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University of Edinburgh headed notepaper - There has been a great improvement [in Grettie's condition] since Sir Edward Schafer recommended they try Haydn Brown; she has had four hour-long, and is still very sceptical, crediting improvement to use of her spectacles, but Tovey is confident. 'Freud & Jung are the crudest of pioneers compared to this man's technique'. Brown has written 'several queer & apparently bumptious popular books' which he thinks give a false idea, but he recommends that Tovey read "Advanced Suggestion". Brown has prejudices including 'Germans & pacifists' but 'his technique is too good for that to interfere'. Suggests that he may be able to help Julian

Merton College, Oxford. - Notes in the address that he is at the Congress of Universities, 'all incontrovertible talk & academic millinery'; his hired gown is 'a most appetising strawberries-&-cream affair'. Is 'very unsettled in plans and mind'. Unlikely that he will be able to get to the Shiffolds again this summer, and is going to try to organise time abroad from which he could come back at once if necessary. Dr Haydn Brown is sure he can cure Grettie if she will see him, and Tovey must do what he can to accomplish this; her relatives are 'quietly behaving in the most abominable way'. Has got a letter from her aunt Mary which will justify him 'in the most drastic measures which may be necessary' to keep the family away if Grettie ever returns. They deny she has been ill, except as a consequence of Tovey 'being impossible to live with' and claim that he is trying to 'get her shut up on false imputation of insanity'. However, all documentary evidence shows only his 'loyalty and care for her reputation as well as her health'. They support 'poor G.'s ravings', which alarmed the Principal's wife so much that she did not invite him to a recent lunch of Deans of Faculties, and told Mrs Morley Fletcher why. Tovey feels the 'only salvation' for his wife is to spread the story that what she says is 'the delusions of a fever' so it will be forgotten when she is cured, whether she comes back to Tovey or not. Asks if Johannes [Röntgen] has gone to Switzerland; he may possibly go there himself, and if so hopes to see Johannes and 'the future Mrs J.R.'.

University of Edinburgh headed notepaper. - Asks Bessie to talk to Dr Haydn Brown before she commits herself to helping Grettie further: she has no idea of 'the danger of the present action', nor of 'the uncontrollable mischief poor Grettie may... make of any confidence' Bessie has ever shown her. Has told Brown that he wants Bessie to talk to him, asks her not to tell Grettie she is seeing him: 'what she dislikes is not persons as such, but she dislikes being found out'. Bessie must not give Grettie any hint of Tovey's intentions: even if she were trustworthy, her family are not, and it was 'a vulgar little shark' [crossed out text seems to suggest this was a lawyer] who came with Hugh Cameron to see Tovey at Hedenham.

University of Edinburgh headed notepaper. - Thanks Bessie for the letter. Is very glad his wife has friends among his friends, but warns her that Grettie 'will tell each person just what that person will... believe'; her guesses are shrewd, as when she guessed Bessie would think Tovey wants Haydn Brown 'to change her feelings'. A 'doctor doesn't take instructions like a solicitor', but Tovey's would have been for Brown to make Grettie well and 'establish her sanity'; he would then accept her decision; if Brown cannot, Tovey must have it established that he himself 'can do no more'. Believes that stage has been reached, and his responsibility ceases. His wife has been telling different stories to different people: Tovey asks if she told Bessie, as she did Mrs Sklovsky [Lucy Romain], that Dr Haig Ferguson had signed a statement saying the operation he carried out 'was necessitated by injuries originally inflicted by [Tovey]'. Dr Haig Ferguson of course 'flatly denies it'. Grettie also wrote to E. S. P. Haynes, whom she consulted not knowing he was a Balliol friend of Tovey's. Insists that he is not blaming Grettie, but pointing out 'her lack of moral responsibility, & the extreme danger of being misled by her'. Cannot say what he intends to do until he has seen his lawyer, Guthrie, and Bessie will be in a better position towards Grettie if she does not know what he plans. The action taken by Grettie through Messrs Freke Palmer, 'rather a Horatio Bottomley sort of firm', if not defended or if won by her, would leave Tovey 'on record as incapable of marriage', which he denies. Whatever he does will be 'in camera', but he must protect himself against the 'dangerous state of affairs' if he let 'things slide'; has already shown he will consider Grettie's interests.

University of Edinburgh headed notepaper. - Has just seen Bessie's letter dated the 5th, which seems to have been written earlier than the one he answered before. Encourages her to see Haydn Brown before she gets 'further involved in Grettie's doings': if the situation is dealt with in exactly the right manner this 'may cause her to behave nobly' and build up 'a healthy foundation for the future' for her, but any mistake may push her to take the 'bad line' of her current lawyers, which could end 'in a bad asylum crash'. The action brought against Tovey is 'impossible', and he must not only defend it but bring one of his own: must respond to the lie that he is 'not fit for marriage' by claiming that it is Grettie who is not fit; she knows it, Tovey can prove it, and will do so 'if driven'. She should withdraw her action and leave his undefended, but telling her so directly may push her towards 'a bad adventure'. Advises that she ask Grettie in a non-committal fashion what she would do if Tovey brought an action for annulment against her, and help her to the right answer if she can. Grettie 'is very mischievous when she is found out': this is not spite, but a serious warning that Bessie could not help her, as she did at the Shiffolds in 1917, without 'saying confidential things' that would then be 'at the mercy of people.... can do very grave mischief'. The 'unmasking of her plausibility is dangerous to her' as it 'drives her to extremes' and may lead to a crash in health. Begs Bessie to show this letter to Haydn Brown when she sees him; he may be able to help her to 'save' Grettie, but certainly will not advise that she should come back to Tovey.

19 Kensington Park Road, W.11. - Yes, she is trying to keep to Trevelyan's divisions of the lines [in his play "The Bride of Dionysus"] as much as possible, except when it would sound completely senseless in German: she wants it to make it 'as good poetry & good German' as she can and her first version, 'before its wings got clipped everywhere', is best in that respect. Asks if she should send [Max?] Reinhardt Trevelyan's work, telling him of her translation and asking if it could possibly be performed at his theatre; supposes Tovey would have no objection. Thanks Trevelyan for sending Tovey's letter, which she returns; his 'anxious and passionate hopefulness' [about his wife] is pitiful; hopes 'he may do her good, but it sounds a difficult case', and the worry cannot be good for his work. Enjoyed the Schubert and Debussy concerts, and is looking forward to the d'Aranyis. Wonders if Trevelyan has read Hayden Brown's book [Haydn Brown, "Advanced Suggestion: Neuroinduction" ?] and what he thought of it.

The Pantiles, Englefield Gren, Surrey. - Asks Trevelyan to send Haydn Brown's "Advanced Suggestion" to Charles Guthrie, as it is 'wanted for legal cases'. Does not know when his case [the divorce from his first wife] 'is coming off': his 'hair came off long ago'.