‘Oh, well,’ said Romula, seating herself in her favourite armchair and contriving to look old and frail, ‘perhaps my sense of fun has led me astray. Later on—in the autumn, perhaps—we will have another dinner party and my lawyer shall come and put an end to all uncertainty. Perhaps people would prefer to know that they have been left out, rather than go on hoping that they are still in.’
‘Left out? Still in? Is that another threat?’
‘Oh, a nod is as good as a wink if you think along those lines,’ said Romula, closing her eyes as a signal that the interview was over.
Maria, however, had not finished. ‘If nothing else,’ she said, ‘I think you owe it to all of us to tell us what you propose to do about the coloured youth.’
‘Yes, he is coloured; most delightfully coloured,’ said Romula, opening her eyes. ‘Black is beautiful. That is what he said and I agree with him.’
‘He came from an orphanage.’
‘So did Ruby. Both seem to be turning out well.’
‘I wish you joy of them! If you are thinking of introducing Gamaliel as well as Ruby into your household, there certainly will be no place here for me.’
‘You really are leaving me, then?’
‘Oh, mother, how can you be so heartless!’
‘I had a good marriage prepared for you, but you preferred to go off with that mountebank.’
‘At any rate, I did better than Basil. I did at least get married and have children who are legitimate.’
‘I don’t want to hear Basil’s name mentioned.’
‘No, I don’t suppose you do. A suicide in the family is not much of a recommendation, is it?’
‘If you are intending to leave my house, you had better go soon.’
‘Very well. You’ll miss me, but that can’t be helped. I have done all I can for you, it seems.’
‘You have done nothing that Ruby, Fiona and Maybury could not do.’
‘Ah, yes, Maybury,’ said Maria, referring to Romula’s personal maid. ‘You know, of course, that Ruby is Maybury’s natural daughter, I suppose?’
‘Yes, and I dare say I could tell you who the father was, unless you know already,’ said Romula.
Maria turned plum colour. ‘It’s a lie!’ she said thickly. ‘Really, mother, I wonder you could bring yourself to listen to such calumny.’
‘So you did know,’ said Romula. ‘You should have confided in me. I would have helped you. Anyway, it seems I was right to advance the girl and also to have her present at the dinner. She has some sort of family connection with us, dubious though it may be.’
Maria gave her mother a look of hatred and walked towards the door. There she turned. ‘You need give me your charity no longer,’ she said. ‘I shall not forgive you for this. I shall leave your house.’
‘My daughter and I had a set-to last night,’ said Romula, when Fiona came back from her ride.
‘You quarrelled with Maria?’
‘Yes, when the party was over. It was on account of the coloured youth. She thought I favoured him unduly.’
‘Well, you did make rather a pet of him, I must say.’
‘Maria attempted to take me to task and that I will not suffer in my own house and from a pensioner.’
‘How can you say that? Maria earns her keep. You have pensioners, but she is not one of them, and neither am I.’
‘I think Maria will leave me.’
‘Go out of this house, do you mean?’
‘Yes, I mean that.’
‘I think you would do well to make your peace with her. Look, madre, we were all a little on edge last night. I expect you both said more than you meant.’
‘I took a skeleton out of its cupboard, dusted it and gave it articulation.’
‘You intrigue and alarm me, madre. What on earth do you mean?’
‘I shall not tell you. There are lengths to which even I am not willing to go. I am sorry now that I said as much as I did.’
‘It must have been something pretty awful for you to admit to feeling sorry that you said it.’
When Fiona met Maria, she said: ‘Oh, there you are! Maria, I’ve been having a heart-to-heart with Ruby… You look startled. What have I said?’
‘Nothing, nothing. What did you talk about?’
‘Madre, of course. What else? Madre and her wretched testamentary dispositions.’
‘What had Ruby to say about those?’
‘I think she wants us to close the ranks and keep young Gamaliel out. As though it’s any business of hers!’
‘I think I have queered everybody’s pitch except yours,’ said Maria, going off at a tangent. ‘Perhaps I have gone too far.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Look, ’ said Maria, ‘please don’t take anything I say personally. I liked you from the beginning. I shall always like you and I don’t begrudge you anything. If she remembers you in the Will that’s all right so far as I am concerned and I want you to know it.’
‘All the same, when you came here ten years ago, you did not expect to find me installed, did you?’
‘Well, no. I hadn’t been in her confidence for ages and I knew nothing about you until she gave me a home.’
‘A thing I’ve always wanted to ask you,’ said Fiona, ‘is why Garnet bought Seawards instead of coming with you to live here. I know madre suggested he should come. Why didn’t he?’
‘He said she would never allow him to go on with his writing.’
‘Oh, but, surely!’
‘No, I think Garnet was right. She would have expected him to dance attendance in return for board and lodging. Now, in a sense, the boot is on the other foot. Blue and Parsifal dance attendance on him, ably seconded, I have no doubt, by Gamaliel. Besides, Garnet and Blue are very fond of one another. Even as children they always said that they would live together when they grew up. They are twins, as I expect you know.’
‘Yes, I do know. Garnet told me.’
‘How I wish he would marry you, Fiona!’
‘Small chance of that with Mrs Bosse-Leyden in the field.’
‘Whatever do you mean?’
‘Oh, surely you know that that affair has been going on for months.’
‘I didn’t know. Really, what with Blue marrying a man who can’t keep her and never will be able to, and their adopting Gamaliel, which, in their circumstances, they had no right to do…’
‘The adoption society must have thought it was all right, or they would never have allowed it.’
‘My dear Fiona, don’t you ever read the papers? These child-care people do the most extraordinary things. But tell me about Garnet and Diana. They must both be mad!’
‘With Garnet I think it’s sheer infatuation. With Diana I expect it’s just to score off Rupert. But what’s all this about your queering the pitch?’
‘If I go to Garnet, as I intend to do, mother will cut us both out of the Will. She can’t stand Diana and she despises Rupert. That leaves you and Ruby, Rupert’s children (possibly) and Gamaliel. I am determined she shall not favour him by taking him up and making a sedulous ape of him.’
‘Why should she, anyway?’
‘Oh, Fiona, you know how she does take up people. Look at you and Ruby! I felt certain last night that she was utterly charmed with Gamaliel and I dare say the youth was fully aware of that. It would flatter any adolescent of his age to be taken up and made much of by a woman as rich as mother.’
‘He did not strike me as a young man whose head would be turned by early marks of favour. I think he is simple and goodnatured and perhaps had his own way of showing gratitude for a very good dinner. Food looms large on the horizons of healthy boys.’
‘Yes, but even if he himself is too inexperienced to cash in (literally, I mean) on his advantages, Parsifal the Parasite is not so naïve. That is one reason why I am going over there as soon as I can. Garnet will have to support me and that will settle matters.’