Gamaliel, himself, back at school to sit his examinations, was fully occupied each evening revising for the next day’s test; Garnet was wrestling with the middle chapters of his half-finished light novel; Parsifal was busy composing verses for Christmas cards to meet the printers’ deadline and what with her painting and the household’s needs, Bluebell also was fully employed. Only Fiona was at a loose end.
She helped with bed-making, sweeping and dusting, but soon found that she was not needed in the kitchen because Bluebell preferred to reign there on her own. At Headlands she had never found herself without occupation. Apart from acting as Romula’s secretary and companion, there had been a car at her disposal, either with or without Lunn to drive it, horses to ride, glorious walks to take across the headland or a scramble down to one of the coves. There had been Maria to talk to in the afternoons while Romula took her afternoon nap and a gossip with Mattie who, as groom, did not count as one of the servants with whom it was not quite the thing to chat socially, and who was always at hand for an exchange of news and views.
In fact, what, when she had lived it, had sometimes seemed a somewhat dull existence, gradually began to take on the aspect of an El Dorado which she had abandoned for some now inexplicable reason and to which her return was barred by reason of her own hastiness and folly.
Bluebell, without spite or malice, had let fall the information that Rupert was paying for Fiona’s keep and this was humiliating in the extreme.
‘I wish I could get a job,’ she said to Bluebell one morning when they were standing on either side of the big double-bed in which Parsifal and Bluebell slept. ‘Pull the sheet over your way a bit, would you? I am a stickler for symmetry.’
‘I don’t see what job you could get,’ said Bluebell, doing as she was asked and tucking the sheet in with the clumsy movements she employed in everything except her painting and her pastry-making. ‘Nursery governesses are out of fashion and you’re not trained for anything in particular.’
‘It’s shocking to be a kept woman.’
‘Why look on it in that way? If you were not here, I suppose you would be living at Campions and that would never do.’
‘Of course I could never live there. It is not as though I were a member of your family.’
‘Well, you are not a blood relation, it is true, but we all look upon you as a member of the family, just as we look upon Gamaliel as our true son.’
‘It is not the same thing. Gamaliel is legally adopted and therefore is entitled to benefits which can never come my way.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘He has claims, legitimate claims, which I have not. Unless Romula Leyden leaves me something in her Will, which now seems most unlikely, I am destitute.’
‘Did your parents leave you nothing?’
‘There was nothing to leave. It was good of madre to take me in and care for me.’
‘At first, perhaps, but I have no doubt you repaid her. She grew so fond of you—’
‘Yes, until Ruby turned up and she transferred her thoughts to Ruby’s career rather than to my services.’
‘Will Ruby make a career, do you think?’
‘She is determined to do so and I will say for her that she is a quick learner. To meet her nowadays you would never suspect her rural origins.’
‘Beyond paying for her training, do you think my grandmother has any other benefits in mind for her?’
‘I wish I knew. One thing, wnile Ruby is still a student she is more often in London than at Headlands. She lives—or is said to live—in a hostel. She has made some attempts to get madre to buy her a flat, but so far the seed has fallen on stony ground.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Bluebell, smoothing the counterpane and pursuing the main subject of the conversation, ‘you could get a post as matron, or something of the sort, in a boarding-school and live in. That would solve most of your problems, wouldn’t it?’
‘I don’t like or understand children.’
‘Oh, well, it was only a suggestion. I am quite glad to have you here, as I have said several times, and I do not see why you should feel delicate about accepting Rupert’s help. After all, it is to us he pays the money, not to you. We ought to be ashamed, I suppose, to take it, but it is of very real assistance over and above what it costs to have you here. Food for five comes to little more than food for four, and we all eat more adequately since your arrival, so why not look at it in that light?’
Fiona’s hard face softened. ‘You’re a kind woman.’
‘So Gamaliel refuses to come and live here and Fiona has deserted me,’ said Romula.
‘Blue’s letter gave the best of reasons,’ said Maria. ‘The boy is sitting his O levels.’
‘He could do that equally well from here. Lunn could take him to school and pick him up again each day.’
‘A sudden change of home life would not be a good thing at this stage, mother. Soon the school will break up for the summer holiday. You can have Gamaliel to stay with you then.’
‘And what about Fiona?’
‘I don’t know. I miss her as much as you do — more than you do, perhaps.’
‘Do you think another dinner party would be a good thing?’
‘Not if it turns out to be the fiasco the last one was. You should not hold out hopes which are not going to be realised.’
‘I had expected to set everybody’s mind at rest, but I had not bargained for Gamaliel.’
‘Evidently not. Do you wish me to issue invitations?’
‘Not to Rupert and Diana and those two uncouth children.’
‘The children were nervous, not uncouth. As for Rupert, he is a direct descendant and cannot be left out if you have any family business to discuss, and if you invite him Diana must come, too.’
‘So I am no longer mistress in my own house and able to issue my own invitations!’
‘Oh, mother, please don’t be difficult. You know as well as I do that a wife accompanies her husband on social occasions.’
‘I don’t want those children here.’
‘Very well. In any case, at present they are away at boarding-school.’
‘So they were last time and still they came.’
‘Well, you told us to invite everybody, so Fiona thought you meant what you said. There is no need for the children to come a second time. Their school would not want to release them again so soon.’
‘Do you think Fiona will come?’
‘How can I tell? Do you want me to send to London for Ruby?’
‘She is in the same position as Gamaliel. Her studies should not be interrupted at this stage. We can let her know what I intend later on, if there is any reason for her to know anything.’
‘Mother, what are your plans for Ruby?’
‘I have none. I shall continue to pay for her training and shall make provision for that. Once she is launched I presume to imagine that she will fend for herself.’
‘She may need help to begin her career. I believe she ought to have an agent and perhaps a publicity manager if she is to succeed. It is not easy for a new singer to get recognition at first.’
‘Oh, well, we must see how things turn out. There is plenty of time yet before she is launched.’
‘It would be as well, since Ruby is not to come, to leave out Gamaliel. Anything he needs to be told can come from Blue or Garnet.’
‘Why should the boy not hear from my own lips that he will benefit when he is of age?’
‘You do mean to discuss your Will this time, then? Am I at liberty to mention that in the invitations?’