She was taken aback. She shrugged her shoulders philosophically with an air of resignation, murmuring: “The ingratitude of some people is beyond all understanding.”
I thought she might have left the house then, but she seemed to persuade herself that, unappreciated as she was, it was her duty to steer us away from disaster.
Then something happened which shocked me deeply—as it did all of us—and made her decision for her.
Hamish was driving my father almost all the time now. The position in the mews had been reversed. It was not Hamish who now stood in when his father was otherwise engaged, but the father who was called when Hamish was not available. Hamish was swaggering more than ever. He made a habit of coming into the kitchen. He would sit in a chair at the table watching everyone … even me if I happened to be there. It was clear that Kitty, Bess and the tweeny found his presence exciting; and he indulged in condescending flirtation with them.
I could not understand why they liked him so much. I thought his hairy arms were revolting. He seemed to find great pleasure in displaying them, and his sleeves were invariably rolled up to the elbow so that he could stroke his arms caressingly.
Mrs. Kirkwell regarded him with suspicion. He had tried to be jolly with her, but without success. He had a habit of laying his hands on the girls which they seemed to like; but the charm he exerted so easily over them did not extend to Mrs. Kirkwell.
Once he touched her shoulder as she passed and murmured: “You must have been a bonny wench in your day, Mrs. K. A bit of a wee handful, if you asked me … but perhaps not so wee, eh?”
She replied with the utmost dignity: “I’d thank you to remember who you are talking to, Hamish Vosper.”
At which he made cooing noises and said: “So it’s like that, is it? I’ve got to mind me pints and quarts here, I can see.”
“And I can’t have you lying around in this kitchen either,” retorted Mrs. Kirkwell.
“Oh aye. But I’m waiting for the master, you see.”
“Well, the sooner he sends for you the better in my opinion.”
Lilias Milne came into the kitchen at that moment, I remember. She wanted to speak to Bess to ask her if she had seen a packet of pins on her table that morning. She had left them there and now they were gone. She thought Bess might have put them in with the rubbish.
I noticed that Hamish was watching her with a look of speculation—not as he looked at the young girls, but intently … differently.
IT WAS A FEW DAYS LATER when the trouble arose.
It began when I met Aunt Roberta on the stairs. It was after luncheon and I knew she had a rest in the afternoon. It was the one time when the house settled down to a peaceful quietness.
Aunt Roberta had been a little subdued since her altercation with my father, but she still supervised all that went on in the house and her eagle eye constantly alighted with disapproval on most things around her.
I was on the point of hastily returning to my room when she saw me.
“Oh, it’s you, is it, Davina? You are dressed for going out?”
“Yes. Miss Milne and I often take a walk at this time of day.”
She was about to pass some comment when she stopped suddenly, listening.
“Is anything wrong?” I asked.
She put her fingers to her lips and I went quietly to stand beside her.
“Listen,” she whispered.
I heard the sound of a stifled laugh and strange noises. They were coming from behind one of the closed doors.
Aunt Roberta strode to that door and threw it open. I was standing beside her and I saw a sight which astonished me. The tangled bodies of Kitty and Hamish were on the bed and both of them were in a state of seminudity.
They started up. Kitty’s face was scarlet and even Hamish looked a little taken aback.
I heard Aunt Roberta’s quick intake of breath. Her first thoughts were for me. “Leave us, Davina,” she cried.
But I could not move. I could only stare in fascination at the two on the bed.
Aunt Roberta advanced into the room.
“Disgusting … I never saw … you depraved …” She was spluttering, for once unable to find the words she needed.
Hamish had risen from the bed and began struggling into his clothes. He assumed an air of truculent bravado. He grinned at Aunt Roberta. “Well,” he said, “it’s only human nature, after all.”
“You disgusting creature,” she said. “Get out of this house. As for you …” She could not bring herself to say Kitty’s name. “You … you slut. You’ll pack your bags immediately and get out … get out, both of you.”
Hamish shrugged his shoulders, but Kitty looked stunned. Her face, which had been as red as holly berries, was now as white as paper.
Aunt Roberta turned and almost fell on me.
“Davina! What is the world coming to? I told you to go. It is quite … disgusting. I knew something was going on in this house. As soon as your father comes in …”
I turned and fled. I shut myself in my room. I, too, was shocked. I felt nauseated. “Human nature,” Hamish had said. I had never been so close to that sort of human nature before.
THERE WAS SILENCE in the house. The servants had congregated in the kitchen. I pictured them sitting round the table whispering. Lilias came to my room.
“There is going to be trouble,” she said. “And you were there.”
I nodded.
“What did you see?”
“I saw the two of them … on the bed.”
Lilias shivered.
“It was so repulsive,” I said. “Hamish’s legs are hairy … just like his arms.”
“I suppose a man like that would have some sort of attraction for a girl like Kitty.”
“What sort of attraction?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I can see that he is … virile. He could be quite overpowering to a young girl. They’ll dismiss her, of course. They’ll dismiss both of them. I wonder where Kitty will go. And what will they do with him? He lives there … in the mews. There’s going to be great trouble over this when your father comes home.”
I could not forget Kitty’s face. There had been such terrible fear there. She had been with us for four years and had been fourteen when she had come to us from the country.
“Where will she go?” I asked. Lilias shook her head.
I knew that when my father came home Aunt Roberta would insist that Kitty left. I could not get out of my mind a picture of her standing on the pavement surrounded by her few possessions.
I went up to the room she shared with Bess and Jenny the tweeny. She was there alone, sent there by Aunt Roberta. She was sitting on the bed looking desperately afraid.
I went in and sat beside her. She seemed like a different person in her skirt and blouse from that half-nude creature on the bed.
“Oh, Miss Davina, you shouldn’t be here,” she said. Then: “Is the master home?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
“Her?” she asked.
“You mean my aunt? My father has made it clear that she does not run the household.”
“I’ll have to go when he comes.”
“How could you … do that?” I demanded. And added: “With him?”
She looked at me and shook her head. “You don’t understand, Miss Davina. It’s natural like … with him.”
“Human nature,” I said, quoting him. “But it seems so …”
“Well, there’s something about him.”
“All that hair,” I said with a shiver. “On his legs as well as his arms.”
“Maybe …”
“Kitty, what will you do?”
She shook her head and started to cry.