Yours,
FRED
THE VICAR OF RUNCHESTER TO SPINLOVE
My dear James, 7.6.26.
We were all most pleased to hear from you again, as it seems a very long time since you wrote either to your Aunt or to myself.
Patience, my dear boy, patience! Nothing is to be gained by hasty action of any kind. As you have often heard, no doubt, to forgive all is to understand and—or rather the other way about; and your wish not to quarrel with your employer, but to do the right thing, is highly commendable and just what your aunt and I would expect of you. Be not cast down; fight the good fight, and above all, as Hamlet says, “To your own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day that thou canst not then be false to any man.”
I think if I were you I should be inclined to send Sir Lindsay Brosh a small token of esteem—a brace of trout if you happen to be fishing, or a souvenir of your recent travels; or failing these, possibly a copy of my Pensées from Parnassus, which I shall be glad to autograph and send you for this purpose. The fact that the author is a near relative would give the gift the character of a spontaneous expression of goodwill.
We gather from your letter that you are unaware that your aunt was seriously indisposed for several weeks during the winter.
Your affectionate uncle,
With all respect to the Vicar, Hamlet does not speak the words quoted and, though the maxim is admirable of its kind, it is not the kind of maxim Spinlove wants.
However valuable advice on technical points and on questions of principle may be, it is worse than useless for Spinlove to ask for direction in matters touching his personal relations with others. He must brace himself to draw the decision from his own Inwards, where alone it is to be found. To turn to friends, as he here- does, is to turn tail and to confirm the indecision he seeks to escape. He expects others to understand conflicting reactions of his own soul which he cannot himself interpret.
Neither Dalbet nor Uncle Harold the Vicar has made any attempt to put himself in the supplicant’s shoes, but—as can only be expected—they show themselves much more concerned to adopt a pose flattering to their own self-esteem than to solve Spinlove’s difficulty. Even if they were in possession of the whole history, and succeeded in identifying themselves with Spinlove’s plight, the quarrel would be theirs and not his, for their individualities are different; and, for the same reason, their advice, however sound for themselves, would be valueless for him. The boisterous, good-humoured resentment of Dalbet, and the ingratiating affability of the Vicar, might meet their respective cases excellently had Brash become involved with them; but it would be wildly inappropriate for Spinlove either to tell Brash to go to blazes or to present him with a copy of uncle’s new book.
No one can help Spinlove. So far from getting help from his friends, their letters can only increase his perplexity and aggravate his indecision. By yielding to the impulse to ask advice at all, he surrendered not only his belief in himself, but his power to decide; and he has allowed a shrinking admission of defeat to fill days which should have been applied to arriving at a decision.
BRASH TO SPINLOVE
Dear Mr. Spinlove 9.6.26.
May I be permitted to apprise you that I have received no communication from you anent my urgent request for an immediate appointment.
Yours sincerely,
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir, 7.6.26.
Our Mr. Tobias, chief prime-costing, will call at your office with vouchers, etc., at 11 on Wednesday, for the purpose of going into the account with you, as arranged over phone.
Yours faithfully,
Their Mr. Tobias will not be able to give Spinlove the sort of information he chiefly needs. A builder’s prime-costing clerk deals only with the pricing and collection into the account of workmen’s time-sheets and merchants’, storekeeper’s, carters’, and other vouchers allocated to it by the foreman and others. What Spinlove chiefly wants is the authority, or justification, for the various extra charges. Bloggs, the foreman, could give him the facts; but Bloggs, of course, is now in charge of other work, and perhaps far afield.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 10.6.26.
I have not replied to your letter as I have expected that on reflection you would wish to withdraw it.
Yours sincerely,
This is a capital move. The evasion is neatly managed and Brash is warned, and in such a way as to encourage him to reconsider his position.
BRASH TO SPINLOVE
Dear Mr. Spinlove, 11.6.26.
I was taken aback with natural surprise on receipt of your communication. I indited my protest in terms which the circumstances suitably warranted, and you must permit me to remind you that it is yourself I have to thank for the necessity of doing so. I consider that the suggestion of withdrawal, though it might meet the very natural desires of a professional gentleman in your situation, is not one that is properly appropriate to the occasion, and I must request an adequately complete reply without further delay.
Yours sincerely,
P.S.—I shall be obliged if you will transmit a copy of my letter as I omitted to make a transcription of it.
Brash has had eight days in which to calm down. He seems to have written his offending letter in an hour of liver-inspired fury, and has quite forgotten what he said. Spinlove ought to be able to find his cue here. It is unfortunate Brash kept no copy of his letter or he would probably have accepted Spinlove’s invitation to withdraw.
SPINLOVE ON EXTRAS
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 12.6.26.
As you ask, I enclose copy of your letter, and in accordance with your instructions reply to it as completely as I can.
