Scope and Content
"You must think I am very rude for not acknowledging receipt of the Beds. Journal, and your letter, before this. Two months have passed since I received them. But I was away up in Yorkshire for some time in June: and this month I have been in London a good deal, in between entertaining people here, and I am faced with a pile of arrears in letters.
But first, I expect you read about the tragedy which burst upon us two weeks ago. I don't think you saw the house down the road where the murdered man Horace Lindsay lived. But Mr. & Mrs. Fantle were my immediate neighbours, and we were great friends. We all knew Lindsay was paying court to Mrs. Fantle (an attractive blonde, as the papers put it) in the absence of her husband (a Global Tour courier), but pretended not to! Once can never judge these affairs in the absence of complete evidence: but the men here agree that Fantle could have avoided bringing misery on many people (especially his son Paul, a very nice lad of 14 at Christ's Hospital) by simply giving Lindsay a good thrashing instead of putting bullets into him. Everyone liked Mrs. Fantle. She and I were very good friends. She is cultured and kind - but I think she was led away by Lindsay's wealth. Fantle himself is really a Czek, and the background is not very tidy. When he married Mrs. F. (she was 20, and he 36) he divorced his wife in Czechoslovakia. Mrs. F.'s mother divorced her husband, and then "re-married" another Czek (Fantle's friend) 15 years her junior! He is in the RAF near Cambridge and she with him. They have a flat here, which they visit occasionally, and let at other times. Mrs. F.'s father likewise "re-married" and lives at S.Ives. Lindsay was separated from his wife, pending a divorce. And we hear that Mrs. F. had told her husband she wanted to divorce him and marry Lindsay. So you see it's a pretty set-up all round!
The trial comes on in Sept. Mrs. F. went into hiding immediately the news burst, and so far the press have not found her. We had them here in full force.
Referring to your letter, there are many points to answer. The leafless trees of last year made a wonderful recovery. They began to bud lower down the branches and trunks, so the result is they are much thicker, but the bare treetops protrude above: I expect they will moult eventually. My lavender is making a wonderful show: quite submerged the hydrangeas I planted last autumn.
I too visited the Planetarium in London: but it was a warm afternoon and I had been walking a lot: I grieve to say I slept through most of the lecture!
I did a good deal of exploring in the City, with the help of Mrs. Robert Henrey's latest book "The Virgin of Aldermanbury". The rebuilt City churches - especially St. Bride's, Fleet St. and S.Lawrence Jewry - are beautiful. And these enormous cliffs of offices are impressive. It is exhilarating to hear the building going on everywhere. The new altar in S.Paul's is a vast improvement on the old: but I cannot take to S.Paul's. It has no religious atmosphere whatever, to me. i feel different in the Abbey, in spite of the crowds surging everywhere. If you are round that way, do visit the Jewel Tower (opposite the big tower of the House of Lords) recently revealed, with its charming little moat with goldfish. It's free admittance, incidentally! The Crown Jewels were kept there in mediaeval times.
Adam Stavert (at Sandhurst) wrote to me a short time ago. His father is home from India, and they are all now at their ancestral home, Hoscote Hall, Hawick. I was hoping to take my new car on its maiden voyage there: but I have changed my mind, cancelled the order for the Gazelle, and substituted a Metropolitan 1500, the new Austin car made for the American market, and now available here. But I don't know when I shall get it. I also cancelled the order for the yacht: or, rather, it had been sold when Frank and I got on the scene: it was secondhand. So I am not bothering about it. Yes, I still have the little villa at Villefranche - it is let to some French friends until I make up my mind about it. Sometimes, when I get tired of waiting for the sun to shine, I determine to go and live there and let THIS flat: but I feel very much that this is home, and that is just a place on the Riviera. And I keep improving things here.
My "cousins" are here. Anne and her friend Margaret are sharing a room in Frank's flat. Christine is sharing here with me. I was all for this arrangement when Frank suggested it. It will give Anne a chance to show her domestic side. She and Margaret are cooking etc. for Frank. I think they will make a "go" of it eventually. But Anne is under contract for another year as games mistress at Polam Hall Girls' School, Darlington. She says she will finish there then, and think she will come south. Margaret is games mistress at a London school. But I think Frank will take the plunge then! I think they are well matched - both very calm, sensible young people. I can't help feeling frivolous when they are about, they seem so proper! We have been down on the beach today - the two PT mistresses keep me on my toes playing ball with them - very cold swimming in the sea. Sydney Crouch was here last week.
Miss Florence Eagles' will and affairs have now been settled at last. I have to provide for her two sisters during their lifetime, but the capital falls to me on their death. Constance, who lives alone at Kempston, is 88. Ada, who now lives at Maidstone, is 86. And both apparently, in excellent health! It was always the wish of Florence and Di (they have been allowing them an income for many years) that they would get together and live under one roof: but apparently they quarrel. I have never seen Ada: and Constance only twice, when she came to see Florence at Roehampton, and again at the funeral. They are remarkable old ladies. You must admit I've made up for my negligence by the length of this letter.
Yours sincerely"