“What do you think of Landower?”
“Spectacular. I’ve never been in a place like that. It creaks with the olden days, doesn’t it? Fancy being born in a place like that. And this is yours now! I’m glad Cousin Mary did the right thing. You suit this place. And how is the little one getting on?”
“Very well.”
“And you’re getting over it?”
“One does forget … at times and then one remembers with a terrible sadness. But it does become muted with time.”
She nodded.
“I saw you at the funeral,” I said.
“Yes. I had to go. Poor Olivia, she was too frail to fight for herself. It was a great pity Jeremy Brandon ever came into your lives.”
“Oh, he was a weakling really. I think about him now and then. You know what happened?”
“There was talk at the time. I think he was in a bit of a mess. The creditors descended on him when they knew there would be no rich marriage. I was horrified when I heard you had accepted him. I couldn’t believe my ears.”
“I was very cruel, really. I planned it, Rosie. I wanted revenge … for myself mainly, I suppose, but for Olivia too.”
“Well, he got his deserts.” She looked at me rather sadly. “And there’s no one else?”
I hesitated and she did not press the question.
“Here I suppose you meet the same people all the time.”
“You could say that.”
“You must come to London for a visit. Bring Livia. She ought to see something of the big city.”
I could see the thoughts in her mind. She would try to find a suitable husband for me. I laughed at her and tried to sound light-hearted.
“Why is it,” I asked, “when people marry, they feel everyone else ought to be in the same state?”
“A good marriage is the best way of life.”
“You hesitated for a long time.”
“I waited until I was absolutely sure. That is what every wise woman should do.”
“But how can one be absolutely sure?”
“By making up your mind that such and such is for you and once you have made up your mind on that, make it up again. You are going to see that it works.”
“All are not as far-sighted as you, Rosie.”
“I admit I have had some experience of men … and women.”
“And when you look round do you find the failures exceed the successes?”
“We hear of the failures. The successes are not talked of.”
I said: “I think of Robert Tressidor. What sort of marriage was that? I think of my mother and Captain Carmichael … of Olivia and Jeremy …” I hesitated and she waited. But I could not speak of Gwennie and Paul.
She was watching me with serious eyes; but she remained silent.
After a while she said: “While I am here you and I must see each other … often.”
We did. I had many talks with Rosie. She was so interested in everything about her. She created a furore of excitement in the countryside and quickly became known as Mr. Jago’s Lady. Her clothes and her general appearance were stunning. Her statuesque good looks made her seem like a goddess come down from the Olympian heights to our community.
She was by no means an expert horsewoman but she looked like Diana on horseback with her beautifully cut riding habit in silver grey with top hat of the same colour and a cravat flecked with mauve stars on grey silk.
Jago was very proud of her. I did not suppose for a moment that he would be converted to a completely faithful husband, but Rosie would know how to cope with that. She understood well the vagaries of men and the reason for her success was that she knew how to compromise. She took what life offered and then set about moulding it to her own needs and desires. I felt there was a great deal to be learned from Rosie.
She showed an immense interest in the people—however humble. She delighted in Jamie and his bees. We spent a very pleasant hour in the lodge.
“Presumably,” I said, “the bees approve of this marriage.”
She was very discerning and had quickly summed up the situation at Landower; and it did not take her long to realize that I was caught up in it.
She was rather grave about that.
She said: “Gwennie isn’t a bad sort. She is just obtuse. She can’t forget that she’s paid for something and she wants full value. She can’t understand that she can’t have what she wants just by paying. One couldn’t explain to her. She would never listen. The Gwennies of the world just think they know it all. That’s their mistake. She wouldn’t listen to advice. She would never be diverted from her course. You could cut the tension in that house with a knife. It’ll break. I reckon it’s near breaking point now.”
“You mean … with Paul?”
“He hates her. Even when she’s not being offensive about paying for the house and so on. He can’t bear the sight of her. Every little thing she does irritates him … the sort of thing he wouldn’t notice with other people. I don’t like it, Caroline.”
“What does Jago think?”
“Jago says it has always been like that. But I feel it’s rising … perhaps because I’m new to it. I knew the situation, of course. Jago had told me. But I didn’t realize that it was so far gone.”
She looked at me steadily. “Is it because of you?” she asked.
I tried to look surprised but she went on: “He’s in love with you, and you with him. What are you going to do about it?”
I could see it was no use trying to hold anything back from Rosie. “Nothing,” I said. “What can we do?”
“It’s difficult … You’ve got this place. He’s got that place. The children … The responsibility to the tenants.”
“You see how impossible it is.”
“Are you going on like this … till the storm breaks?”
“What would you do, Rosie?”
She hesitated for a moment then she said: “I’m myself and you are yourself. There could be secret meetings, but how would that end? You’d be discovered sooner or later. That might make things worse. You’re in a trap, both of you. If it weren’t for all this …” She waved her hand. “I’d say, Get out. Go away. Try to make a new life.”
“And what of the estate?”
“Go away for a while. Even a month or so. Come to London. Stay with us. That manager of yours could look after everything, couldn’t he? Yes, that’s the solution. Get away. Sort out your thoughts. You can’t see these things clearly when you’re right on top of them. That’s my advice. Get away. Look at yourself. Look at the future. See what can be done. At the moment you’re sitting on a powder keg. Anything could happen.”
“Do you think it is as dangerous as that?”
“I’ve been in and out of tricky situations. I do have a nose for these things.”
“It’s wonderful to talk to you, Rosie.”
“I’m at your service. Another good thing about this marriage … it has brought us closer together.” She was silent for a moment, then she went on. “In a place like this you live close to people. Everyone seems to know a great deal about everyone else, and with a woman like Gwennie … well, she’s insatiably curious. I suppose her own life is unsatisfactory, so she has to probe into those of others to find the flaws.”
“Not satisfactory! She thinks she has bought herself a wonderful life.”
“And a husband who can’t bear the sight of her. She’s aware of that and she blames him.”
“People always blame others for their own shortcomings.”
“I’ve got to know her quite well. She has a passionate interest in people around her. It’s an unhealthy sort of interest because it is the scandals and the shadowy side which interest her. She told me of your engagement to Jeremy and its ending with the utmost relish. She’s absolutely obsessed by that man with the bees. She knows that it was exactly eight months after her marriage that one of the servants had her baby and that it was not premature. These are the kind of details which absorb her. I think it’s a sort of compensation for shortcomings in her own life which make her rejoice in the frailties of others.”