Sir Leslie Brash also spoke of the Riddoppo paint as developing serious defects. He had previously referred to this matter in a letter. I reminded him that it was used by his orders and against my wishes and your advice. Could Mr. Grigblay call or send over a painter to see what can be done?
Yours faithfully,
Spinlove seems to have suffered puncture! There is a note of moral deflation in this letter. Our young friend makes no attempt to put the blame on the builder, as he has taught us to expect, but actually accepts responsibility for the kitchen door fiasco. He seems also to have given ground deplorably in the matter of Riddoppo. Apparently Grigblay’s urgent representations have made no impression on him. Is Mr. Spinlove losing heart? If so, he had better give up practice at once. The letter that follows offers some explanation.
RIDDOPPO BOILS UP
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 1.5.26.
I write to confirm telephone conversation this morning.
I still think that the explanation of the stuffy smell complained of is that given in Mr. Grigblay’s report. As I explained, my own report to you was partly based on private messages from Mr. Grigblay. In any case the condition is not, I am quite sure, due to faulty drains or to any defect in the building work.
I am unable to say to what the defects in the Riddoppo paint are due. You will remember that I never recommended it, and Mr. Grigblay also objected to using it. As arranged, I have asked Mr. Grigblay to see what can be done.
I am very sorry indeed for the accident of the kitchen door. I have to-day written to Grigblay with instructions for alterations that will prevent anything of the kind happening again.
I have this morning inquired by telephone, and find that the breakdown of the bells was caused by a large nail driven into the wall of the pantry by one of your servants.
Yours sincerely,
Brash, we may judge, has been truculent over the telephone. The bell-wiring does not seem to have been done as well as it should. Presumably, the electric light wiring was drawn in through tubes, and the bell wires ought to have been run in the same way.
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir, 3.5.26.
We shall be obliged if you will inform Sir Leslie Brash that we cannot advise him re Riddoppo, as the paint is composed of ingredients which are a trade secret, and we know nothing of it. He will remember that we refused to take responsibility for painting with same and only did So by his Orders on the understanding that he took responsibility for the results.
Yours faithfully,
If, as Grigblay claims, he is not responsible for the defects in Riddoppo, it would be a grave error in judgment for him to offer any opinion on the nature or cause of them, and much more unwise for him to have anything to do with reparation.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 4.5.26.
I wrote to Mr. Grigblay asking him to see what could be done to make good defects in the paint, and I enclose copy of his letter in reply.
Yours sincerely,
Spinlove has no business to pass on Grigblay’s disclaimer without comment or explanation. His duty, as architect and arbiter under the contract, is to master the facts, to balance the scales between owner and builder, and to uphold the rights of each.
BRASH TO SPINLOVE
Dear Mr. Spinlove, 7.5.26.
Although I have in the past had no occasion to form a particularly favourable opinion of Mr. Grigblay’s good manners, I confess that I was completely taken aback with surprise at the high-handed style in which he has indited his communication to you intimating his refusal to make himself amenable to my desire that he should apply himself to the reparation of the failure of the paint; but you must permit me to say that I was even more astonished at the detached aloofness of your communication covering its transmission. What the man intends to signify by saying that I, I of all people, who have had nothing to do with it, am responsible for the disintegration of Riddoppo—unless he is going off his head, which is precisely what I should anticipate of the fellow—I entirely fail to comprehend. What have I to do with the “results” of his work? This, you must permit me to intimate, is a most preposterously impudent suggestion for a builder to propound, and I take strong objection to your affirmative acquiescence in such a monstrous proposition. I desire that you will at once require Mr. Grigblay to perform his duties, for I divine that the reserve held back by me as security for the reparation of defects is to reimburse me for losses due to unjustifiable refusals. I am not, I apprehend, to be at the mercy of the contractor!
Yours sincerely,
Brash is precipitating disaster, for he has evidently forgotten the circumstances in which he ordered Grigblay to paint with Riddoppo.
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Sirs, 8.5.26.
I sent Sir Leslie Brash a copy of your letter on the subject of Riddoppo, and I have received one from him in which he disclaims responsibility for the failure of the paint, as he has had nothing to do with it, and renews his request that you will give immediate attention to the matter.
Yours faithfully,
This letter strengthens the earlier impression that Spinlove is held by other activities and is tired of Honeywood. He has, however, adopted an untenable position in standing aside while builder and owner fight the matter out for themselves.
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir, 10.5.26.
We will thank you to kindly note and to politely inform Sir Leslie Brash that Riddoppo paint is his own concern and no sort of business of ours, as he knows well enough without being told. We used the stuff by his orders on the undertaking he gave to accept full responsibility for results of same, after we objected and refused to take responsibility, which please note and see correspondence.
