‘He is a lion,’ said Nevill, thrusting his head under the rug and making a charge against Ridley as vigorous as possible, considering its weight.
‘I wish I could say the same of myself,’ said Ridley, gently repulsing the attack. ‘I am feeling the reverse of lion-hearted. I had come to ask a word with your husband, and my attention was distracted by these would-be inhabitants of the jungle. I fear I helped them to realize their ambition.’
‘It sounds as if you were easily distracted,’ said Regan.
‘So much did my errand mean to me, that I found myself postponing the risks that it involved.’
‘And how long do you want to keep on that line?’
‘No longer, if you will make it easy for me to do otherwise.’
Regan met his eyes in silence, not fulfilling this suggestion, and suddenly turned and led the way across the hall.
‘Poor Mr Ridley has to go and see Grandpa,’ said Nevill, with eyes of concern.
‘He wants to,’ said Gavin.
‘No, he didn’t like it.’
‘He said he did.’
‘Hints are in the air,’ said Honor, swinging one leg round the other. ‘Hatton and Mullet are big with them.’
‘What?’ said Gavin.
‘Hatton is big,’ said Nevill. ‘But not as big as Mullet. Hatton is rather big.’
‘A cloud no larger than a man’s hand,’ said Honor.
‘Why do you talk without saying anything?’ said Gavin. ‘It makes talking no good.’
‘All in its own time,’ said his sister.
‘You think you are grand,’ said Gavin, and ended the conversation.
The schoolroom party came down the stairs. James took a seat on the lowest step and opened a book; Isabel leaned against the balusters; Venice came up to Nevill with a view to his entertainment.
‘Why have you all come down?’ said Gavin.
‘We are to play in the hall, because we are not getting any exercise,’ said James, just raising his eyes.
Isabel laid her head on her arms, in personal discharge of the obligation.
‘There is something heavy in the atmosphere in these days,’ she said.
‘You have said it,’ said Honor, nodding.
‘Play at lions like Mr Ridley,’ said Nevill, struggling under the rug.
‘So that is what the noise was,’ said Isabel.
‘It sounded as if someone was hurt,’ said James, in an incidental tone.
‘The screams of the damned,’ said Honor.
‘Don’t let her talk like that,’ said Gavin, with a note of misery.
‘There are breakers ahead,’ said Honor.
Gavin walked up to her and gave her a kick.
‘Gavin, that is very unkind,’ said Venice. ‘And you should never kick a girl.’
‘Ought I to kick Nevill then?’
‘No,’ said Nevill, flying into Venice’s arms.
‘You must never be rough with girls, or boys younger than yourself.’
‘Then I can be rough with James.’
Honor went up to Gavin and returned the kick. He took no notice beyond rubbing his leg, and they resumed their normal relation.
‘They didn’t mean to hurt each other,’ said Nevill, withdrawing a long gaze.
Sir Jesse and Regan and Ridley came from the library, continuing their talk. They gave no attention to the children, who did nothing to attract it.
‘I shall always be grateful, Sir Jesse, for the hospitality of your house.’
‘You did not come here for your own purposes.’
‘I have confessed that I began to do so, as time passed. How many months is it since the death of your son?’
‘We know,’ said Regan. ‘And no one who does not, needs to be told.’
‘I do not forget what is due to the memory of a man who was my friend.’
‘He depended on you to be his,’ said Sir Jesse, in a grave manner.
‘And to the end of my power did I fulfil that trust,’ said Ridley, in a suddenly full tone. ‘If feelings arose to the overthrow of a simple spirit of duty, I was helpless as a man and a friend. The emotions of manhood carried me away. I regret if my words are crude; I have no others.’
‘Why are they so?’ said Sir Jesse. ‘Things are not that, because they are simple. They need no doctoring.’
‘Eleanor was the wife of your son. She is the mother of your grandchildren. I have come to you and your wife, as those who stand in the place of her parents. I feel I have not been wrong.’
‘She has had no family since we have known her,’ said Regan. ‘There is no demand on her, or on her family means.’
‘We have not come to the discussion of such things.’
‘A fact does not need discussion. No doubt you know it.’
‘You came here in the service of our son,’ said Sir Jesse. ‘We continued to think of you as here in his interests. But I will leave our personal feelings; you are not concerned with them. I am prepared to wish you well. I desire no ill to befall you. I have been blind. I have not had my eyes on your life, but on my own.’
‘I am glad the last half-hour is over,’ said Ridley, speaking as if Sir Jesse’s words had been lighter than they had. ‘I have felt like a schoolboy making an awkward confession.’
‘A schoolboy does not often have to confess a thing like this,’ said Regan.
Ridley went into laughter, as though to propitiate Regan by appreciation of her words.
‘What do you think of having nine stepchildren?’ she said.
‘I hope I shall never forget they are your grandchildren.’
‘It would hardly matter if you did, as they will not.’
‘I suspect they will not indeed,’ said Ridley. ‘I should be the last person to recommend their doing so. Not that they would appear to me to be the greater loss. And that brings me to the point of asking permission to fetch the other person most concerned.’
Eleanor was with her three eldest children in their study, and came out, accompanied by them.
‘Well, my dear, we are to lose you,’ said Sir Jesse. ‘How much are we to lose with you?’
‘I knew that would be the point,’ said Eleanor.
‘We have our lives,’ said Regan. ‘You have given your minds to yours.’
‘They feel we have had them,’ said Sir Jesse. ‘But we have to get through the days we have left. We have a right to ask what remains to us.’
‘There is a good deal that needs discussion,’ said Eleanor.
‘It has had it,’ said Sir Jesse. ‘Let us start where you left off. That is what we shall have to do.’
‘We thought of several plans and discarded them.’
‘Is there one you have not discarded?’
‘The one that seems to us best,’ said Eleanor, with an open, cold simplicity, ‘is that Ridley and I should have a house in the village, and leave the children with you, on the understanding that I have daily access to them. We could not afford what you do for them, and it is best for boys to be guided by a man bound to them by blood. I would make the contribution to their expenses that I have always made. This seems best for the interests of us all.’
Regan drew a hard breath and sank into tears.
‘Sir Jesse,’ said Ridley, keeping his eyes averted from her, ‘I should like to say how earnestly I will do my part under the new order; with what sincerity I will further the welfare of those to whom I stand in a semi-fatherly relation. If honest effort is of any avail—’ He stopped as he saw Regan’s face.
‘Such a thing is never useless,’ said Sir Jesse.
‘I wonder what they will all have to say,’ said Regan.
‘We are all here, Grandma,’ said Luce, in a low, clear tone.
‘Our elders must soon have become conscious of the nine pairs of eyes,’ said Daniel.
‘They would have had that feeling that someone was looking at them,’ said his brother.
‘Lady Sullivan,’ said Ridley, ‘I do not desire to hear what that may be. I doubt if it will be for my ears.’