Letter, Steward of the North House to a Steward at Orchard

Dear Ruth —

You ask whether to write to him again. No. He was written to in April, in the ordinary way, and he has not answered. No second asking is made. That is not coldness; it is the only way an invitation can be an invitation.

I know you think he would be glad of us. You may be right. It does not signify. If he comes to an open evening in ten years he will be received, and nothing will follow from it unless he wants it to.

As to the enquiry from the school: requests of that kind are not presently received at Orchard, and you should say so plainly rather than let it sit. An honest no is answered in the ordinary way; a silence is not.

Difficult weather here since the summer, and I will not pretend otherwise. The rotas are being kept, which is the main thing.

— A.O.