I am going to stay another week as Edith can't have me yet. George was
leaving to-day, as he has got to be at Plymouth for a regatta somewhere,
but he has put off going till to-morrow because of the weather.
I am enjoying myself immensely. I have got to like Godfrey Mellor very
much. I went for a long walk with him one afternoon. When one gets him
quite alone like that he talks quite a lot and is delightful.
Mrs Carrington-Smith _is_ going to insist on divorce.
I am going to the Shamiers' on the 1st of October. I told you they have
been lent a lodge in Scotland on the coast.
Yours etc.,
G.
_From the Diary of Godfrey Mellor_
_Monday, August_ 16_th. Grey Farm, Carbis Bay._
Cunninghame arrived late in the evening. We talked at dinner a great
deal about the likelihood of the Carrington-Smith divorce. We discussed
divorce in general. Mrs Housman was of course against divorce, but she
said that the rules of the Church were terribly hard on the individual
in many cases. She said: "We are allowed to separate."
_Tuesday, August_ 17_th._
We all went for an expedition to the Land's End.
_Wednesday, August_ 18_th_.
We all bathed in the morning. Mrs Carrington-Smith has refused to relent
in spite of Housman's attempts at mediation--apparently she found some
letters addressed by Miss Hope to her husband and Miss Hope was an
imprudent correspondent. Lady Jarvis and I wondered why people kept
letters, especially when they were compromising. Mrs Housman said she
quite understood this. She never could bring herself to burn old
letters, although she never looked at them.
_Thursday, August_ 19_th._
We had luncheon on board the yacht, but after luncheon we left A. on
board and went for a walk on the cliffs.
_Friday, August_ 20_th._
I went for a walk with Cunninghame in the afternoon. He talked a great
deal about A. He said he ought to marry. He said he thought Mrs Housman
was one of the nicest people he had ever met in his life.
_Saturday, August_ 21_st_.
Housman arrived in the evening. It poured with rain all day, so we sat
indoors. Lady Jarvis played patience. Mrs Housman played some old songs
she found in the house. There is nothing, I think, more melancholy than
old or, rather, old-fashioned music.
_Sunday, August_ 22_nd_.
Housman announced his intention of going to Mass with Mrs Housman this
morning. He said he always did so at the seaside, he thought it right to
support poor Missions. Housman said at luncheon that Father Stanway had
preached an excellent sermon. He had said in his sermon that man was a
ridiculous animal, and that every time we slip on a piece of orange-peel
or sit down on a hat by mistake, we should give thanks for the Grace of
God that is teaching us humility. In the afternoon Cunninghame and
Housman played golf. Housman lost. He says Cunninghame is a very fine
player.
_Monday, August_ 23_rd_.
Housman left for London this morning. A. leaves to-morrow for Plymouth,
but the weather is still very unsettled and it has been blowing hard,
and I wonder whether he will be able to start.
Last night after dinner Mrs Housman suggested reading aloud. A. asked
her to read some stories by an American called O. Henry, whose works
have not been published in England, and whom I had never heard of. A.
has travelled in America. Mrs Housman did so. She said she thought we
would find them difficult to understand as we did not know America. We
did, that is to say, Cunninghame and myself. But A. was greatly amused,
and Lady Jarvis said she thought they were clever.
_Tuesday, August_ 24_th._
It is still blowing hard and A. has put off going to Plymouth
altogether, as he would not get there in time for the regatta.
Cunninghame and A. played golf to-day with a retired Indian General, who
lives in a house about three miles from here. His name is York. They
brought him back to tea, a brisk, direct man. He said something about
his wife and Mrs Housman asked if she might call on her. General York
said they would be delighted.
More O. Henry was read out in the evening. I prefer Mrs Housman's
readings in French literature. A. enjoyed it immensely.
_Wednesday, August_ 25_th._
Mrs Housman called on Mrs York this afternoon. Mrs York greeted her with
the words: "This is very unusual." Mrs Housman did not understand what
was unusual. Mrs York said she did not recollect having called. She was
the oldest inhabitant and had discovered the place. Mrs Housman
apologised. She has asked the General and Mrs York to luncheon on
Sunday.
_Thursday, August_ 26_th._
Cunninghame played golf with the General. I went for a walk with Lady
Jarvis in the afternoon. She talked of a great many things; of music
and musical education abroad. She considers Mrs Housman a fine artist.
She talked of A., of his work and mine and my prospects for the future.
I told her I enjoyed routine work and had no ambition to do anything
else. She talked of marriage. She said A. ought certainly to marry soon
as he would be very lonely otherwise. His sister, Mrs Campion, could not
look after him, as she had her own children to look after. Her eldest
daughter would soon be out. She asked me whether I had ever thought of
marrying. She is a most intelligent and agreeable woman.
_Friday, August_ 27_th._
A. was obliged to go to Penzance to-day for the day. We all went for a
walk in the afternoon. It is finer and quite warm, but the sea is still
very rough. Mrs Housman received a letter from Mrs York this morning
saying that she was unable to come to luncheon on Sunday, but that she
had no doubt the General would accept the invitation with pleasure. Mrs
Housman wrote back to say she would be delighted to see the General on
Sunday.
The O. Henry book is finished. Mrs Housman is now reading us some
stories by another American author, Richard Harding Davis. I wish she
would return to European literature. But A. enjoys these American books.
_Saturday, August_ 28_th._
The wind has gone down and A. went out sailing. Cunninghame played golf.
Mrs Housman spent the day at a convent which is some miles off, and she
did not come down to dinner.
Lady Jarvis took me into the town in the morning, and in the afternoon
we went for a drive. We had no reading in the evening.
_Sunday, August_ 29_th._
General York did not come to luncheon after all, he wrote a note
excusing himself. Mrs Housman went to Mass in the morning. A. and
Cunninghame played golf. Mrs Housman read out loud a story by Kipling
after dinner. I wonder what an E.P. tent means.
_Letter from Guy Cunninghame to Mrs Caryl_
GREY FARM, CARBIS BAY,
_August_ 30_th._