a Mrs Park who used to be a professional singer.
She sang after dinner. Miss Housman accompanied her. She sang Tosti's
_Ninon_, some Lassen, some Bemberg, a song by Lord Henry Somerset, and
E. Purcell's _Passing By_. Miss Housman said it was a comfort to
accompany someone who had a sense of time. She has a powerful voice and
has been well trained, but _Passing By_ did not suit her style of
singing, and I regretted that she had attempted that song. She was not
always in tune.
Housman enjoyed it, and accompanied her himself afterwards in some coon
songs which he played by ear.
Housman asked me to stay with them for the whole of August. He said he
was very anxious that I should go, as he would not be able to be much in
Cornwall and he was afraid Mrs Housman would be lonely. He asked
Cunninghame also. I accepted.
A. spends all his spare time now on his yacht. I am going to stay with
him next Saturday.
_Monday, July_ 12_th._
A. is going to the Cowes Regatta. He asked me to go with him, but I am
leaving on the 1st of August for Cornwall.
_Sunday, August_ 1_st. Grey Farm, Carbis Bay, Cornwall_.
I arrived here last night. A pleasant spot near the sea and not far from
a golf links. Mrs Housman and Housman are here alone. Housman is greatly
perturbed because Mrs Carrington-Smith is bringing a divorce suit
against her husband for infidelity. The other person concerned is Miss
Hope, whom I met at dinner one night at Cunninghame's flat. Housman says
that Miss Hope is neurotic and unhinged. Mrs Housman has never met Miss
Hope.
Housman said he hoped I would be able to stay on here, as he would not
be able to spend much time in Cornwall. Carrington-Smith was so greatly
upset by this wretched business that he could not attend to the affairs
of the firm. He was afraid Mrs Housman would be lonely. Lady Jarvis had
promised to come later, and Cunninghame also, but he did not know when.
Miss Housman had been obliged to go to Vichy to take the waters.
Housman played golf in the afternoon with a member of the Club. I am not
a golf player, unfortunately. I told him that Cunninghame was an
admirable player.
_Monday, August_ 2_nd_.
Housman has been telegraphed for and left this morning. In the afternoon
we went for a long drive and had tea in a farm-house. The climate is
warm and agreeable.
_Tuesday, August_ 3_rd_.
Bathed in the sea this morning and went for a long walk in the afternoon
with Mrs H. After dinner she tried some new songs by Tchaikovsky. We did
not care for them much and fell back on Schubert. Schubert is her
favourite composer. She sang the _Gruppe aus Tartarus_.
_Wednesday, August_ 4_th._
We went for an expedition to the Lizard. Mrs Housman told me that when
she was a girl she had much wanted to become a professional singer, and
that she was studying for the Concert Stage when she met Housman.
_Thursday, August_ 5_th._
We sat on the beach all the afternoon. It was extremely hot and
enjoyable. Mrs Housman read _Consuelo_, by George Sand, aloud. She reads
French with great purity of accent.
Father Stanway, the local priest, came to dinner, a cheerful man with a
venerable appearance. When we were left alone, after dinner, talking of
men in public offices, he said he knew Bowes, in the Foreign Office, who
had spent his Easter holidays here. I asked him whether he thought
converts of that description made satisfactory Catholics. He said he
thought Bowes would be an admirable Catholic. I said I thought it must
be very difficult for a man of his upbringing, as Bowes had been brought
up in a rigid Church of England family, and his father often wrote to
_The Times_, condemning ritualistic practices and innovations. Father
Stanway said it was not so complicated as I thought. There were only
three things indispensable to a man if he wished to become a Catholic:
To believe in God, to follow his conscience, to love his neighbour as
himself. If he did that all the rest was easy. He said he admired Bowes
greatly for taking the step.
_Friday, August_ 6_th._
We went to the Land's End, where there were a great many tourists. Mrs
Housman continues to read out loud _Consuelo_ in the afternoons and
evenings. It is an interesting book, but I prefer _Jane Eyre_.
_Saturday, August_ 7_th._
I received a letter from Riley this morning. He has been in London
nearly a month, and was there a fortnight before I left, but he did not
come to see me for the following reason. He has taken the step and has
been received into the Roman Catholic Church, and he says his first
intention was not to tell anyone of his conversion. He did not come to
see me because he knew he would not be able to help discussing it. He is
no longer making a secret of it now. He found this too difficult. Two or
three days after he had been received he happened to be dining out and
it was a Friday. His hostess said to him, in the course of conversation:
"You are not a Catholic, are you?" He resolved then and there to keep it
secret no longer.
