 From April to July 1907 Walpole was in Germany , <unk> the children of the popular author Elizabeth von <unk> . In 1908 he taught French at Epsom College . His brief experience of teaching is reflected in his third novel , Mr Perrin and Mr Traill . As well as the clerical forebears , Walpole had notable authors in his family tree : on his father 's side , Horace Walpole the novelist and letter writer , and on his mother 's Richard Harris <unk> , author of The <unk> Legends . It was as an author that Walpole felt <unk> to make his career . He moved to London and found work as a book reviewer for The Standard , writing fiction in his spare time . He had by this time recognised <unk> that he was homosexual . His encounters were necessarily discreet , as such activities were illegal in Britain , and remained so throughout his lifetime . He was constantly searching for " the perfect friend " ; an early candidate was the stage designer Percy Anderson , to whom he was intimately attached for some time from 1910 onwards . 
