‘Archie, you have got to encourage Roland. He’s got nerves about the exhibition. He even tells me that he won’t have enough work finished in time. Have a little more poison maison.’ Archie had drained his glass and held it up in a manicured hand. ‘Put it off. Put it off. Never work to a deadline. It destroys everything worth striving for. Your work is brilliant because of its precision, not because of dash and frenzy. Put it off.’ Harold looked down. Lettice had appealed to Archie and he had knowingly escaped her. There had been deliberate cruelty in his advice and he went on in the same vein, speaking to Roland. ‘What possible point can there be in your having a London exhibition? It has never come to my ears that you have difficulty selling your work. I only say this because I recognise your talent.’ Harold drew up his gangling legs and lodged his feet on the rung of a bentwood chair. He didn’t understand why Archie was talking so wildly and upsetting Lettice, when he had been offered so little of the horrible wine.
What do You think about Lettice & Victoria (2013)?
