I have just come back from Rosedale. There is no one there except
Godfrey. Lady Jarvis told us that Mrs Housman has finished the first
period you told me about, and has taken the veil, though it isn't
irrevocable yet, but for all intents and purposes it is, as we are all
certain now that she will never leave the Convent. You know what I think
about it. I haven't changed my mind, but Lady Jarvis doesn't disapprove,
or is too loyal to say so.
George knows, he is going to Ireland with his sister.
I can't help thinking it is all a great, a wicked mistake, and I can't
help still thinking it _selfish_.
George talked about Mrs Housman, at least he just alluded to her having
become a nun, as if it were a fact and quite irrevocable. He said: "Once
the priests get hold of someone they will never let them go, and in this
case it was a regular conspiracy." But somehow or other this did not
seem to me to ring quite true, from _him_, and I felt he was using this
as a shield or a disguise or mask. I said so to Godfrey, but found it
impossible to get any response. He won't talk about it.
Yours,
G.
_From the Diary of Godfrey Mellor_
_Sunday, August_ 26_th. Carbis Bay Hotel_.
I have come down here to spend a week by myself. It is three years ago
since I came here for the first time to stay with Mr and Mrs Housman.
I hesitated about coming down here again, but I am now glad that I did
so.
I went to Father Stanway's church this morning and heard him preach. He
is a good preacher, clear and unaffected. He quoted two sayings which
struck me. One was about going away from earthly solace, and the other I
cannot remember well enough to transcribe, but I have written him a post
card asking who said them and where I could find them.
In the afternoon I went for a walk alone along the cliffs and passed the
place where we began _Les Misérables_. I am re-reading it, not where we
left off, but from the beginning.
_Monday, August_ 27_th_.
Father Stanway called this morning while I was out. He has left me the
quotations on a card.
They are both from Thomas à Kempis. One of them is this: "By so much the
more does a man draw nigh to God as he goes away from all earthly
solace." The other: "Whosoever is not ready to suffer all things and to
stand resigned to the will of his beloved is not worthy to be called a
lover."
_Tuesday, August_ 28_th_.