A s a youth I had it pointed out to me on many occasions that anyone can make a mistake - but only a fool makes the same mistake twice. As this is now a more or less universally accepted truth either it was discovered too late to be of service to Dum or, perish the thought, he was a bit of a fool himself. Having jumped from the frying-pan and into the fire but escaped from both once before, here he is again, back in the frying-pan. The corollary of course is that Dhunjibhoy was a thoroughgoing shit. In spades. Not to mention being exploitative, ruthless, dishonest, and motivated by greed and his own pathetic self-aggrandizement. That is my unbiased opinion anyway! whereas Dum put it somewhat more diplomatically in a letter to “Auntie May” dated 10 July 1927; Dhunjibhoy is a funny chap, and has a way of working totally different from what any one could or would expect, and without wishing to strain the point I am sure he looks upon me as one of his best friends, and if anything happened to me Elsie would never be in want. Huh! In another letter, written only 3 months later dated 17 October; Dhunjibhoy is of course not one that any one would admire but natives are natives and as such he is better than many...

There was a bit of mopping up to do on Dum's retreat from London to Windsor.

1929
14 December	Closed business at Luxtun as house was sold
19 December	Auction sale 1
23 December	Completion date. House handed over to buyer

1. Sale of furniture from Luxtun

Dum added the following summary. We held No. 32 [Belsize Court] for 5¼ years from Sept 1924, and ran it as an hotel for 4¾ years from 1st March 1925. Sold for £1800 After expenses and fees the balance on sale was £1712-12-8. Christmas, at the Willows Cottage with Nelson and W.P. must have been a comparatively jolly affair.

1930
21 April	Salary increased £100 to £500 1
4 December	Mrs Soundy to Cottage
Christmas	At Willows Cottage. Mrs Soundy, W.P., Nelson and self.
1931
12 April	Came to bed 2
15 April	to hospital
20 April	Returned home
21 April	Resumed duties at office
22 September	Nelson to Imperial Service College 3
Christmas	At Willows Cottage. Summer weather, all windows open, bright sun Temp. 60. Bruce, W.P., Nelson and self.
30 December	Nelson smashed teeth. 4
1932
25 January	Notice from Bombay that salary reduced to £400

1. Not really a ‘rise’ because Dhunjibhoy had persuaded him to close his London business in return for the extra £100
2. In 1923 it will be remembered that in his letter to the Forth Conservancy he said he had never been off duty through sickness at any time - but then in a letter to the Air Ministry seeking work in 1939 he wrote I am 60 and have never been ill...
3. Haileybury & I.S.C. - public school then on the edge of Windsor and where I would subsequently go myself to the prepschool.
4. Presumably his own! as opposed to Dum's or someone else's.