Beasley-baiters lower the tone

Being as she is brown in colour and for the fact that she had chosen to sleep in the middle of the drawing room floor, she was singularly well camouflaged against the pleasingly polished teak. My mind was, as ever, elsewhere as I swept towards the kippers, devilled kidneys and kedgeree waiting on the sideboard in the dining room, and as I perused the mail and looked for my morning paper, I failed to notice the slumbering feline beneath me.

Well enough to say that at my stage in life my reaction times leave a lot to be desired, and in a flurry of furious fur and much banshee-like ululating I found myself prostrate upon the floor. Sadly my bones are not as resilient as they were when I was in my prime and regularly fell off my hunter Bosporus without a scratch as we thundered without a care in the world across the misty countryside in pursuit. Now, simply tripping over a cat left me somewhat indisposed.

Well, enough of my escapades and to the purpose of my letter. I have been most troubled by the mean-spirited way in which one of your contributors, the redoubtable Mrs Beasley has been treated. Ladies of breeding do not expect to be subjected to such poor behaviour. Where has respect for one’s elders and simple manners towards ladies gone? Clearly the letters columns have now become an androgenic hormone-fuelled environment unsuitable for gentlefolk. This is a pity.

The paper would, I suggest, be the poorer without the incisive musings of Mrs Beasley. Her insights are clearly from a lifetime of reasoned observation and grounded in a sound British private education, which is without equal to this day. It is indeed heartening to see well-mannered gentlemen springing to Mrs Beasley’s defence, though I felt it necessary that she should know she enjoys the support of myself and, of course, Dolly, who was equally mortified by this boorish behaviour.

So, I do hope that Mrs Beasley will take what has occurred in her stride and continue to exercise her literary talents to elevate the tone of the letters columns, and because, as she so succinctly put it in one of her past letters when explaining the manifold benefits of foreign ladies of leisure exercising their literary talents, “it gives less fortunate readers a priceless glimpse into the lives of those more highly favoured by fate”.

Catherine Chobley-Dickson

Bangkok