“I would perhaps not go as far as that. But my picture was not very wrong. Now I must introduce my husband. Julius, you have not met Miss Wolsey. My son has done more than introduce himself. You children can shake hands and then keep out of sight. Now shall we have the tea-table in its proper place? It seems to have taken a leap.”
“We moved it, Mother,” said Rosebery, in an open tone, “or rather I did so, in order that Miss Wolsey should not be found in occupation of your seat, an encroachment she was anxious to avoid.”
“It is you who would have had the seat, and you could have moved when I came in. Oh, did Miss Wolsey pour out the tea?”
“In response to a request from me that she would save me from the situation, which never seems to me to show a man to advantage.”
“That is needlessly self-conscious in your own home. And Miss Wolsey need hardly have been troubled with duties so soon.”
“Do you not agree with me, Father, that a man officiating at the tea-table is a signal example of a person out of place?”
“The tableau was certainly better as it was.”
“Did you see it, as you came in?” said his wife.
“I saw it, as it was dispersed.”
“There was no need for that. Miss Wolsey could have poured out tea for us all,” said Miranda, with a suggestion that this might have been required of her.
“Now, Mother!” said Rosebery. “When your first request was for the table to be restored to its place!”
“It may as well be put to its use, now it is there,” said Julius.
“Well, shall we pursue the sugar basin?” said his wife. “I do not know how it got on to that table by itself. The things seem to have taken on a life of their own. And you must have had your tea without sugar, Rosebery.”
“Well, I will have another cup with it, when other people have been supplied.”
“Can I give you another cup, Miss Wolsey?”
“No, thank you. I have had more than one.”
“Ring the bell, Adrian,” said Miranda, looking into the teapot. “There is not enough tea here for us all. You must have had several cups too, my son.”
“I suggest, Mother, that the pot was supplied for two people, and that the onslaught of the rest of you has upset the balance.”
“There is no question of onslaught, with the pot in this state. Some fresh tea, Bates, and some more hot water. Was this tea made for two people, or was it meant to supply us all, as usual?”
“The latter I think, ma’am. I was present when Cook measured it. And she made no comment.”
“Well, it is better to be over than under-hospitable, Rosebery. Bring up your chair, Miss Wolsey, so that we can talk. Well, well, my son, that little effort hardly needed your help. Bring up your chair as well, into its place by mine. You shall soon have a cup of tea to your taste.”
“I hardly think I need any more, Mother. It seems I have already exceeded a normal allowance.”
“It does not matter whether one or both of you has done so. It is too small a point to pursue.”
“I suggest it was myself, Mother. I was protesting my inability to deal with the tea, and dealing with it in another way all the time,” said Rosebery, ending with a laugh.
“Oh, here is a beautiful sight!” said Hester, stooping to caress a cat, that had accompanied Bates into the room. “Here is someone who makes me feel at home. He does just remind me of an important personage there.”
“So you have a cherished cat, Miss Wolsey?” said Julius feeling a word from him was due.
“I have a friend who happens to be a cat,” said Hester, looking into his face. “He was very upset by my leaving him. He had not given me permission.”
“No cat would be disturbed by a thing like that,” said Miranda. “How did this cat get into the drawing-room, Bates?”
“He followed me along the passage, ma’am. I had omitted to shut the door. He is always on the watch for an oversight.”
“What is his name?” said Hester.
“I am not quite sure,” said Miranda. “Has it a name, Bates?”
“We call him Tabbikin, ma’am.”
“But he is not a tabby,” said Hester.
“The name was suggestive of a cat, ma’am.”
“Is it a good mouser?” said Miranda.
“I believe Cook is satisfied, ma’am.”
“Oh, Tabbikin, fancy your being kept for your baser qualities! What would you say to the life my Plautus leads?”
Tabbikin went towards the fire, looked round to see if his presence would be tolerated, and turned and withdrew, as though disinclined for risk.
“Is he happy in the kitchen?” said Hester.
“I expect it is well cared for,” said Miranda. “It is there to be of use.”
“Does he eat the mice when he catches them?”
“No, it is too well fed. Unless that was our last cat.”
“He plays with them for a time, ma’am. He only infrequently eats them. He sometimes brings them to Cook.”
“Oh, my cat brought a bird to me the other day,” said Hester, simplifying the truth unconsciously. “It is sad that they have these propensities.”
“I fear, Miss Wolsey, that to my mother they are the justification for their existence,” said Rosebery, smiling.
“Oh, fancy keeping a cat for what he can do for you, and not for what he is! A cat’s only obligation is to be himself.”
“A cat would never be anything else,” said Miranda. “We take advantage of its instincts.”
“We do not do that with Plautus. We like him to suppress them.”
“Perhaps our cat is really the more fortunate,” said Julius.
“But how much less fortunate you are yourselves!”
“You had a roundabout journey, Miss Wolsey, and a halting train.”
“Yes, I found myself feeling inclined to get out and walk.”
“That would not have helped you,” said Miranda. “What kind of household did you leave?”
“My friend with whom I share a home, our housekeeper and the cat. All of them equally important in their way.”
“Will your friend be able to keep up the house by herself?”
“She always bore the larger part of the expenses,” said Hester, keeping her eyes from Julius and speaking with open simplicity. “She was better off than I was. But now I can contribute so little that I should be in effect dependent on her. And that I could not be.”
“You are very wise. A plan like that could only have one end.”
“I do not see why, Mother,” said Rosebery. “Why should not Miss Wolsey make her contribution in the form of her presence?”
“If you need me to tell you, you have less knowledge of life than you should have at your age.”
“I daresay that is so. Knowledge of life has never been one of my ambitions. It seems to imply an acquaintance with things of which it is as well to be ignorant.”
“Why should it not include all things?” said Julius.
“That is not called knowledge of life, Uncle,” said Francis.
“Let us talk about the things that are called that,” said Alice.
“I told you to keep in the background,” said their aunt.
“But the lure is too strong for us,” said Francis. “We did not know that Miss Wolsey’s affairs would hold such promise.”
“It seems too good to be true in a companion,” said Hester, smiling.
“Miss Wolsey’s affairs are nothing to do with you,” said Miranda.
“Surely, Mother, that is hardly the case, now that she is a member of our household,” said Rosebery. “They are a natural matter of interest to us all.”
“Well, go on probing into them. But I don’t know what she will think of you.”
“Mother, it was you who asked the leading questions.”
“Ask me anything you like,” said Hester. “I have no dark secrets. My life is a simple, open thing.”