“It has been a strange scene,” said Julius. “You saw us in your power, and you used it for our harm. What did you think to gain?”
“You surely did not think to lose?” said Hester, smiling. “Things that are sure in themselves do not need such care. And how could I know you had not told Emma the truth?”
“You must have had your reason for doing it for me.”
“Well, you said you were going to do it yourself. So no harm was done. And you did it well. I do not think it could have been done better. I do not know why you hesitated.”
“But you assumed I had done so.”
“Oh, you want too much consideration for your own affairs. I don’t know that I assumed anything. I did have a fear that you were marrying Emma with the secret between you, and I shall never have any proof that you were not. But that is all it was to me. Why should it have been more?”
“It was more,” said Rosebery, “and we are glad that it was. It was your excuse, and it is well that you have one. We should have sought one for you.”
“That would have been kind indeed. But I think your father, as we call him, needs excuses more. I had better go and make them to the children.”
“No,” said Julius. “I will have none made. They know the subject is forbidden. And it is best that you should be apart from them.”
“Then I had better leave the house at once. They are my reason for being in it. I can hardly be here without seeing them. They would not expect it, and, to be plain, neither should I.”
“You must do as you will. I will be of any help that I can, either now or in the future. I am grateful, as I ought to be, for what I owe to you. And anything I do not acknowledge, I will try to repay. We need not make it a parting. There is no need or reason to do so.”
Hester turned and left the room, and left a silence.
“Father,” said Rosebery, “you teach me a lesson. And I see that I needed one. I must not forget my manhood.”
“I wonder what the children are saying. Saying to this end to it, saying to it all.”
“Would you be justified, things being as they are, in listening to them?”
“No, they are past the age. And I am also past it. I might hear what I should not have time to forget.”
When the children reached the schoolroom, Adrian was the first to speak.
“Was Uncle like a man with a mistress in history?”
“Yes,” said Francis; “but when it is not in history, it seems to be different.”
“And the man who was Rosebery’s father, was the same?”
“Yes,” said Alice; “but when the mistress is Aunt Miranda, it seems more different still.”
“Are we an unusual family?”
“Yes, if we have a right to the name.”
“Do we have to be ashamed about it? It is not our fault.”
“That means that we do,” said Alice. “Otherwise it would not matter, if it was.”
“I don’t feel ashamed.”
“Neither do any of us,” said Francis. “We feel uplifted. We are superior to Rosebery, because Uncle is our father and not his.”
“So that is why he gave up things to you,” said Alice. “I am glad he is not as noble as we thought.”
“Don’t you like him to be noble?” said Adrian.
“Well, we do not want to look up to him. So it is better to have no reason.”
“Did Miss Wolsey lose control of herself? I have wondered what doing that meant.”
“So have I. But I shall do so no longer. And I could not dwell upon it.”
“Rosebery explained it with the help of Shakespeare,” said Francis. “He could hardly have managed with lesser aid.”
“Ought he to have said what he did?” said Adrian. “Uncle would not have said it.”
“I suppose not, considering everything.”
“But he is better than Uncle in a way. He would not have had a mistress.”
“We don’t know what may transpire.”
“Nothing else,” said Alice, “or it would have transpired. It was a forcing ground for the process.”
“Pettigrew would not think I knew what the word meant,” said Adrian.
“Well, do not make the most of your knowledge. There are exceptions to every rule.”
“He does not know anything,” said Adrian, in a satisfied tone.
“Well, mind he does not learn too much,” said Francis. “I have a mind to forestall you.”
Adrian was on his guard against this, and lay in wait for the tutor.
“Uncle is going to marry Miss Greatheart.”
“Now I must take that as a frivolous statement. And it is not a subject for levity. You forget how lately your uncle has sustained his loss.”
“It is quite true.”
“Then I must accept it,” said Mr. Pettigrew, his tone suggesting that this put his pupil in a dilemma. “Did you offer a proper congratulation to your uncle?”
“No, he did not expect it.”
“I think with some reason,” said the tutor, smiling. “Francis, may I ask for your account of the matter?”
“It is as Adrian said. Uncle is engaged to Miss Greatheart.”
“Then may I send a congratulation in my turn? She is a very pleasant-looking lady, if I remember.”
“Is that the congratulation?” said Adrian.
“You do not misunderstand me. And I am assuming I do not misunderstand you.”
“No, Miss Greatheart will be here instead of Aunt Miranda.”
“We need hardly express it in that way. It is not as your uncle would see it. And what of the friend who I understood was her housekeeper? ‘Miss Burke’ I think was the name. Will this involve a change for her?”
“She is going to marry Cousin Rosebery.”
“Now that is too much of a completion of things. You cannot expect me to accept it.”
“You will come to do so,” said Francis.
There was a pause.
“Am I to understand that there is actually a second engagement, that your cousin is to marry Miss Greatheart’s friend?”
“She is her housekeeper,” said Adrian.
“Well, I think that description may be allowed to drop,” said Mr. Pettigrew, smiling. “It bears no relation to conditions as they stand. And I find a stray memory occurs to me. On the occasion when I saw your cousin escorting Miss Burke to the station, I was struck by his attentive attitude. And I should not regard myself as observant of such things. I believe I even spoke of it. It suggests that coming events cast their shadows before them.”
“Do you think Uncle will like Miss Greatheart better than Aunt Miranda?” said Adrian.
“The two feelings would hardly invite comparison. And in any case it does not become anyone here to make it.”
“Would you marry again, if Mrs. Pettigrew died?”
“Really, Adrian, your thoughts are running away with you. The change in your future has unsettled you, and perhaps with some reason. But if I countenance license, it must be within limits.”
“Do you think Aunt Miranda knows that Uncle is going to marry again?”
“That would lead us into spheres where I am hardly authorised to take you. I do not know your uncle’s views on such matters.”
“If she did know, do you think she would mind?”
“It would be customary to say in such a case that she would understand.”
“I daresay she would,” said Alice, “and so would mind indeed.”
“Perhaps Miss Greatheart always wanted to marry, and could not get anyone,” said Adrian.
“I see no reason for the inference,” said Mr. Pettigrew. “By the way, what are Miss Wolsey’s plans?”
“She has gone to Miss Greatheart,” said Alice in a casual tone. “She thought she ought not to have left her.”
“There is probably nothing like living together for blinding people to each other,” said Francis.
“In the case of Mrs. Pettigrew and myself time has added to our mutual understanding. But I must not adduce my own experience as typical.”