 Despite this evident industry , Gibbons was dismissed from the Standard in August 1930 . This was ostensibly an economy measure although Gibbons , in later life , suspected other reasons , particularly the increasing distraction from work that arose from her relationship with Walter Beck . The engagement had ended painfully in 1928 , primarily because Gibbons was looking for a fully committed relationship whereas he wanted something more open . Her biographer and nephew , Reggie Oliver , believes Gibbons never entirely got over Beck , even after 1929 when she met Allan Webb , her future husband . She was not unemployed for long ; she quickly accepted a job offer as an editorial assistant at the women 's magazine , The Lady . Here , according to The Observer writer Rachel Cooke , " she applied her versatility as a writer to every subject under the sun bar cookery , which was the province of a certain Mrs Peel . " At the same time she began work on the novel that would become Cold Comfort Farm ; her colleague and friend Elizabeth Coxhead recorded that Gibbons " neglected her duties disgracefully " to work on this project . 
