When our sister returned to Wales from her Yorkshire visit she found that one of her cats had disappeared — afterwards it was thought by the family that a fox had taken her, when Jim Perrin described to us the dreadful sounds he had heard some nights before. (As of a cat fight, he said.) This would seem to be confirmed when he later wrote in West of how each evening he fed scraps from his caravan to a fox he had encouraged. Complete madness as Jac’s household had seven cats; eight, including his own — and with a tragic outcome. It is well known that a cat’s most lethal enemy is a fox; a surprising lacuna in Jim Perrin’s self-vaunted knowledge of nature…

 *        *        *        *        *

While Jac had been away Jim Perrin had made an enormous bonfire, the ashes of which were over three yards in diameter. We will never know with certainty all that he consigned to the flames but the burnt remnants of a carved table leg were evident — this from an antique mahogany pedestal table — and a fine and elaborate Victorian headboard was also missing: they had belonged to our mother and Jac had brought them down to Wales.

As well as these pieces there had been in Jac’s house an old upholstered rocking chair which was a great favourite and much loved by her sons. Where was this chair?

At first when they asked Jim Perrin about it he feigned surprise, equivocated and denied any knowledge of its whereabouts. However, when they persisted he put forward spurious suggestions that ‘it might have been given away’ — or ‘be in one of the barns’ — ‘almost certainly’ the latter he then said with real conviction, and to back this up made great show of going into the main barn to search for it: and yet despite his best efforts he failed to produce the chair…  Continue reading →