"They do miracles in surgery nowadays," she said, covering her break. "How long ago is it since it happened?"
"I'd have to think. About a couple of years now, I think."
Except for the flat American a, his speech was without peculiarity.
"Well, we must see what can be done about it. A horse, was it?"
"Yes. I wasn't quick enough. How did you know it was a horse?"
"You told Mr. Sandal that you had worked with horses. Did you enjoy that?" Just like railway-carriage small-talk, she thought.
"It's the only life I do enjoy."
She forgot about small-talk. "Really?" she said, pleased. "Were they good horses, those western ones?"
"Most of them were commoners, of course. Very good stuff for their work-which, after all, is being a good horse, I suppose. But every now and then you come across one with blood. Some of those are beauties. More-more individual than I ever remember English horses being."
"Perhaps in England we 'manner' the individuality out of them. I hadn't thought of it. Did you have a horse of your own at all?"
"Yes, I had one. Smoky."
She noticed the change in his voice when he said it. As audible as the flat note in the cracked bell of a chime.
"A grey?"
"Yes, a dark grey with black points. Not that hard, iron colour, you know. A soft, smoky colour. When he had a tantrum he was just a whirling cloud of smoke."
A whirling cloud of smoke. She could see it. He must love horses to be able to see them like that. He must particularly have loved his Smoky.
"What happened to Smoky?"
"I sold him."
No trespassers. Very well, she would not trespass. He had probably had to sell the horse when he broke his leg.
She began to hope very strenuously that this was Patrick.
The thought recalled her to the situation which she had begun to lose sight of. She looked doubtfully at Mr. Sandal.
Catching the appeal in her glance, Mr. Sandal said: "Miss Ashby is no doubt prepared to vouch for you, but you will understand that the matter needs more clarification. If it were a simple matter of a prodigal's homecoming, your aunt's acceptance of you would no doubt be sufficient to restore you to the bosom of your family. But in the present instance it is a matter of property. Of the ultimate destination of a fortune. And the law will require incontrovertible evidence of your identity before you could be allowed to succeed to anything that was Patrick Ashby's. I hope you understand our position."
"I understand perfectly. I shall, of course, stay here until you have made your inquiries and are satisfied."
"But you can't stay here," Bee said, looking with loathing at the room and the forest of chimney-pots beyond the window.
"I have stayed in a great many worse places."
"Perhaps. That is no reason for staying here. If you need money we can give you some, you know."
"I'll stay here, thanks."
"Are you just being independent?"
"No. It's quiet here. And handy. And bung full of privacy. When you have lived in bunk houses you put a high value on privacy."
"Very well, you stay here. Is there anything else we can-can stake you to?"
"I could do with another suit."
"Very well. Mr. Sandal will advance whatever you need for that." She suddenly remembered that if he went to the Ashby tailor there would be a sensation. So she added: "And he will give you the address of his tailor."
"Why not Walters?" said the boy.
For a moment she could not speak.
"Aren't they there any more?"
"Oh, yes; but there would be too many explanations if you went to Walters." She must keep a hold on herself. Anyone could find out who the Ashby tailor had been.
"Oh, yes. I see."
She fell back on small-talk and began to take her leave.
"We have not told the family about you," she said, as she prepared to go. "We thought it better not to, until things are-are what Mr. Sandal calls clarified."
A flash of amusement showed in his eyes at that. For a moment they were allied in a secret laughter.
"I understand."
She turned at the door to say good-bye. He was standing in the middle of the room watching her go, leaving Mr. Sandal to shepherd her out. He looked remote and lonely. And she thought: "If this is Patrick, Patrick come home again, and I am leaving him like this, as if he were a casual acquaintance — " It was more than she could bear, the thought of the boy's loneliness.
She went back to him, took his face lightly in her gloved hand, and kissed his cheek. "Welcome back, my dear," she said.
8
So Cosset, Thring and Noble began their investigations, and Bee went back to Latchetts to deal with the problem of postponing the coming-of-age celebrations.
Was she to tell the children now, before the thing was certain? And if not, what excuse could she possibly put forward for not celebrating at the proper time?
Mr. Sandal was against telling the children yet. The unknown Kevin's verdict had left a mark on him, it seemed; and he was entirely prepared to find a flaw in the so-complete dossier that had been handed to them. It would be inadvisable, he thought, to bring the children into this until the claim had been sifted through the finest mesh.
With that she agreed. If this thing passed-if that boy in the back room in Pimlico was not Patrick-they need never know anything about it. Simon would probably have to be told, so that he could be warned against future attempts at fraud, but by that time it would be of no more than academic interest; a quite impersonal affair. Her present difficulty was how to reconcile the children's ignorance with the postponing of the celebrations.
The person who rescued her from this dilemma was Great-uncle Charles, who cabled to announce his (long overdue) retirement, and his hope to be present at his great-nephew's coming-of-age party. He was on his way home from the Far East, and, since he refused to fly, his home-coming was likely to be a protracted one, but he hoped Simon would keep the champagne corked till he came.
Great-uncles do not normally cut much ice in the families in which they survive, but to the Ashbys Great-uncle Charles was much more than a great-uncle: he was a household word. Every birthday had been made iridescent and every Christmas a tingling expectation by the thought of Great-uncle Charles's present. There were reasonable bounds to the possible presents of parents; and Father Christmas's were merely the answer to indents.
But neither reason nor bounds had any connection with presents from Great-uncle Charles. Once he had sent a set of chopsticks, which upset nursery discipline for a week. And once it had been the skin of a snake; the glory of owning the skin of a snake had made Simon dizzy for days. And Eleanor still ran to and from her bath in a pair of odd-smelling leather slippers that had come on her twelfth birthday. At least four times every year Great-uncle Charles became the most important factor in the Ashby family; and when you have been of first importance four times a year for twenty years your importance is pretty considerable. Simon might grumble and the others protest a little, but they would without doubt wait for Great-uncle Charles.
Besides, she had a shrewd idea that Simon would not be willing to offend the last-surviving Ashby of his generation. Charles was not rich-he had been far too liberal a giver all his life-but he was comfortably off; and Simon, for all his careless good nature and easy charm, was an exceedingly practical person.
So the postponement was taken by the family with resignation, and by Clare with equanimity. It was held to be a very proper thing that the Ashbys should wait until the old boy could be present. Bee spent her after-dinner leisure altering the date on the invitation cards, and thanking heaven for the mercifulness of chance.