“Well I must go,” said Ninian. “I need not say to whom. I am happy in not having to go far. But I shall be happier when we can both stay.”
The silence after he had gone was ended by Miss Starkie.
“Well, we have had a break in our day. We must go and do better with the rest. I think Lavinia and Egbert will be staying with their grandmother.”
“So she knows I should not be alone,” said Selina. “And she knows people have a right to what is theirs. What use is wisdom in the wrong place?”
“Is she too good to be a governess?” said Agnes, lingering behind.
“Few people are too good for things. And no one is too good to be left unprovided for.”
“You will not be the mistress any longer, Grandma,” said Egbert. “I can’t keep the thought to myself.”
“I have had that change before. I don’t know what I shall be. It is for someone else to decide. I daresay she has done so.”
“What power a woman can have!” said Lavinia. “And how she can be in the power of another! Father must have known it.”
“I wonder if this one can use power,” said Egbert.
“Not without misusing it,” said Selina. “Few of us can do that. There is little hope that she is one of them. And we see that she will have it.”
“What shall I do in the times when I was alone with Father?” said Lavinia, taking refuge in open words.
“What I shall,” said her grandmother. “There will be nothing to do.”
“Not for me,” said Hugo. “I shall spend more time with Lavinia. I don’t know if I am grateful to Ninian or vindictive towards him. People can be unsure of their own feelings. It means they have two kinds.”
“Grandma, will you leave us?” said Egbert. “We must say the things that are not for you to hear.”
Selina nodded and left the room, lifting her shoulders in resignation to her duties, as long as they remained to her.
“So Father is to marry a wife,” said Egbert. “It is very masculine of him. I have always appreciated his feminine streak. And now I am afraid it is not there.”
“People ought not to marry openly,” said Hugo. “It is one of those things that should be recognised but veiled.”
“It is humbling to accept what is to do you harm,” said Lavinia. “It means you put others before yourself, and naturally that is despised. It is odd that it is held to be esteemed.”
“I was grateful to you and Miss Starkie, Uncle,” said Egbert. “Father can’t shut his eyes to all human claims.”
“He said all was fair in love and war. I have always thought it an immoral saying.”
“It means the opposite of what it says. But why say all is unfair in love and war? We all know it. Anyhow Father does.”
“He feels I have failed him,” said Lavinia. “And knows it would be worse for him, if I had not.”
“He is too sunk in his own life to remember anything,” said Egbert.
“And we are to find that comforting? Suppose we followed his example!”
“This will pursue us to the end. In old age we shall remember being cast from our place.”
“In our youth we shall suffer it. And it may lead to things we can foresee.”
“I did not dare to ask Father what she was like,” said Egbert.
“I purposely did not ask him. I did not want to show interest in her. And so showed how much I had.”
“I hope I shall never have the feelings of a normal man,” said Hugo. “I am sure he is more normal than anyone else.”
“May I clear the table now, sir?” said Ainger, at the door, looking past Lavinia, as though to spare her.
“Yes, clear it, of course. Other people will be coming in.”
“So the news has transpired, sir,” said Ainger, as he pursued the task. “Changes come and carry us with them.”
“That sounds more comfortable than it is.”
“This one was a surprise, sir? Those who are nearest! They may be too close to see.”
“That might be fortunate for them, if the closeness retained its virtue. But it loses it at the critical moment. Do you mean you were prepared?”
“Well, the wind blows, sir. And we know what is said.”
“I suppose it is always doing that,” said Lavinia. “I wonder more does not happen.”
“Well, an amount does, miss. Might I perhaps step to the door? The cloth for the crumbs escaped my memory.”
“Oh, come in, Cook. So you were not surprised by the news?”
“Well, it was a matter of intuition, miss. And that has never been my weak side.”
“It seems it was ours, and that of the whole family.”
“Well, what is under our eyes, miss. And in your case experience was wanting.”
“Well, we have it now. And it is held to be an advantage. Though it can seem an odd view.”
“You put a face on it, miss,” said Cook, with a sympathy blunter than Ainger’s. “It is what is due. Some must not betray themselves.”
“How do you feel about having a new mistress?” said Egbert.
“It is a premature enquiry, sir. We have not dwelt on the matter. We have our occupations.”
“Surely this is one of them,” said Lavinia.
“Well, miss, it remains uncertain. We can only wait.”
“But all things come when we do that. It will do no good.”
“The master has his rights, miss. It has to be said.”
“It seemed it did have to. We all said it. I think he did so the most.”
“We are all held to have them,” said Ainger. “But I have asked myself what they are in my case.”
“Then you can answer yourself, Ainger,” said Cook. “You do not happen to be the subject.”
“Do you think about yours, Cook?” said Hugo. “It is a thing I have not had to do, as I am without them.”
“It is not a point to dwell on, sir. I have my place.”
“And I have mine,” said Ainger. “And it seems I shall always have it.”
“If you fill it, Ainger, and with your might,” said Cook. “The question has another side.”
“Well, fate can strike any of our party at any time,” said Ainger, whose speech gained freedom in the absence of Selina and Ninian.
“And whom do you include in the term? You are not coupled with those otherwise placed.”
“Destiny is over all of us, high or low.”
“And is it for one of the last to express the matter?”
“The candlesticks tarnish, miss,” said Ainger, polishing one as a pretext for lingering. “And things will have to be in shape. You have not seen the lady, I suppose?”
“Did you not use your ears at luncheon?” said Egbert.
“Well, his place was there, sir,” said Cook, in a condoning manner.
“Yes. Where else was he to use them?”
“How I used mine!” said Hugo. “I could not have borne to be anywhere else.”
“Only some of us should have ears,” said Ainger, shaking out his leather.
“Is the candlestick tarnishing already?” said Egbert.
“You need not touch on distinctions, Ainger,” said Cook. “There are states of life and we are called.”
“‘When Adam delved and Eve span,
Who was then the gentleman?’”
murmured Ainger, with a hint of revolving on his heels.
“And did you happen to be on the spot, then?”
“No, I have never heard there was a third. And anyhow it was not your humble servant.”
“Ainger, if it is a subject for lightness, it is time to withdraw. And do you think no one is present?”
“I regret the withdrawal,” said Egbert. “I needed comfort and I have had it.”
“So have I,” said Lavinia. “People in trouble are easily grateful. It confirms that we are in it.”
“What are you in?” said Selina, entering with her son.
“In a new position,” said Egbert.
“You make too much of it,” said Ninian. “Gossiping in here together! Why did you not go with the others?”