“That is what my sisters do for people,” said Benjamin, as if he were speaking to himself. “They shed their own light.”
“I hardly know what to make of this new chapter of our family life,” muttered Esmond. “I cannot claim to feel at home in it.”
“Now what do we all say to Tullia?” said Anna. “I say that the elders put her into the shade, in spite of her youth. I never saw such a case of advantage in older faces.”
“It seems rather shallow of her to be settled in this life, when Aunt Sukey is so precariously balanced in it,” said Bernard.
“You might say that of us all,” said Esmond.
“I do say it,” said his brother.
“Aunt Sukey seems so much of this world, in her own way,” said Anna, “and yet she has to leave it. And Aunt Jessica is so apart from it, and yet has to stay and struggle on. It seems a pity that they cannot change places, though I cannot imagine their doing so. But don’t let it all depress you, Father. We shall do no better in this new life for carrying long faces. There is Reuben at the gate, with those two children. I suppose they have escorted him home. Well, he is not so much older than they are. If he becomes a thought more childish, it won’t be a bad thing.”
Reuben came into the room, rather conscious over his companions.
“Well, I have not uttered a word that could pollute those tender minds.”
“We do not need the assurance,” said Esmond. “We do you that justice.”
“Oh, but I like to think there is danger.”
“Do they love their mother?” said Bernard.
“Yes, I think they do,” said Reuben, raising his eyes.
“And their father?”
“Yes, they love him.”
“And Aunt Sukey?”
“Well, they don’t want her to die, or anything like that.”
“And Terence and Tullia?” said Bernard.
“They seem to like Terence. They did not talk about Tullia.”
“What a lot of Ts!” said Anna.
“Do they live in a world of their own?” said Bernard.
“They do in a way,” said Reuben, looking surprised by this knowledge.
“I never did,” said Bernard. “I lived in this world, as I do now. It is the only one I like. Do not try to enter their world, Reuben. You would never get inside.”
“I don’t think they want me to,” said his brother.
“And it would take you out of your own world,” said Anna, “and you have enough to do there.”
“I hardly think he has one,” said Bernard, looking at his brother. “Any more than I had, or not much more.”
“I ought to be a boy who lives in the world of books and dreams,” said Reuben.
“Oh, a little physical disability does not make all that difference,” said Anna. “Not in a bad sense or a good. I hope those children don’t make things difficult for you.”
“No, they have shown the instinctive delicacy of childhood.”
“And I suppose you have done the same,” said Bernard. “You have not called attention to their peculiarities.”
“They have not any,” said Reuben.
“You are mistaken,” said Esmond. “Dora is subject to facial contortions, and Julius to bodily ones of a more violent character.”
“Oh, the little nervous habits of childhood!” said Anna. “I remember you in that stage.”
“I can say the same to you, but that does not alter my opinion that it is a regrettable one. Indeed it supports it.”
“The process of getting used to the world seems to be too much for us,” said Bernard.
“So it is hard on people like Aunt Sukey, who have to leave it too soon,” said Anna. “They seem to serve their apprenticeship without the reward.”
“I fear they do so,” said Benjamin.
“Well, it is nobody’s fault, after all, Father.”
“I feel it is mine, when I am with her,” said Bernard. “It seems that some of my strength ought to be taken from me and given to her.”
“It would improve you both,” said Esmond, resting his eyes on his brother’s bulky frame.
“Oh, Bernard has not so much strength to spare,” said Anna. “Father and Reuben are really the strongest of us. And thin, wiry people like Claribel and Miss Lacy are the toughest of all. Oh, Miss Lacy wants to have a talk with you, Jenney.”
“Does she? Miss Lacy?” said Jenney, in a tone of mild excitement. “To think of her still being there, and still teaching those children! Well how things do go on!”
“No more for her than for any of us,” said Anna. “Though I suppose we have now achieved a break in our lives.”
“Julius and Dora seem rather to like Miss Lacy,” said Reuben. “They do what she says, almost as if she were Aunt Jessica.”
“It seems the fashion to treat her with respect,” said Anna, as if the case admitted of other dealings. “She wants Jenney’s advice about a niece who has come to live with her, and puts her in rather a quandary. Jenney is supposed to be wise about young people and their problems.”
Jenney just cast a glance on the members of this class, as if there could be no further light for her.
Claribel came idly and absently into the room.
“I am sorry to be such a laggard, but I was detained by my contemporaries, as you were released by yours.”
“It sounds as if you were more of a success than we were,” said Bernard.
“Well, it was pleasant to meet a demand for someone of my age and sex. It is not such a frequent occurrence. And to-day that was what was wanted. Your Aunt Jessica asked that and nothing else, and all I had to do was to surrender myself to her need.”
“It is odd how that family seems to have a use for this one,” said Anna.
Chapter V
“WHAT IS IT, Sukey?” said Thomas, breaking into Sukey’s room.
“What is it, Aunt Sukey?” said Tullia, a pace behind.
“What is it, my dear?” said Jessica, on a sharper note.
Sukey lay back in her chair and seemed to try to give a smile to her sister.
“I think it has passed,” she said, putting her hand to her heart. “There is nothing to trouble you. I have had the fright by myself, and got through it in the same way.”
“But what was it?” said Jessica.
“My bell was not answered when I rang. I needed something and could get no answer. And it came over me that I might die here alone, and no one know. And the thought seemed to go through me, and I could not go on without the sight of a human face, the sound of a human voice. So I rang in such a way that someone had to come. If you were frightened, you were not as much frightened as I was.”
“We shall be less frightened next time,” muttered Thomas. “It will be a case of the boy and the wolf, if she does not take care.”
“I am not able to take care,” said Sukey, with a faint smile; “I am not equal to that. And I think you forget that my ears are still sharp, though my strength is ebbing. And if you fear what you say, you will be on your guard against it.”
“Did you have a heart attack, or just feel that you wanted someone?” said Tullia.
“Just feel it! Just!” said Sukey.
“We must arrange that you are never alone,” said Thomas.
“No, I do not want that; I could not even bear it. And I need not make that demand on the house. Things cannot be done in that simple, sweeping way. A little thought and kindness is what I want. If I could feel that I could summon help, I would be content with my solitude.”
“We must find out why the bell was not answered,” said Jessica. “You sent your own maid out, but the others are within hearing.”
“Enquiry might be too late one day,” said Sukey.
“The servants thought you rang for your broth, and were bringing it,” said Tullia. “I can hear it coming.”