How I left
From Eleanor Mills Sir: I read with surprise Barbara Black's account of my eviction from her house, where I had been invited to dine but was asked to 'skedaddle' by Conrad before the scallops were served (Letters, 7 February).
It seems strange that she should know so little about my being asked to leave (`I'm not
certain . [it] was a matter between her and my husband') and yet claim to have such a close recall of the events immediately after that. For the record: 1) Conrad Black was aware when 1 was invited to dine that I was about to take up a position at the Sunday Times. Thus the fact that some of the other guests had an 'imbroglio with that paper' cannot have been a reason for my eviction.
2) I did not ask for a 'back way out' as Barbara Black suggests. I was offered a taxi
by Ms Phillips, whom I took to be a housekeeper, which I accepted. She immediately led me down the main stairs, through the dining-room (where my placement and that of the other missing guest were being hastily cleared away) and into the kitchen. From there she called a taxi and asked it to come to the 'servants' entrance'. Not keen to skulk in the kitchen with the chef while the other diners ate their first course, I declined the offer, left through the servants' entrance and made my own way home.
The extraordinary way in which the Blacks treated me that evening has meant that the sequence of events is etched upon my mind. I'm sure it was an incident of more note to me than it was to them. They probably made a habit of asking employees to skedaddle when they were no longer required to make up the numbers. But it is adding insult to injury for Ms Black to accuse me of orchestrating my own humiliating exit.
Eleanor Mills
London El
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