In disparaging my concern for the large total of the extras, you forget that that concern was not on my own account but on yours, and also that it is not I who am responsible for the figure, but yourself. I warned you at the beginning that if you interfered with the work the extras would mount up, and that it would be impossible for me to keep control of the cost if you gave orders direct to the builders. You paid no attention to the warning, and now wish to saddle me with the consequences of having ignored my advice.
The value of the kitchen alteration is a question of fact to be ascertained by the quantity surveyors, and I am no more responsible for the cost of the work than I am for the ordering of it, as a moment’s reflection will surely show you. The amount is an approximate figure, because the exact figure has still to be ascertained.
I regret that I misjudged the probable cost of piping the ditch, and I think that, on examination, Grigblay’s figure will be found to be in error; but I did not “quote” for the work. What I did was all that any architect can offer to do, namely, to give his opinion of probable cost. Only the builder quotes (i.e. estimates or tenders), and in this case Mr. Grigblay was not called on to do so, as you did not ask for an estimate. The exact cost will be proved by vouchers recording the time and materials expended on the work, which the quantity surveyor will embody in the account when I have examined and certified them as properly to be included in it.
It is such vouchers as these, furnished by the builder, that I referred to when I spoke of “explanations.” Your assumption that I used the word in a sense that made it idiotic, instead of in an exact technical sense, can only be explained by an intention to affront me.
Other items you mention it will be necessary for me to see you about, for, as the works they refer to were ordered without my knowledge, I have naturally little knowledge of them.
The £300 contingencies was cut down to £100 in order to reduce the tender to a reasonable figure; and -this sum and the saving on the well, and certain other credits, have been set off, in the brief summary. I sent you, against the cost of other works that became necessary. [Ahem!] The final Statement of Account will be laid before you when I receive it. I am not responsible for the delay, which is due to intricacies arising from the many e
xtras and variations ordered by yourself.
The extras on wiring, radiators, water supply and drains are due to extensions and alterations of completed work ordered by you or by Lady Brash, or made necessary by interferences with other work, and they have nothing whatever to do with me. The extras on fittings is the excess of the cost of goods you yourself chose after I had informed you of the provisional a-mounts included in the contract to cover them.
Your aspersions on Mr. Grigblay are, so far, as I know, without any kind of justification; and you have, I think, had abundant opportunities during the past two years of forming a very different opinion of him.
I think, Sir Leslie, that you wrote in haste and in anger, and that you will wish to make amends for references to myself which seem to me openly contemptuous and intended for no other purpose than to affront me. In that confidence, I will here merely say that, however mean an opinion you may hold of my capacities, I think I am entitled to a chance of explaining technical matters before being abused because you yourself do not happen to understand them.
Yours sincerely,
This is a remarkable letter for Spinlove to have written; but although some of his explanations are thin, we have before noticed that he always comes out strongest when his indignation is involved. We have also observed Mr. Spinlove to be a temperamental person, torn by conflicting impulses of vanity and prudence, in whom self-control is schooled by terror. Here, however, we find him expressing himself forcibly, as the circumstances require, but with restraint and cool purpose, and enough of courtesy—in presuming good intentions in his opponent—as to rob the frankness of his retort of offensiveness. This letter of Spinlove’s, however, as well as that to which it replies, has a colour foreign to professional correspondence: they suggest a quarrel between men whose relations are proof against frank interchanges.
BRASH TO SPINLOVE
My dear Mr. Spinlove, 13.6.26.
I certainly was not aware of the asperity of language into which my natural rancour at the very inflated extortions of Mr. Grigblay betrayed me, and I desire to entirely withdraw my disparaging inferences anent yourself, which I greatly regret and for which I offer you my profuse apologies. They certainly are such as I had no intention of intimating, nor do they represent my opinion; in fact, I have to regretfully admit that I wrote hastily and in a moment of heated indignation, and I hope you will entirely eliminate from your mind all memory of my accidental and quite unpremeditated lapse from discreet language.
As regards the various matters expounded in your communication, I still consider that your elucidation is—if you will permit me to say so—very far from completely satisfactory, and it is imperatively desirable that I should discuss the whole aspect of the situation with you.
I enclose cheque for £270 further on account of your fees. You will comprehend that until some explanation of the inflated sum upon which the percentage is computed was forthcoming, this disbursement was not one I could reasonably contemplate.
Yours sincerely,
It is to be noticed that by putting himself in the wrong in one matter, and having to make a withdrawal, Brash has disorganized his whole line, and is even reduced to paying up as a step towards re-establishing his fortifications. This, however, is not the first occasion when Brash has justified Dalbet’s original description of him as a “real good sort.” He here again reveals himself as a man whose foibles overlie generous instincts.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 15.6.26.
Many thanks indeed for your extremely kind letter. I need not tell you what very great pleasure it gave me. Of course, I am delighted to accept your apology and withdrawal, and will now forget all about the matter-in fact, I have already put it entirely out of my mind, and I am only sorry I felt obliged to make the protest, although I feel sure you will realize I could scarcely avoid doing so or I should not, I need hardly say, have put you to so much trouble.
