A Communication to My Friends, Chapter 5

London: Nonesuch Press, 13 June 1933, pages 42-45, 997 words

V

My mother asked me if I had seen Joe and I said "Yes, he discovered me in Stephen's Green. He told me about his horses, and we talked about Parnell and the tenants that refuse to pay any rents and of things that I don't understand and don't care to understand." "That is very wrong of you, George, you should try to understand your property and manage it." "I am trying to understand my property. I cannot do more than take my agent's accounts to my solicitor, who will go through them himself first and then pass them on to a chartered accountant." "There are many ways of examining accounts, of course. A chartered accountant's business is to pick holes in accounts." "No, Mother, there is only one way of examining accounts, through a public accountant, otherwise there would be no use in having accounts. Surely that is clear to you?" My mother said, "If you wish to start a lawsuit against Joe, I wish you had never come to my house. It would have been better if you had gone to an hotel." "Indeed, Mother, I often thought that, but came because it seemed unkind not to come since you had invited me."

The bickerings continued, three weeks would have to elapse, and they passed very unpleasantly for both of us, Mother and I. There was little else in our minds. Whenever we met, if we did not speak of Joe and the accounts, our faces spoke for us, and so the time passed until at last the solicitor wrote to say that I should find him in his office at eleven o'clock one morning. My mother asked me where I was going, and I said, "I have got an appointment with the solicitor. When I return you shall hear all about it, a truthful report, Mother."

I had expected that the accountant would find many discrepancies in Joe's accounts, but he did more, he disapproved of them altogether, and told the solicitor that he would advise Mr. Moore not to sign. "And I endorse all he says," the lawyer added. "The only way to end the matter is for you to instruct me to write a letter to Mr. Blake, telling him that, under legal advice, you decline to sign the accounts." "But it will bring an action," I said. "Ah, we don't know what he will do." "Are the accounts falsified?" I asked. "I cannot go into details like that, my advice to you is not to sign the accounts." "And if l do sign the accounts, what will happen then?" "Immediately you sign the accounts Mr. Blake will ask you to mortgage your property for two or three thousand pounds. You will be a hundred and fifty a year poorer than you are to-day." "Well," I said, "I am engaged in writing a novel. One has been accepted, the other is in my head being composed day by day. I intend to give my life up to letters and it is impossible for me to do this if I engage in a lawsuit with my uncle. The lawsuit would change my life from end to end, all my ideas of things would disappear, I would no longer be myself. I don't know if you understand, but it is quite clear to me. I am sorry I cannot accept your advice. I wish to be free and the only way I can obtain freedom is to cut myself from this accursed estate.'' ''The estate is more sure than your books, Mr. Moore, though I am sure that anything you write — ". "Hush, I do not come here for compliments, I have simply come to tell you that I intend to cut myself adrift. My life will be happier and more successful." "If you are decided, here are the accounts, sign.'' I signed, and just as the solicitor had anticipated, a letter came from Joe Blake asking me to mortgage my estate for three thousand pounds, which I did, and my mother was overjoyed when I brought her the news.

"We have escaped a horrible scandal," she said, "and your books will make up the three thousand pounds quite easily. You will not be a penny the worse." "And I shall have provided the Browns and the Blakes and the Dolphins with endless gossip." "And now, George, where are you going? Will you stay longer in Dublin?" "No, I cannot afford it. I am a poorer man than I was. I must try to make up the three thousand pounds, and I can only do that in London.'' ''But who will supply you with money to live.in London?" "My financial arrangements have been completed, Mother." "And how were they completed?” "Well," I said, "the Ruttledges are our nearest neighbours and Tom Ruttledge wants to be married.'' ''You mean that fellow with long legs and a round head who smokes cigars in the drawing-room and rides steeplechases and is a disappointment to his mother? You are not thinking of giving him the agency?" "Mother, say nothing against Tom Ruttledge. I said nothing about Joe Blake when you made him my agent in my minority." "But is Tom going to advance money, and where is the money to come from?" "Tom tells me that the woods have not been thinned round Moore Hall for the last thirty years. He has had them examined by a timber merchant, who will pay four hundred pounds for the surplus trees. The woods will be not spoilt but benefited." "And you will live, George, in London for two years on four hundred pounds?" "I hope to do so. The trees of Moore Hall shall not be wasted, that I promise you, Mother, and you can live at Moore Hall as long as it pleases you and invite your friends to keep you company."