Mother, Father and ‘Daughters of the Late Colonel’

Abstract

The writing of ‘The Man Without a Temperament’ may have clarified Katherine’s feelings; for her attitude towards Murry underwent a further change in the following month. Whereas in the past she had resisted asking him for any financial support (‘borrowing’ from L.M. instead), she now wrote more and more urgently about her need for money. Murry’s response to his wife’s problem appears to have remained casual. At the end of January 1920 Katherine was telling him that his failure to offer £10 a month towards her and L.M.’s keep had hurt dreadfully. Detailing her medical expenses, she concluded, ‘Therefore I ask you to contribute £10 a month towards my expenses.... It is so bitter to have to ask you this — terribly bitter.’ A few days later, Katherine was openly equating Murry’s withholding of money with his withholding of love. ‘Curse money!’ she cried out. ‘It’s not really a question of money. It was the question of sympathy, of understanding, of being in the least interested of asking me JUST ONCE how I’ was.…’