There was silence.
‘When did Miss Griffin go?’ said Justine. ‘Did anyone know when she went? Did she suddenly disappear?’
‘Well, I must try to answer all those questions at once. But I only know what I have told you., I was sitting alone in the parlour, as you call it, finding the time rather drag as it moved on towards my trouble. I see that the boys are smiling, and I should not have wished to hasten it, if I had known. And I seemed to need the sound of a human voice, and I opened the door of the house — Miss Griffin had run into the garden on some pretext that I had sent her out, or something. You know I left you rather out of sorts; things here had upset me — and I found — Well, you find my tale amusing? I am making a mountain out of a molehill? It is a trifle that I am exaggerating because I am personally involved? Well, we have all done that. You will not find it hard to understand.’
‘Then Miss Griffin did not leave you after Grandpa died? She had gone before? Yes, I know you implied that she had. But you said that you were alone in your grief. I did not quite follow.’
‘I meant my grief for your mother, dear. I happened to be remembering. But it was not the time for you to do so, as I had found. Well, I will get on with my story. So I found that was how it was, that my old friend had left me — well, we won’t say alone in my grief — alone in a dark hour. And what do you say to that for a sudden revelation? I won’t say that I have nourished a viper in my bosom; I won’t say that of Miss Griffin, who has been with me through so many vicissitudes, and whom I have spared to you in yours. I will just say — well, I will say nothing; that is best.’
‘I don’t think we can say anything either. We must find out where she has gone unless she returns very soon. But in the meantime tell us how you are yourself, and if you are staying here for the time.’
‘Well, it is to Maria that I must answer that question,’ said Matty, turning to her friend. ‘Answer it as a matter of form, because I must remain with you. I cannot go back to that house alone. So the formal question is answered, and I can settle down in as much content as I can, in as much as will prevent my being a damper on other people.’
‘Would you like anything fetched from your house?’ said Maria.
‘No, dear, no; Justine can lend me things of her mother’s. I need not trouble you for anything.’
‘I hope you will trouble anyone for anything you need.’
‘Yes, dear, I know it would not be a trouble,’ said Matty, with a faint note of correcting the term. ‘But I am a person of few wants, or have learned to be. Now shall we leave me as a subject and go on to all of you? Or would you like to hear more of the old friend, or old aunt, or old responsibility, or whatever you call me to yourselves?’
‘We should like to know all we can. Have you given any thought to the future? You clearly have not had time. But will you settle down in your house or will you be too much alone? Did you mean to stay there after your father died?’
‘One moment, Maria. One thing, Aunt Matty,’ said Justine, leaning forward with a hand on Maria’s arm. ‘Is Emma alone in that house? Let us get that point behind.’
‘No, dear, she has a sister with her. You have not reached the stage of arranging such things for other people as a matter of course. And that being so, it was a natural anxiety. Well, what was Maria saying? Yes, I was to stay here after my father died. He meant me to, and so did my sister. And I shall follow what I can of their wish. It will seem to bind me to them closer, to carry out our common plan. So I shall be too much alone: I must answer “yes” to that question. But I shall not be too proud to accept any alleviation of my solitude.’ Matty smiled at the faces about her. ‘I have no false notions about what exalts people. I have my own ideas of what constitutes quality.’
‘We will do all we can for the sake of the past, for your sake,’ said Edgar. ‘Maria will do it with us, as she will do everything.’
‘Thank you. So we shall all have helped each other. We have done our best with Blanche’s place in filling it and finding that we cannot fill it.’ Matty turned the smile on Maria. ‘And now we must do what we can with another, and I know you will do your part. We are used to striving together to meet a common loss.’
‘I read Aunt Matty like a book,’ murmured Aubrey. ‘I wonder if it is suitable for Justine’s little boy.’
‘And we hope that Miss Griffin will come back and be with you, Aunt Matty,’ said Justine. ‘I cannot imagine the two of you apart.’
‘It is a relief not to have to think of them together,’ said Aubrey, turning to meet his brothers’ eyes. ‘Yes, I am sure that is what Uncle would have said. You can see that I am trying to prevent your missing him.’
‘Cannot you, dear?’ said Matty to her niece. ‘I have had to go a little further. You see I am having the experience. But shall we leave my prospects to the future, as we cannot in the present say much for them? I am holding you up in your breakfast. I will sit down and try to go on with it with you. I must make as little difference as I can.’
‘Here is a place all ready for you.’
‘Is there? How does that come to be? Had any news reached you? No, you were unprepared. Did you expect me to stay last night and order a place for the morning? Well, I must be glad that I went home to my father. Something seems to guide us in such things.’
‘The something took a clumsy way of doing its work,’ said Mark.
‘So it was to be my place?’ said Matty, seeming pleased by the thought. ‘Perhaps you hoped that the truant guest would return and expiate her sins?’
‘It is Dudley’s place,’ said Maria, knowing that the truth must emerge. ‘We thought that you would not be here. But he has followed Miss Griffin’s example and left us for the time.’
‘Has he? Dudley? Has he run away and left you? Do we all manage to make ourselves impossible to those near and dear to us?’ said Matty, her voice rising with her words. ‘Is it a family trait? Well, we can all assure each other that our bark has quite wrongly been taken for a bite.’
‘Barking may be enough in itself,’ said Mark. ‘It may not encourage people to wait for the next stage.’
‘Our Dudley? Has he found things too much? Well, I can feel with him; I find things so sometimes. But running away is not the best way out of them. They will not get the better of him, not of Dudley. I should have been glad to get a sight of him, and borrow a little of his spirit. It seems that people who show the most have the most to spare. Theirs must be the largest stock. Well, I must have recourse to my own, and I have not yet found it fail. It is not your time to need it, but you may look back and remember your aunt and feel that you took something from her.’
‘Why had Aunt Matty not enough spirit to give some to Miss Griffin?’ said Aubrey.
‘She gave her a good deal, or she got it from somewhere,’ said Mark.
‘Yes, it is Miss Griffin, is it?’ said Matty, with a different voice and smile. ‘Miss Griffin who takes the thought and takes the interest? That is how it would be. The person who has suffered less makes less demand. And we who suffer more must learn it. Well, we must not make a boast of spirit and then not show it.’