spencer made a return visit to switzerland in 1935, and patricia preece travelled with him. when they returned to cookham, spencer's wife, carline, moved to hampstead, and his contact with his daughters became limited. carline was growing increasingly despondent and hurt at spencer's fixation with preece. she sent their older daughter shirin to live with a relative. shirin later commented: "when i was young i just thought this is how things were. but as i got older, and realised what patricia had done, she became the one person i really hated." preece began to manage spencer's finances and he later signed the deeds of his house, lindworth, over to her. between the middle of 1935 and 1936 spencer painted a series of nine pictures, known as the "domestic scenes" in which he recalled, or re-imagined, life with carline at home. while spencer was painting these, carline, as shown by her letters from the time, finally started divorce proceedings and a "decree absolute" was issued in may 1937.