We also will thank you to respectfully point out to your client that we called attention to the defects he has just discovered for himself, nearly six months ago, and warned him before the painting was finished what would happen, and he ordered us to go on and finish in spite; and also politely inform him with our respectful compliments that it will save him a bit of unnecessary trouble if he gives up trying to put the blame for his own obstinacy on to us, and kindly note that we politely refuse to have anything further to do with his mistakes, having completed our contract to instructions; and decline to pickle off, burn off, scrape off, hack off or touch up or have any further hand with new novelty super or other painting at Honeywood of any kind whatever or for any consideration whatever; and if Sir Leslie Brash wants our advice, the advice we respectfully send him is to leave off trying to put the blame where it does not belong, and ask those to set him right who set him wrong, and that is the people who manufactured the paint and supplied to us at his orders.
Yours faithfully,
Grigblay is warming up, and no wonder! This “respectful” and “polite” message is evidently dictated by him. The general run of letters from his firm is apparently the work of a secretary.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 11.5.26.
I sent Mr. Grigblay your message, and his reply is much what I expected. He disclaims all responsibility for Riddoppo on the ground that you accepted responsibility when you ordered him to use it. He recommends that you should apply to the manufacturers, or to the suppliers, for advice on the matter.
I do not know what more I can do for I know nothing of the composition of the paint, which is a secret. As you will remember, I always advised against its use and disclaimed responsibility for the result.
Yours sincerely,
It is ridiculous for Spinlove to suppose that he can stand aside as though he were the disinterested spectator of a dogfight. At the same time, it must be admitted that the line he takes is strictly consistent with his disclaimer of responsibility, so that, except that he is precipitating a break with his employer, he has not prejudiced his own nor Grigblay’s position as we had good reason to fear he might.
BRASH TO SP
INLOVE
Dear Mr. Spinlove, 12.5.26.
I was astonished to peruse your communication transmitting Mr. Grigblay’s impertinent asseverations of refusal and denials of responsibility. Am I to understand that you are desirous of taking sides with the preposterous attack of the builder upon me? Have I to remind you that, as my accredited architect, it is incumbent upon you to protect my interests and enforce on the contractor the due observance of his obligatory duties? If so, I apprehend I have been seriously mistaken in the character of the gentleman to whom I have entrusted the management of my building operations. The paint in the house is displaying disastrous signs of ocular disintegration which develop increasingly, and my architect refuses to stir a finger in the matter because he objected to the paint and is “not responsible” forsooth!
The whole matter is perfectly unendurable and beyond bearing, and I desire that you will intimate to Mr. Grigblay, with necessary emphasis, that unless he forthwith immediately agrees to restore and renew the defective paint in a properly permanent and workmanlike manner, I shall engage the service of some other building contractor to do the work, and subtract the amount of the cost as a deduction from the next payment I am asked to make to him, for I divine that the security retained by me is designed to be applicable to this purpose.
Yours sincerely,
In the event of a builder refusing, or failing to satisfy his covenant, to make good defects, the retention money may be applied as Brash proposes; but it can only be so applied after formal warning and notification to the builder, and only if the defect in question is due to improper workmanship or materials for which the builder is responsible.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 14.5.26.
I think you must have forgotten what occurred at the time you directed me to order Grigblay to paint with Riddoppo, and I therefore enclose copies of various letters that passed, including—in case you may not have kept copies of them—your letters to me.
It seems clear that Grigblay cannot be held responsible for the failure of the paint. He also asks you to excuse him from expressing an opinion of the cause of the defects or from having anything to do with renovations, and for the reason I gave, namely, that he knows nothing of the paint, the ingredients of which are a trade secret. When you read the letters you will see that Grigblay called attention to defects before the painting was finished, but that you ordered him to complete; and you will also see that I always strongly objected to the use of Riddoppo and disclaimed responsibility for the results of using it. Yours sincerely,
Spinlove is certainly keeping on safe ground, but his detachment seems chiefly due to his being sick of Honeywood. The proper action for him to take would be to study the case exhaustively and give the best advice he can, and—instead of leaving his client to find his own way—guide him to the wisest course and, possibly, contrive a compromise. However, Grigblay is too wary ever to have anything more to do with Riddoppo either on the walls of Honeywood Grange or in the tin.
LADY BRASH TO SPINLOVE
Dear Mr. Spinlove,
We have a small party here on Friday and hope you will come to tennis in the afternoon and stay the night.
It is all getting into the carpets and I shall have to take them up if it goes on and they do not stop it and so dreadfully noisy to walk on!! I hope they will do it soon and have finished with once for ever. It is all so very trying isn’t it and so stuffy, it seems as if we should never be able to settle down but Mr. Grigblay says wait for the summer so I suppose we must it will not be long now I am thankful to say.
How beautiful all the blossom has been lately.
Yours sincerely,
Monday.
BRASH TO SPINLOVE
Dear Mr. Spinlove, 17.5.26.
