“Yes, my lady, it will not cause surprise. A coming event casts its shadow.”
“We would help it if we could, but it is out of our hands.”
“Yes, my lady, I will pass it on for you.”
“It will take a minute to explain it.”
“Yes, my lady, I will pass it on,” said Mrs. Duff with a faint sigh.
“You know we have had anxieties of late. Or perhaps you hardly do know. Of course our troubles are our own.”
“Yes, my lady, in common with other things. Their nature would vary.”
“Well, problems have been gathering. And expenses continue to rise.”
“Yes, my lady? In spite of the steps taken to curtail them? In which we have concurred.”
“Yes, in spite of those. They have not done much. A real change has to come; we must bow to necessity.”
“Yes, my lady, as we all have to at times. Indeed it is at all times for many.”
“We are forced to leave this house, the family home for so long, and move to the smaller one near to the main gates.”
“Well, it offers an alternative, my lady. It is fortunate that the place comprises a lodge, as need has arisen.”
“This house is not a lodge. It has been used as a small dower house, and lately has not been occupied.”
“And the accommodation, my lady? Does it suffice?”
“There are two bedroom floors besides the attics. It should be enough.”
Mrs. Duff threw her eyes over the group before her rapidly and moved her lips and seemed to be satisfied.
“Well, a move from the large house to the lodge is, so to speak, current, my lady. It is a thing we hear and read of.”
“A lodge is a very small house, meant for someone employed. There is nothing we give the name to here.”
“There is no need to dignify it, my lady. No family is lowered by moving to the lodge on the place when adversity indicates it.”
“It is not the word for this house. It suggests quite a different one.”
“I find no fault with the word, my lady,” said Mrs. Duff, gravely.
“Well, we do,” said Sir Robert, less gravely. “We are not making quite such a change. It is enough for us as it is.”
“Well, you will explain it to the others,” said Eliza, “and tell them how much we regret it, and hope that several of them will still be with us.”
“I will do my best for you, my lady,” said Mrs. Duff, her tone suddenly without expression.
“Of course they must decide for themselves.”
“Yes, my lady, it leads to the best decision.”
“We shall not be able to keep all of them.”
“Not in the reduced quarters, my lady. It would be the inference.”
“And we shall not need them when the work is less.”
“Well, my lady, after the stage when it is more.”
“That will soon be over. I hope they are not fair-weather friends.”
“Well, my lady, there is dependence on both sides.”
“They must consider their own welfare. No doubt it is what they are doing.”
“Well, my lady, it is how we are all actuated. I will state the case for you. A move to the lodge is necessitated by retrenchment. The change to be accepted or not, as choice dictates.”
“It will still be a better place than many. And some people are only fitted for household work.”
“Yes, my lady. Or have had no chance of doing any other.”
“You will be a support to me, Mrs. Duff? I have not to regard you as an antagonist?”
“It is not the light in which I am seen, my lady. It is help and not hindrance that has been my motto. And I have earned the name.”
“It is a noble one,” said Angus. “And means you have imagination.”
“Well, sir, I am endowed with it. It enables me to grasp the position. And not to be blind to its mortifications,” said Mrs. Duff, as she withdrew.
“She ought to be blind to them,” said Roberta. “Or anyhow to shut her eyes to them. Her imagination did not go far.”
“They are so much on the defensive,” said Eliza. “Always up in arms for each other.”
“Well, it is natural,” said Madeline. “We should not like them so well if they were not.”
“I should like them better. I seldom like what is natural; it is usually so unlikeable. People should be civilised. Mrs. Duff has a good home and every consideration. What more can she want?”
“Put yourself in her place, Mater, and answer the question.”
“I should not think of it. It would not be fitting. The place is hers, not mine. We don’t move people about, even in thought.”
“Not other people,” said Roberta. “But think of the positions into which we have moved ourselves. Though it is true that Mrs. Duff’s is not one of them.”
“There is a word to remember through all the easy talk,” said Madeline. “The people we depend on have the same feelings as we have ourselves.”
“How can we remember it when they have quite different ones?” said Eliza. “You heard the talk with Mrs. Duff. And you will have to suffer some more. She seems to be here again.”
“You will excuse me, my lady. Some news has emerged that you may wish to be apprised of. And I felt it would come better from my lips.”
“Why, what is it, Mrs. Duff? I hope it is not bad news. Is it something we should know?”
“It can be put in a word, my lady. And I will express it in one. Mr. Hamilton Grimstone has passed on.”
“Passed on? Gone away? Left his mother and her family?”
“Well, my lady, he will not again be with them.”
“You mean he has died? Tell us what you know. We have heard nothing.”
“There is no more for us to know, my lady. Anything further is out of our sphere. Whether or no there is anything, which is a case for divergent opinion.”
“But how did it happen? Try to tell us all you can.”
“It was a week ago, my lady. Too sudden for the family to be prepared. He was in health, when illness supervened and the result ensued.”
“What very sad news! I am troubled indeed to hear it. You are quite right to tell us.”
“I felt you would wish it, my lady. And my instinct being a true one I have learned to rely on it. And many people have thanked me.”
“As we do, Mrs. Duff,” said Madeline. “It must be a sad time in the other house.”
“I hear the cloud is a dark one, miss. The news reached me after I left you, and led me to retrace my steps.”
“It seems a time of misfortune. But our trouble is nothing compared to this.”
“Few troubles are nothing in all eyes, miss. And it may not be the case with this one.”
“It is not,” said Eliza. “I am glad to meet someone who understands it.”
“Understanding has never been my weak point, my lady. It has always thrown light for me, speaking of course of a human standard.”
‘Oh, surely superhuman in your case,” said Angus.
“No, sir. I do not accept it. There is much I am conscious of,” said Mrs. Duff, quietly, as she went to the door.
“What a trouble for the Grimstones!” said Madeline. “It does put our own into the shade.”
“It does not affect it,” said Eliza. “Any more than it is affected by it. Each is as it is. And we had better deal with the problems arising from our own. There are things to be settled in the other house. The rooms are to be assigned, and there is one that is simply a dressing-room adjoining another. One of you will have to manage in it. You must decide among yourselves.”
“I will have it, Mater,” said Madeline. “So the decision is made. It is a trivial disadvantage enough in the face of our friends’ misfortune.”
“It will remain when the misfortune has fallen into the past. The dwarfing effect can’t continue.”
“I am the man,” said Angus, “and should take no thought for what I shall put on. I will oust Madeline from her pedestal and occupy it myself.”