‘That does not seem to James the sequence of affairs,’ said Graham.
‘No,’ said James, in a light but unshaken voice.
‘Perhaps we will leave these problems to the future,’ said Eleanor.
‘You had better have done so, Mother,’ said Luce, in a low, amused tone.
‘James would never have objected to that arrangement,’ said Isabel.
‘If Ridley does not come to a meal, he loses no time afterwards,’ said Regan, as she heard a bell.
‘He is welcome,’ said Sir Jesse. ‘He comes to see one who has been a daughter to us.’
‘Grandma, we shall dread to hear your voice,’ said Luce.
Some minutes elapsed before Ridley’s entering the room, and then he advanced in the wake of Hope, and spoke without emerging from this shelter.
‘I am come to proffer another plea on my own account. I should have said it was a thing I seldom did, but I must seem to be making up for lost time. You will think it never rains but it pours. I have to beg that my marriage may be hastened. I find that the effect of delay on myself, on my work, and on my clients, will be such that it becomes imperative to avoid it. Some waiting correspondence has brought my position home to me. I have no choice but to beg permission to bring matters to a climax.’
‘He does not know whose permission should be asked,’ said Hope, ‘and I do not either. I am glad he is so ill at ease. It may be one of those times when we feel we have never liked people so well.’
‘Have I the sanction of the person who should give it?’ said Ridley.
‘It is your own affair,’ said Regan.
‘Thank Lady Sullivan, Ridley,’ said Hope.
‘I do so indeed,’ said Ridley, ‘for the freedom of action implied in the words.’
‘Eleanor goes from our home, and shall go when and how she wishes,’ said Sir Jesse.
‘The condition of a honeymoon seems to be our taking it at once,’ went on Ridley, in a more ordinary and open manner. ‘And I confess to a natural reluctance to forgo one.’
‘Well, there is not much gained by putting it off,’ said Regan.
‘I think there is not, Grandma,’ said Luce.
‘You would not like to have me for a little longer?’ said Eleanor.
‘We are depending on your assurance that we shall not lose you,’ said Daniel.
‘I suppose no one makes a success of the transitional time.’
‘We are not criticizing you, Mother dear,’ said Luce.
‘I had better yield to the general opinion,’ said Eleanor, with a touch of bitterness.
‘I hope your own is not an exception,’ said Ridley.
‘Is it any wonder that I did not see what was coming on us?’ said Daniel, in a low tone.
‘I shall never prove that I saw it,’ said Graham. ‘It seemed that speaking of it would establish it. Luce did not say a word.’
‘Somehow I could not, Graham.’
‘We cannot yield to our instinct to rescue our mother,’ said Daniel.
‘It does not seem that she would give you much trouble,’ said Isabel.
‘Hush, boys, hush. Not before the children,’ said Luce.
‘Well, shall we put the marriage in a fortnight?’ said Sir Jesse, trying to help his daughter-in-law.
‘I am afraid I must press for it earlier, even in a matter of days,’ said Ridley. ‘But I thank you, Sir Jesse, for generously furthering my cause. I wish I could rid myself of the idea that I am carrying off my bride.’
‘Why does one dislike the term, bride, as applied to one’s mother?’ said Luce.
‘There are several reasons, and none of them can be mentioned,’ said Graham.
‘Not before the children,’ said Venice.
‘We seem to be giving rise to a good deal of confidential discussion, Eleanor,’ said Ridley.
‘Are you going to be married as soon as on Friday?’ said James, in a high voice.
‘I thank you, James,’ said Ridley, ‘for putting into words what I did not dare to myself.’
‘Will you just go into the church and come out again, married?’
‘I thank you again, James.’
‘And then Mother will be Mrs Ridley Cranmer?’
‘I thank you once more, my boy.’
‘So you have thought out all the steps,’ said Regan, in a cool tone.
‘I fear that I stand exposed,’ said Ridley.
‘Shall we all come to the church?’ said Venice.
‘No, dear child,’ said Eleanor. ‘You will say good-bye to me here, and I shall come to see you on the day I come back from my honeymoon.’
‘And then you will come every day,’ said James.
‘In this atmosphere of reconciliation I will take my leave,’ said Ridley. ‘I must betake myself to the duties that beset my remaining hours.’
‘I will come to the door with you,’ said Eleanor.
Regan gave her a swift look.
‘It is strange that we resent Mother’s treating Ridley as she treated Father,’ said Luce.
‘Surely it is not,’ said Daniel.
‘She does not do so,’ said Isabel.
‘That is true,’ said Graham.
‘How you all suppress your personal feeling!’ said Hope. ‘It is wonderful when you have so much. I somehow feel ashamed of Ridley, and yet he is only doing what your father did, and that must be a great and good thing, I suppose. I wonder if your mother knows her place in my life. I have only just found it out myself. Luce is too young to want me for a friend, and your grandmother would not be able to bear one.’
‘You come nearer to it than anyone, Airs Cranmer,’ said Luce. ‘Grandma does not shrink into herself or take the defensive when she hears your approach.’
‘No, dear, but is that the test of real friendship? I feel it is generous of you to welcome Ridley. And it is a sensible idea to keep him in a house apart. I wonder I never thought of it. They say it is never too late to mend, but in this case it is. Your mother will be one of those people who really have two homes.’
‘I wonder whom they will lose next. Their grandfather or me?’ said Regan.
‘The loss of your son has not killed you, Lady Sullivan. We must face facts,’ said Hope.
Regan was laughing as Eleanor returned to the room.
‘What is the jest?’ said the latter.
‘It was not one, Mother,’ said Luce, ‘and as far as it was, it would not gain by repeating.’
‘What was it, my dear, nevertheless?’
‘It was about Grandma’s dying.’
‘Not dying, dear,’ said Hope.
‘I warned you not to have it revealed, Mother.’
‘But that is such a terrible solution,’ said Graham.
‘It is odd that old people think so little of their death,’ said Regan.
‘They make a good many false claims, in that case,’ said Isabel.
‘They would look foolish, if they forgot it,’ said her grandmother. ‘Other people never separate them from it.’
‘I think they feel stoic and heroic when they talk of it,’ said Graham.
‘So it is true that human motives are mixed,’ said Hope.
‘I warned you not to have it revealed, Mother.’
‘I must apply myself to my duties for the next days,’ said Eleanor. ‘There are things to be done for the children, before I leave them, I must take them into the town on Thursday, to get them some things that Hatton wants for them.’
‘Don’t they want them for themselves?’ said Hope. ‘I thought the child was father of the man.’
‘I don’t know how these duties get put off.’
‘You had every excuse, Mother,’ said Luce.
‘Who is going into the town?’ said James, in a casual manner.
‘You and Honor and Gavin,’ said his mother. ‘Nevill can do with what is handed down.’
‘I should think he can,’ said Hope. ‘I wonder it does not overwhelm him.’
‘That means a holiday for James,’ said Eleanor, sighing. ‘And I suppose the wedding day does too.’