I have re-perused your communication and the transmitted copies of enclosed correspondence a second time. My previous recollection of the matter had, as you correctly divine, escaped my memory, but Mr. Grigblay’s proposition that by intimating willingness to take responsibility for ordering I made myself liable for the eventual default of persons other than myself is—you must permit me to point out—most excessively preposterous, as I shall get an early opportunity of requesting my legal advisers to authoritatively confirm. If, as Mr. Grigblay impudently contends, the liability for defective blemishes is not his responsibility, then it is the responsibility of the manufacturer, and they must decide the dispute between themselves. My precise directions to yourself are that the progressive disintegration shall be immediately arrested and necessary reparations proceeded with without delay. The matter is now imperatively urgent, as the little flakes of paint cannot be removed by brushing the carpet, and have to be individually picked off with the thumb and finger, a duty so laboriously irksome to the domestic staff that it is performed in a perfunctory manner, and particles of Riddoppo are, for this cause, on all sides being trodden into the carpets with resultant consequences you may conjecture.
As I do not apprehend that I have at any time intimated that I regard you as responsible for the disintegration, your disclaimer of responsibility appears to me—if you will permit me to be perfectly frank—somewhat unnecessarily premature; nor do I perceive, as you intimate that you disclaimed liability for any prognosticated eventual results.
Yours faithfully,
Brash’s gracious intimation of his “willingness to take responsibility for ordering” was in these words: “I do not know what the man [Grigblay] means by ‘responsibility’ and—if I may be permitted to be perfectly frank—I do not care. I give the order and the responsibility for giving the order is mine. Mr. Grigblay’s responsibility is to do what he is told at once.”
The history of the matter as recorded in The Honeywood File is briefly as follows:
Brash writes to Spinlove giving glowing advertisement accounts of a wonderful New Novelty Super-Paint called Riddoppo, and directing Spinlove to use it. Spinlove objects that he knows nothing of Riddoppo and that the well-tried paint specified by him gives the best possible results. Brash grows peppery, and retorts that for Spinlove “to asseverate condemnation of a paint of which he admits he knows nothing, is a little wanting in logical reasoning,” and insists on Riddoppo being used. Spinlove gives the order to Grigblay, who replies that he knows nothing of Riddoppo and has failed to obtain any satisfactory accounts of it, and that he “cannot accept responsibility for same.” Brash, on hearing this, objects, angrily, at being “dictated to”; and delivers himself as first above quoted. Spinlove thereupon writes to Grigblay. “I am instructed by Sir Leslie Brash to order you to paint with Riddoppo. Sir Leslie Brash accepts all responsibility.”
Those are the facts; and if, as they appear to show, Brash is responsible for the paint having been ordered, then, in that case, Grigblay is responsible to Brash for properly applying the paint; Brash is responsible to Grigblay for the integrity of the paint; the manufacturers are responsible to Brash, Brash is responsible to Spinlove, Spinlove to Brash, Spinlove to Grigblay, and Grigblay to Spinlove—all in different degrees and on different issues—so that when Grigblay described the approaching disaster as a “mix up” his term was not inappropriate. If Brash had not interfered there is no doubt that Spinlove, with Grigblay’s experience and integrity to back him, would have completed the house with sound paintwork, but had things by any chance gone wrong, Brash would then have been secured under the contract, and his remedy would have been the simple one of requiring Grigblay to repaint. He has brought all this trouble on his own head.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 18.5.26.
I have told Mr. Grigblay the position you are taking. I will not reply to your letter as we shall be able to talk matters over during the week-end.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Sirs, 19.5.26.
I communicated the contents of your letter to Sir Leslie Brash and sent him copies of the earlier corres
pondence. He says that in ordering Riddoppo he did not make himself responsible for defects due to improper materials or workmanship. He calls on you to make good at once as the carpets are being spoilt; and holds that the matter is for you and the paint manufacturer to settle between you. He is consulting his solicitors to decide what action to take in the event of your refusing to make good.
Yours faithfully,
Spinlove is not content to stand aside and watch the dogfight. He must, it seems, throw the animals one at the other.
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir, 20.5.26.
We note Sir Leslie Brash’s views on responsibility for the failure of the paint, and have nothing to add to our last re same.
Yours faithfully,
GRIGBLAY IS CONFIDENTIAL
(HOLOGRAPH) GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Sir, 24.5.26.
I happened along Honeywood way and looked in, as Jossling is clearing up after finishing road which I hope is to your approval, and I just write to drop you a hint that the old gentleman is still worrying over his defective drains, as I gather you have nothing to do with a sanitary expert he has called in. There was a very young gentleman, with two handy-men to help him, had been putting the water test on the vertical soil and filling the pans to the brims, and so on up to the second floor servants’, like a piano-tuner at work, till he had near 30 foot head of water above the first man-hole—so Jossling told me—and enough to burst the pipes. I found him down at the disconnecting chamber with a parcel of rockets and boxes of matches to find out with smoke how much damage he had done with water.
Honeywood Settlement Page 6
