All He Ever Wanted(77)
Your devoted,
Phillip Asher
The Hotel Thrupp
November 25, 1914
Dear Mrs. Van Tassel,
I scarcely know what to write to you this morning. Though your husband was in no way inhospitable, it was clear to me last evening that he very much minds my presence in Thrupp. Indeed, he delivered what can only be taken as an ultimatum. It has made me realize how inappropriate it is for me to continue to write to you. It causes me great sadness to have to say this, but I do not think we can continue this correspondence, innocent though it has been.
It was a pleasure to see you — however briefly — last night at your home. Permit me to say that you have grown only more lovely with the years.
Yours in affection,
Phillip Asher
Holyoke Street
November 27, 1914
Dear Mr. Asher,
I am very sorry if there was any unpleasantness between you and my husband, Nicholas. I cannot enter into that debate, nor do I wish to know any more about it. While you might be right about my husband’s distress were he to discover this correspondence, I trust I am capable of determining on my own whether or not it should continue.
Sincerely,Etna Van Tassel
The Hotel Thrupp
November 29, 1914
Dear Mrs. Van Tassel,
I did not mean to insult your independence or judgment. Forgive me if I have. But it cannot have escaped your notice that we are in possession of facts about which your husband has no knowledge. While this correspondence has been, as I say, innocent enough, the fact of it, in light of his feelings toward me, so recently revealed, cannot be entirely blameless. Nevertheless, I shall follow your lead in this matter, since I cannot presume to know your husband or your marriage as you do. Indeed, I do not know either him or it at all.
I spent most of the Thanksgiving holiday reading and taking walks. Mr. Ferald and his wife were kind enough to invite me to dine with them at their house for the Thanksgiving meal itself. Though it was only Edward and Millicent and myself, we sat at an elaborate table and partook of a feast such as I have scarcely ever seen. I should not want to sound ungrateful for their hospitality, but I did miss, at times, the noisy bustle of a meal in Exeter at our overcrowded table, and I wished I had taken the trouble to travel there and back for the duration of the holiday.
No matter. The term resumes tomorrow, and I am to deliver the fifth and final of the Kitchner Lectures on Wednesday. I shall attend now to my notes.
With perfect consideration,
Phillip Asher
The Hotel Thrupp
December 6, 1914
Dear Mrs. Van Tassel,
I do not know if this will reach you. I had occasion to speak with Gerard Moxon this morning, and he said that you had returned to Exeter. My dear Mrs. Van Tassel, what has happened? Your husband has said publicly that your sister is gravely ill and that you and the children have gone there to tend to her. If this is so, then I cannot say how sorry I am. But I must tell you that Mr. Moxon, in confidence, suggested otherwise. (It is a confidence I promise you I shall share with no one, though I cannot vouch for Mr. Moxon; he is quite innocently incapable of keeping a secret, I think.) Mrs. Van Tassel, I am unhappy for you if what Mr. Moxon says is true. Please write to me to tell me if he and I have got it wrong. I do not wish to pry in any way, and I am sure you have excellent reasons for leaving Thrupp, but if there has been a marital breach, I urge you to repair it by any means. It cannot be good for either you or the children to have been forced to leave your family home.
My distress on your account is exacerbated by the fact that your husband withdrew his candidacy for the position of Dean of Thrupp College, and I was two days ago elected to the post. I have until the eleventh of December to tender my decision. I feel I must have some word from you before I do. I pray that I have not been, in any way, responsible for either a rift between you and Professor Van Tassel or the cause of his change of heart. Please reassure me on this point, and, further, please say if you do not wish me to accept the post, tarnished as it is with the unhappy fact of your husband’s withdrawal. I should not like to take advantage of another man’s difficult situation.
Professor Van Tassel has sent round a note to all concerned saying that he relinquished any thought of the post of Dean in order to better attend to his duties as department chair. I find this difficult to credit, not only because that was a position your husband seemed to handle with ease, but also because I know how keenly he wanted the post of Dean.
Your devoted and concerned friend,
Phillip Asher
The Hotel Thrupp
December 11, 1914
Dear Mrs. Van Tassel,
I write to tell you that in the absence of any word from you, I have accepted the post of Dean of the Faculty of Thrupp College. I officially take up my duties at the start of the new term. I will shortly move out of the hotel into a rented house at 14 Gill Street, but if you should write to me between now and January 10, you may send it to the hotel, and they will forward any mail to me. I hope that you and your children are well.