Читать книгу Lost Voices of the Edwardians: 1901–1910 in Their Own Words - Max Arthur, Max Arthur - Страница 118

I won a scholarship to Giggleswick – which relieved my mother of any further worry about school fees. What a joy after Seafield! A swim every morning in the cold swimming pool, Greek with dear old Hammond, Latin with Douglas, Maths with the genial Clark, French with Neumann – who took a fancy to me and gave me books until I was warned not to let him get too friendly. In those days nobody talked about homosexuality, bachelorship was a common occurrence. In fact, my final year at school was clouded by the ‘Jepson Affair’. Douglas Jepson was a keen cricketer who used to practise with me in the nets. I also shared a study with him and he developed a sort of ‘pash’ on me. Stupidly, I did not nip it in the bud and he became jealous and possessive and estranged many of my friends. Hindsight tells me that this was homosexuality, but at the time I was bewildered. He used to say, ‘Can I come and stay with you and perhaps marry one of your sisters?’ He did come too, but my sisters would have nothing to do with him.