“Not on that score perhaps. People seem to be agreed there,” said Sukey, choosing to add the general one. “And the real thing is beyond complaint. And so I will not complain.”
“And we will not think what we feel cannot be true,” said Claribel.
“While there is life there is hope,” said Anna.
Sukey turned a smile on her niece, that was almost one of pity.
“What do you think of the march of years, Miss Jennings?” said Thomas.
“Jenney hesitates to say how poorly she thinks of it,” said Bernard.
“Well, it would be strange if there were no changes,” said Jenney.
“Why are we so cast down by them?” said Thomas.
“Because they show that we are further on in our progress to the grave,” said Terence. “It would be odd to be uplifted. But I feel it is all rather ennobling.”
“So that is the effect we have on you,” said Claribel. “What must you be thinking of us?”
“My son might truthfully say he was thinking of himself,” said Thomas.
“You have had a hard time, Anna, my dear,” said Jessica. “I have moved a family from house to house, and I know it is not a small thing.”
“It was finding the house that was the business, Aunt Jessica. I thought I should never achieve it, but I kept my shoulder to the wheel and brought it off. And Jenney approves of my decision, and that is what matters.”
“I also have conceded my approval,” said Claribel.
“And I see that the best has been made of our choice,” said Benjamin. “And I congratulate and thank my daughter.”
“Well, better late than never, Father,” the daughter replied.
“You must have a grateful family,” said Sukey to her niece.
“Oh, the young males wait for things to be done, and then criticise. I pay no heed to them.”
“I always thought that class of person was hardly dealt with,” said Terence. “I did not know they deserved it.”
“Esmond was the worst,” said Bernard. “I should not have said a word, if it had not been for his example. I am the weaker one, and he led me wrong.”
“I like the house,” said Reuben, looking round. “I never care what other people think, if a thing appeals to me.”
“It had been empty for years,” said Esmond. “And would be so now, if we were not in it. You should have seen the size of the notice of the sale. The owner could hardly convince himself that he had sold it, and doubted his power to convince anyone else.”
“They have no idea how far money goes on that sort of thing,” said Anna, looking at her aunts.
“I suffered similar things when I took this house,” said Thomas. “Only my Tullia supported me.”
“We know better now,” said his wife.
“But Tullia did so then, and it shall be said of her,” said Thomas, putting his arms round his daughter and his niece. “We three know what it is to be first burdened and then buffeted.”
“We are a bad match on either side of you,” said Anna. “You and I would make a better pair.”
“Tullia was too young to understand. She just took your part,” said Jessica. “I had to say what seemed to me to be the truth.”
“She supported her father; that is what I remember,” said Thomas.
“It is the sort of thing that is remembered,” said his wife.
“I came out badly,” said Terence. “I thought of what people would think. I did not know that we ought to despise their opinions. After all, they are our fellow-creatures.”
“What kind of surroundings did you expect?” said Claribel, looking round. “Most of us have to be content with an inferior setting to this. We are much more dependent upon ourselves.”
“I am really happy and contented anywhere,” said Bernard. “It sounds as if I did not think much was due to me. And I do not know why so very much is.”
“I always said a young man was a pathetic creature,” said Terence.
“He arrived without notice, and went down to the kitchen and had tea with the servants,” said Anna.
“And which enjoyed it the more?” said Thomas.
“We enjoyed it together,” said his nephew. “We have a great deal in common. And there are more things in a kitchen than anywhere else.”
“The pair have settled down, I am thankful to say,” said Anna, just throwing up her voice and her brows.
“You have a lucky hand with maids, have you?” said Sukey, feeling that her niece might show a rough kindliness. “It is a thing that means more than it sounds.”
“Oh, well,” said Anna, lifting her shoulders, “I am often at a loss how to bridge the gulf between us. We have so little idea of the state of things on the other side. I can’t just step across it, as Bernard can.”
“I have never seen it,” said her brother.
“Would they not talk to you, if you helped them?” said Jessica to her niece.
“I daresay they would. They do show the disposition sometimes, but I am inclined to check it. It is no good to get on to their ground. We are not at home on it, and there it is.”
“We can learn to be,” said Jessica.
“Well, if you think the lesson worth learning. I hardly think it is, myself. I don’t see where it leads.”
“To a better understanding of other people,” said Jessica.
“And of their whims and their fancies and their superstitions. They have already discovered that the stairs are steep, and that the house is haunted. So much has emerged without encouragement. I tremble to think what the output would be, if it was invited.”
“Are the stairs a superstition?” said Tullia.
“Yes, they are,” said Anna, with some sharpness. “They are no more steep than these.”
“Oh, well, yes, they are,” said Jenney, as if she could not but bear witness to the truth. “It was natural to notice them at first. They are trying to get used to them.”
“I must make the guilty confession that my feelings are with Anna in these matters,” said Claribel.
“Anna does not have much to do with the servants,” said Esmond. “They are Jenney’s province.”
“Oh, I have my part to play, if only you knew,” said his sister. “I don’t take Bernard’s line and make friends of them. I prefer my friends in my own sphere.”
“A friend in any sphere is a valuable thing,” said Jessica.
“Oh, well, Aunt Jessica, when I meet you walking arm-in-arm with the housemaid, I will believe you.”
There was a pause.
“A friend in one’s own is better,” said Sukey. “I agree with Anna there. It is not so natural to be with people from another plane.”
“Thank you, Aunt Sukey. You are honest, if nothing else — if no one else is. And you and I are at one. I should have thought that we all should be, but it appears that no one else holds the established and old-fashioned ideas.”
“I believe in the equality of all men,” said Reuben, glancing at Jessica.
“Need we give so much thought to our own opinions?” said the latter. “It is better to look outside ourselves for our interests.”
“But then we could not have any,” said her son.
“Oh, most of us cast an eye in our own direction sometimes,” said Anna. “And I should not have thought Aunt Jessica was an exception.”
“She looks less at herself than inside herself,” said Thomas.
A cloud came over his wife’s face.
“She is introspective, is she?” said Anna.
“Never become so, my dear,” said Jessica. “It is selfish and useless, and becomes a habit. And what is there of importance inside oneself?”
“Not much that would look too well, if it were brought outside,” said Esmond.
“You can know no mind but your own,” said his father. “So we take your words to apply to that.”