I confirm appointment with your clerk by telephone to-day to see you here on Wednesday morning next. I shall before then have discussed matters with the builder.
I enclose form of receipt for cheque, for which I am much obliged.
Yours sincerely,
This is much more like the Spinlove of old acquaintance.
A SANITARY CONSULTANT
BRASH TO SPINLOVE
Dear Mr. Spinlove, 14.6.26.
I write to intimate that some weeks ago a medical practitioner, called in to attend a member of the domestic staff who had developed asthmatic symptoms, informed Lady Brash that attacks of this disorder may be provoked by defective sanitary provisions. This practitioner is not our own medical adviser, but is employed by me to minister to the domestic staff, and since his responsibilities are small his fees are, of course, low; but I understand he has good credentials and is well thought of by the local population, among whom—and this is of special import—he must have gained exceptional experience of the effect of obnoxious effluviums. His statement to Lady Brash has, therefore—you will not be surprised to hear—definitely established my most unfavourable prognostications.
As you had previously intimated inability to determine what curative measures to adopt, and Mr. Grigblay had no recommendations to propose, I communicated with Messrs. Quince and Jarrad, Consulting Sanitary Specialists. These gentlemen are employed, by certain of my acquaintances, and also by Royalty and by members of the aristocracy, and any opinion of theirs is accordingly conclusively final. Mr. Jarrad attended to the matter himself personally, and made exhaustively thorough explorations and tests, and I enclose his report. I make no comment of any kind whatever. The report is exactly what I expected; the sanitary work has been disgracefully badly done, and will have to be drastically renovated—however, I will make no comment. My architect has failed me, the builder, instructed and supervised by him, has defrauded me, and it is a providential mercy that we are all alive and in relatively good health to-day; but, as I say, I make no comment, but confine myself to requesting you to read the report (enclosed)—simply to read what these authoritative experts say of our sanitary provisions, and then to favour me with explicit assurances that the necessary renovations will be put in hand at once, and of the date when they will be completed, as it will be necessary to vacate the house while the work is being performed. No doubt you may wish also to offer some observations justly appropriate to the occasion.
As the necessity for employing the services of Messrs. Quince and Jarrad was due to remission of care on the part of Mr. Grigblay in performing his duties, and his refusal to give attention to the emendation of defects, I shall most certainly deduct their fee of twenty guineas from the next payment due to Mr. Grigblay.
Yours sincerely,
We may conclude that under pressure from Lady Brash the doctor yielded the admission that defective drains may precipitate attacks of asthma in a person subject to them.
(ENCLOSURE) QUINCE AND JARRAD TO BRASH
Sir, 12.6.26.
We have the honour to say that in accordance with your instructions we visited Honeywood Grange on the 3rd of this month and made an exhaustive examination of the sanitary works, and now have the pleasure to enclose our Report.
We have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient servants,
At first glance, this letter might be a command to attend a State function at Buckingham Palace. It is beautifully typed in green on an exquisite linen paper self-edged like a bank note, and is headed in embossed gold lettering with an address adjoining Cavendish Square and with the statement that Messrs. Godolphin Quince and Hartington Jarrad are Consulting Sanitary Specialists, Patronized by Royalty and by the Nobility and Gentry.
The report covered by the letter extends to seven typed foolscap sheets, with a printed heading reproducing the intelligence gilded on the letter, and stating, in italics, that passages typed in red are so rendered in order to call attention to them. A glance shows that these red letterings all refer to points to which Messrs. Quince a
nd Jarrad take exception; that there are a considerable number of such passages; and that, for greater emphasis, they are all typed in capitals.
The report is evidently based on an exhaustive survey and is the skilled work of men of highly specialized knowledge and wide experience in a restricted field, but while Spinlove’s task was to provide Honeywood with a well-devised and soundly-executed drainage system that was in no way unnecessarily costly, Quince and Jarrad pursue a fantastic ideal of theoretic perfection in which expense has no consideration. With that qualification, and except that it makes no allowance for those differences of opinion which exist in the theory and practice of sanitation, as in everything else, and confines itself to adverse criticism, the report is fair. It does not, however, except by implication, say what should be done to meet the objections raised; for the reason, no doubt, that Messrs Quince and Jarrad were not asked to reconstruct Honeywood’s drains, but only to report on them.
There would be no purpose in here reproducing the report, which describes, first, the system Spinlove has adopted; second, the la layout of the drains; and third, every detail of the work. It is the passages typed in red which have scared Brash and will trouble his architect and which alone concern us, and as Spinlove has to meet these criticisms, we may expect to learn all we want to know of them from future letters.
(PERSONAL) SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Mr. Grigblay, 15.6.26.
I am much disturbed to receive the enclosed letter and report of Quince and Jarrad from Sir Leslie Brash. They make out that everything is wrong. Will you read and let me know what you make of it all?
Honeywood Settlement Page 8