‘If I had realised that you two were to be relegated to an annexe,’ fumed Marius, leading his children towards the lounge, ‘I would never have come. The whole set-up is most unsatisfactory, and what your mother would have made of the arrangements I do not know.’
‘Just as well she didn’t come, then,’ said Sebastian. ‘We had rather an interesting time this afternoon, Father. We had tea at the farm.’
‘Oh, do they provide teas? Was there clotted cream? I have seen no sign of any at the hotel, so, as we have to pay separately for teas, anyhow, which I regard as an unwarranted extortion, we may as well go over to the farm in future. What sort of price did they charge you?’
‘Oh, I don’t think they provide teas in that sort of way,’ said Sebastian. ‘We received an invitation. Did you know, Father, that the farmer is the man who got Aunt Eliza—I mean the man who was responsible for Ransome?’
‘Did you meet him?’
‘No, we didn’t. It was Ransome who invited us. The farmer and his wife had gone over to the mainland.’
‘To tell Aunt Eliza to hurry back to the hotel and help Miss Crimp to cope,’ explained Margaret.
‘I am sorry you had any contact with Ransome.’
‘We didn’t mean to,’ said Margaret quickly. ‘It was just that we ran into him on Thursday when we were passing the farm.’
‘Nevertheless, it was unfortunate.’
‘I don’t see why. Once this holiday is over I don’t suppose we shall ever see or speak to him again.’
‘One thing,’ said Sebastian, ‘Aunt Eliza can’t hold anything against the farmer if she buys his produce and if Ransome supplies the hotel vegetables. Do you think, Father, that she’ll leave the hotel to Ransome in her will?’
‘The hotel is not hers to dispose of,’ said Marius testily, ‘not entirely, that is. I wish I had known of this partnership before I answered Lizzie’s letter and booked our rooms. It upsets everything.’
‘I’ve said I’m sorry, Father,’ said Margaret.
‘Oh, quite, quite, my dear. I shall not refer to it again. It is unfortunate that I committed myself without knowing the facts, that is all. No blame attaches to you. We should never have come here. Your mother was right. I can see that now. And, Margaret, there is no reason why you should not make use of my bedroom and the adjacent bathroom. I will not be dictated to by that acidulated woman behind the desk. Who does she think she is?’
‘Aunt Eliza’s partner,’ said Sebastian.
‘We have only her word for that. She would scarcely be a full partner, anyway. I daresay she has bought herself a few shares and is trading on the fact. I shall be very glad to meet Lizzie and see that upstart person put in her place.’
‘I don’t really mind about the bath, father,’ insisted Margaret. ‘I don’t want a fuss. It isn’t worth it. Let’s talk it over with Aunt Eliza tonight and let her settle it.’
‘Very well,’ agreed Marius, who was not anxious to try conclusions with Miss Crimp until he was sure of his ground. ‘Well, I will see you at table.’
This promise was fulfilled, but enquiry at the desk beforehand produced no news of Lizzie.
‘Would she stay for dinner at the farm, do you suppose?’ asked Sebastian, as they began their meal.
‘Goodness knows!’ his father irritably responded. ‘I certainly feel in no mood to meet her tonight. I cannot understand her. Having invited us here, she might at least have had the decency to be on view when we arrived. I hope it is not a deliberate slight.’
‘Did you have a very bad row with her, father?’ Margaret enquired.
‘No, of course not. It was for my parents to dictate my course of action, for I was only a youth at the time of Lizzie’s foolishness.’
‘But something happened after that, didn’t it?’ said Sebastian. ‘Wasn’t there a row of some sort at your wedding?’
‘I expect it was Boobie,’ muttered Margaret. ‘Boobie and Grandmamma between them.’
‘What’s that?’ demanded Marius. ‘Have you been listening to Cousin Marie’s gossip? I should never have had that woman in the house!’
‘Well, yes, she did let out a few spiteful things at the Singletons’, Father.’
‘I have never quarrelled with your aunt,’ said Marius stiffly. ‘She was invited to the wedding and she came. Mischief was made between us by the behaviour of your grandmother, your mother’s mother. Lizzie never forgave it and until I received this invitation that we should spend a holiday on Great Skua, she and I have never corresponded.’
‘But you knew she had inherited the hotel.’
‘I heard about it through my lawyers. As you may or may not know, my parents left all that they had to me, cutting off poor Lizzie completely. I arranged, therefore, that a certain sum—small, of course, for I had you children and your mother to think of—should be paid quarterly to my sister. When Lizzie inherited this eccentric Miss Chayleigh’s estate on Great Skua my lawyers informed me of the fact and hinted, in dry and delicate lawyers’ fashion, that it would be quite reasonable for me to discontinue the quarterly payments once Lizzie was amply provided for.’
‘And did you? I hope you didn’t,’ said Margaret. Marius smiled.
‘No, I did not,’ he said. ‘Your mother thought I should and, most illogically, held it against Lizzie that I instructed the lawyers to continue payment.’
‘Good for you, Father. After all, your parents were Aunt Eliza’s parents, too. It was a shame to cut her out of their will.’
‘So I believed, and so I still believe, my dear, although provision was made for her if ever she married. All the same, if this is the return I get for a disinterested action, I begin to have second thoughts upon the matter. It is most ungracious and uncivil of Lizzie to delay our meeting like this. I do not understand it. Her letter of invitation was warm and friendly enough.’
‘We understood from Ransome that the hotel does not do very well, Father. In fact, he told us that Aunt Eliza is in debt. The improvements seem to have cost more than she had to spend.’
‘I would not rely on that source for your information, my dear.’
‘Well, he lives on the island. He ought to know.’
‘Perhaps it is not in his interests to represent the hotel as a going concern,’ said Marius.
chapter six
First Misgivings
‘Where has thou been so long from my embraces,
Poor pitied exile? Tell me, did thy graces
Fly discontented hence, and for a time
Did rather choose to bless another clime?’
Robert Herrick
« ^ »
Well, I cannot understand it,’ said Marius at the reception desk on the following morning. ‘I really cannot. What on earth is keeping her so long? Of course, Miss Crimp, you know far more about my sister nowadays than I do, but, from what I remember of Lizzie, she was not inconsiderate or ill-mannered, and, really, this absence of hers, when she had specifically invited me, seems in the worst of taste, to say the least of it.’
‘Come into my office, Mr Lovelaine,’ said Miss Crimp, showing her teeth in what might be taken for a smile. ‘It is better not to discuss the matter in public, and these intrusive naturalists are everywhere.’
‘Well, we’ll be seeing you, Father,’ said Margaret. ‘We’re going down to bathe.’
‘Be careful, then, and make sure the tide is not going out,’ said Marius. He passed through the flap which Miss Crimp opened for him and followed her to the back of the reception office to a smaller room where the floor-space was mostly taken up by a large desk and an armchair.
‘Please sit down,’ she said, indicating the armchair and herself taking the swivel chair with which the desk was furnished.