Langroyd
Chatswood
Sydney
(Monday) 10 March 1913
My dearest Dolly
There is practically nothing to tell you this mail as I have been staying with Mrs Todd & have not been out any night.
As I told you in my last I have appointed Orr as our agent here so some day you will have the pleasure of meeting him as he is bound to go home in the course of three or four years. I have invited him to come & stay with us when he does get home & am sure you will not mind.
There are no end of difficulties in the way of settling up the estate of the late Mr Todd. In the first place his will cannot be found anywhere – it is known that he made one.
The consequence is that nothing can be done at present, as far as paying all debts. He was not a wealthy man but he owned three properties & they are worth roughly about £3,500 but if Mrs Todd can possibly manage to hold on & not sell it is advisable to do so especially as they are bound to increase in value as time goes on. One of the houses will have to be sold I am afraid as there is an overdraft of £750 that will have to be wiped out. If Clifford had lived another two years he would have been a wealthy man as things were prospering remarkably. He had sunk a lot of money into a business for making cushion covers & in due course he would have drawn £250 a year out of it. He was a strong financial man & now he is gone I am doubtful as to whether the business will succeed. I hope so for Mrs Todd’s sake.
I wonder why I am writing like this. I have missed you more than ever this last week & I wanted to talk to you. I realised again what you mean to me & I regretted again that you were not with me. However it can’t be helped & we must each fight separately for a little longer.
I cancelled my berth on the Suevic as I knew I should have to stay here a little longer & really sweetheart if you felt as I do for Mrs Todd you would agree that I have done the right thing. From a selfish point of view I could have caught the Suevic but I should have been miserable & my conscience would have pricked me if I had left them to fight alone. Somehow or other Mrs Todd relies on me a tremendous lot as I knew all of Cliff’s affairs & what he wished.
I am staying on another fortnight to help her & then I must go. Possibly you will hear from someone that I have been ill suffering from the heat. I shall just mention casually next week that owing to the excessive heat I have been unable to attend to business, but instead I am going to do as much as I can for Mrs Todd before I leave. Twig? Mum’s the word
On Wednesday night last some lady came in to see Mrs Todd & stayed rather a long time. Thursday Mr Moss the man who taught Cliff his business came along & stayed an hour. Friday Mr & Mrs Ray & Mr & Mrs Orritt came. Saturday no one came so we all played patience. We had 7¾ inches of rain on Saturday, so you can imagine the state of the streets & country generally. Hundreds of people were washed out & ruined. In addition we had a gas strike all last week & we had to use candles & lamps if they were to be obtained. This is a great country for strikes. The working classes are demanding a six hour day & no work on Saturday & a minimum wage of £2 – 15 – 0. Did you ever hear of such twaddle. When I tell men here that they don’t know what work is they get annoyed with me but men who have been home admit that what I say is correct.
Poor Frieda is fretting very much & it is hard work to make her buck up. Alder is a little bit too young to realise what the death of his father means.
I have booked my passage by the Themistocles – the same boat I came out on – sailing from Fremantle on the 17th April. I cabled home last week for all letters to be sent to Perth until further instructions & for you to be informed. I do not know nor have I the faintest idea when I shall get home.
Just think – in the ordinary course of events I should have sailed home tomorrow. Man proposes, God disposes. It is utterly useless for me to state a date when I shall get home but you may rest assured I shall come as quickly as possible & rush things in Africa. There is this advantage that all the time I am away my salary is going on & it is being saved much quicker than it was at home. Consequently our marriage will be sooner than if I was at home.
If it is at all humanly possible I want you to make your arrangements so that in another eighteen months, that is twelve months next September at the latest you will be ready. I do not want to wait another day longer than that date but something may crop up in the interval.
Anyway that is the time I am aiming for & I want you to do the same. Naturally if it can be managed sooner so much the better. Heavens but I do want you.
Frieda & Alder have chaffed me most unmercifully & have drawn lurid pictures of me walking down the aisle. We have had a lot of fun & I have chaffed them back. They are all disappointed that the trip home to which they were looking forward so much is postponed indefinitely. I do not think there is any doubt about them coming eventually but it will not be for five or six years.
Did I tell you that when Dr Mac made his speech up at Cliff’s for my farewell do he called for three cheers for me, then three cheers for you & then a cheer for all the little Smiths. Well Alder & Frieda have teased the life out of me & they think (so they say) that I shall forget all about them as soon as I get home. I don’t think so.
When Mac came up last Sunday I went to meet him at the station & he grabbed me & said ‘Hello Smithy let’s have a look at you’ & dragged me to a lump. I asked why & he told me that the difference in my face was very big from when he had last seen me & when he came up to the Falls to see Cliff. In plain language he was afraid the shock would have knocked me out. I recovered though at the same time it was a nasty experience & simply because I happened to be there that is the reason Mrs Todd is so anxious for me to stay, as I was & am one of the family.
There is nothing really further to write about. This is a rambling letter & I have just jotted down my thoughts as they came along.
You might let me know what you think of my proposals on pages 6 & 7.
I have just had a word or two with uncle Alfred – we didn’t discuss any leading questions but just had an ordinary general conversation.
I have not received any letters this mail because they are all at Perth awaiting my arrival but I wired for them to be sent on & I expect them in the course of another 4 days.
Until next week sweetest & dearest & with all my love
Yours for all time
Harry
Mrs Todd is to take 50% of the profits & Orr the other 50%. In addition he gets £300 as a salary but it is particularly decent of him to give Mrs T anything at all. You can judge from this what a fine character he is.
Will you please tell Mother quietly about the heat dodge as she may hear elsewhere & it would worry her. I do not wish my brothers or father to know.
Much love dearie.