He tells me in his letter, "Your philosophy of the first lie is quite
right. Only I regard what you call the first lie as the _first Truth_.
Once this is so, all the rest follows." He says that after he left me in
Gray's Inn in May he resolved to put the matter from him for a time and
not to think about it. He went back to Paris and pursued his research.
One morning he woke up and felt he could not delay another moment. He
took the train for London the next day, where he intended to go soon in
any case for his holiday, and the day after his arrival he called at the
Brompton Oratory and asked to see a priest, as he knew no priests. He
sat in a small waiting-room downstairs, and presently an elderly priest,
Father X., arrived and asked him what he could do for him. He told him
he wished for instruction prior to becoming a Catholic. He called the
next day. Father X. told him after they had talked for some time that he
did not think he would need much instruction. But he continued to see
him for the next three weeks. He was then received. He says that what
seemed before a step of great difficulty now appeared quite
extraordinarily simple, and he cannot conceive why he did not take it a
long time ago.
_Sunday, August_ 8_th._
Mrs Housman went to Mass. I sat in the garden; when she returned from
Mass I told her about Riley. She asked me how old he was. I said I
thought he was about thirty-five. I told her he was a brilliant scholar,
and had taken high honours at Oxford. He had a post at the Liverpool
University. She said she had felt certain he would come into the Church.
Lady Jarvis is coming here next week.
_Monday, August_ 9_th_.
We spent the whole day on the beach, reading aloud. Housman has written
to say that Mrs Carrington-Smith will insist on bringing their affairs
into court. Carrington-Smith is much worried. Mrs Housman says that Mrs
Carrington-Smith is an absurd woman.
_Tuesday, August_ 10_th._
We spent the morning at St Ives, shopping. I bought _The Pickwick
Papers_ and an old silver teapot. We sat on the beach in the afternoon,
reading _Consuelo._ After dinner Mrs Housman sang a beautiful
French-Canadian song.
_Wednesday, August_ 11_th._
Just as we were sitting down to luncheon A. walked into the room; he had
sailed here from Cowes in his yacht, which is anchored in the bay. He
could not stay to luncheon as he was lunching at the Golf Club with a
friend. Mrs Housman asked him to dinner. He accepted. He said he had
spent a most enjoyable week at Cowes in his yacht, but had not won any
races. His sister had been with him, only as she is a bad sailor she had
not enjoyed the sailing as much as he would have liked. Cunninghame has
been at Cowes for three days on board a Mr Venderling's steam yacht (an
American). A. says that he intends to spend some time here cruising
about the coast.
_Thursday, August_ 12_th._
Lady Jarvis arrived this morning. She says she thinks that if Mrs
Carrington-Smith goes into court she will get a divorce. She has
substantial evidence. Carrington-Smith is most uneasy.
A. came to luncheon and proposed that we should all go for a sail in the
afternoon together. Lady Jarvis and I declined, as we are both moderate
sailors. Mrs Housman went with him. They came back at six and she said
she had enjoyed it immensely.
_Friday, August_ 13_th_.
Mrs Housman received a telegram from Housman this morning, telling her
she must ask A. to stay here in the house. She had written to tell
him--Housman--A. was here. A. came to luncheon and Mrs Housman invited
him to stay. He said he would be pleased to do so for a few days, but
that he is due in his yacht early next week at Plymouth. Mrs Housman has
received a letter from Cunninghame, asking whether it would be
convenient for him to come next week. She has telegraphed to him that
she would be glad to receive him.
_Saturday, August_ 14_th._
The weather was so beautiful and the sea was so smooth that we were all
persuaded to go on board the yacht, where we had luncheon. We went for
a short sail in the afternoon. Although I did not feel ill I cannot say
I enjoyed it, I prefer the dry land. Lady Jarvis said she enjoyed it
greatly, although she is a bad sailor as a rule. Mrs Housman is an
excellent sailor.
_Sunday, August_ 15_th._
I am finishing _Consuelo_ by myself as we are not able to read aloud any
more. We all went for a drive in two carriages in the afternoon through
disused mines, and had tea in a farm-house.
A. says he is enjoying his holiday immensely.
Cunninghame arrives here to-morrow. We had some music in the evening.
A.'s favourite composer is Sullivan, but his favourite song is
Offenbach's _Chanson de Fortunio_, which Mrs Housman sang to-night.
_Letters from Guy Cunninghame to Mrs Caryl_
GREY FARM,
CARBIS BAY, CORNWALL,
_Tuesday, August_ 17_th._