‘Are you sure he has not done so, Mrs Frost?’ said Ainger. ‘Your secret would be safe with me.’
A boy of fourteen entered the room, came to his seat and began at once to eat, as though to cover some consciousness.
‘Well, Simon,’ said Halliday, without expression.
‘Well, my lad,’ said Ainger, with one of authority and threat.
‘He has put on his page’s suit,’ said Madge, in a tone of mild excitement.
‘How long is it since you discarded it, Mr Ainger?’ said Kate. ‘The very same suit, if I remember.’
‘You do remember,’ said Mrs Frost.
‘Twenty-four years,’ said Ainger. ‘Ten years before the boy was born.’
‘So the world was prepared for his entry,’ said Kate, sighing.
‘He has polished the buttons!’ said Madge.
‘The only improvement he could make,’ said Ainger. ‘And 1 never thought it was one. It drew attention to the garb.’
‘It is comical,’ said Kate, in acquiescence. ‘But it suits Simon better than it did you. He looks more at home in it.’
‘That is what he is. He is born and bred for what it indicates.’
‘And what were you born and bred for?’ said Halliday.
‘I was bred for that, Halliday. I make no secret of it. I was born for something else, and I can feel I have attained it.’
‘Put into words what you have attained.’
‘Ah, it is difficult to do that for you, Halliday,’ said Ainger, leaning back with an appraising eye on his colleague.
‘Simon left school yesterday,’ said Madge.
‘It is not very difficult to leave something off,’ said Kate.
‘Did he find that knowledge was power?’ said Mrs Frost.
‘Money is power,’ said Simon. ‘And you get money by working.’
‘Not much for your kind of work,’ said Ainger.
‘It is the same kind as yours.’
‘Now remember this,’ said Ainger, leaning towards him. ‘You know nothing about my kind of work, and will always know nothing. It is hidden from your eyes.’
‘And from a good many people’s,’ said Halliday.
‘When Mr Ainger rises further,’ said Madge, ‘we shall remember that we sat at the same table with him in his humble days.’
‘And he will remember your doing so, Madge,’ said Ainger.
‘Will he return to claim one of us?’ said Mrs Frost.
Madge looked towards the window with wide eyes.
‘Whomever I married,’ said Kate, ‘I should not forget my early associates.’
‘You would be too weighed down and worried to remember anything,’ said Halliday. ‘You are better as you are.’
‘Talking of marriages,’ said Kate, ‘the master’s situation invites inquiry.’
‘I can meet it,’ said Ainger. ‘I have his confidence. He feels that a mother’s feelings command respect. I am a confidential servant.’
‘For what that is worth,’ said Halliday.
‘It is worth something to the rest of us,’ said Madge, ‘as we are the other kind.’
‘Everyone is a servant in his way,’ said Halliday. ‘There is no essential difference.’
‘Only an actual one,’ said Mrs Frost.
‘It is hard to see how anyone in Mr Ainger’s situation can rise higher,’ said Kate. ‘If there was any method, we might all resort to it.’
A bell sounded in the passage and Simon became alert.
‘Answer it, my boy,’ said Halliday. ‘Your moment has come.’
‘Yes, answer it,’ said Ainger. ‘I don’t want to insist on the prerogative.’
Simon did so and returned flushed and satisfied.
‘I did what they wanted. They said they hoped I would do well.’
‘Well, it is to their advantage,’ said Kate. ‘But they confront their own demands.’
‘And fulfil them,’ said Ainger. ‘You see it when you are in contact.’
‘Will the two Mrs Clares become acquainted?’ said Kate. ‘That is the question I have been asking myself.’
‘And what answer did you give yourself?’ said Ainger.
‘It seems there is bound to be encounter.’
‘What is it to do with us?’ said Halliday.
‘As much as anyone’s affairs are to do with anyone else,’ said Ainger. ‘That is, nearly as much to do with us as our own.’
‘And a cat may look at a king,’ said Kate, with a sigh.
‘I do not see myself in that light,’ said Halliday, ‘and I have reason to think other people do not. Talking of being a cat, Ainger, we might as well say a laughing hyaena.’
Ainger leant back and did his best to establish the comparison, and Halliday opened his mouth and did no more. The bell rang again and was answered by Simon, who returned and crossed the kitchen with a withdrawn expression.
‘The ash-trays forgotten,’ said Ainger, idly.
‘By whom?’ said Halliday.
‘By me. I have other things to think of.’
‘The master’s affairs,’ said Kate. ‘It is true we are dependent on you for them.’
‘Yes, he and I often indulge in a masculine talk. I am asked for my opinion. But I sometimes know better than to give it.’ Ainger shook his head.
‘Are you not allowed to disagree?’ said Madge.
‘It tends to be complex, Madge. As must arise from contact.’
‘The trays were not polished,’ said Simon, as he returned.
‘They will be in future,’ said Ainger. ‘And by you. Say “Yes, sir”.’
‘Yes, sir,’ said Simon, without reluctance.
‘He promises,’ said Kate, resting her eyes on Simon.
‘If I were the mistress,’ said Madge, ‘I would not consent to meet the first Mrs Clare.’
‘You would do what your place required of you,’ said Ainger. ‘You betray your unfitness.’
‘Well, fitness for it would not be much good to me.’
‘It would not help her,’ said Kate.
‘I can imagine Mrs Frost in any place,’ said Halliday.
‘So can I,’ said Mrs Frost. ‘I have done so.’
‘Not that we should like your present place to be filled by anyone else.’
‘A sentiment I endorse,’ said Ainger.
‘I hardly expected this,’ said Mrs Frost, looking down.
Simon laughed, and Ainger looked at him sternly.
‘The boy may listen to the talk,’ said Kate.
‘But not suggest commentary on it.’
The bell rang once more, and Simon returned from answering it and addressed Ainger.
‘You are to answer the bell yourself, and not always send me.’
‘Not always send you!’ said Ainger, rising and leaning towards him. ‘Answer the bell myself! Answer it myself, did you say? Tell me what they really said.’
‘They said what I told you. It is not my fault.’
‘Answer the bell myself!’ said Ainger, his feet moving rapidly. ‘That is what you say to me! Say it again, and let me see what they meant by it.’
‘I see,’ said Mrs Frost.
‘So do I,’ said Halliday.
The bell rang again with some force, and Ainger sped from the room as if he also saw it.
‘A confidential servant seems much the same as any other,’ said Halliday.
‘They may want to make some confidence,’ said Madge.
‘I suppose they always do,’ said Mrs Frost.
‘There is nothing incompatible,’ said Kate.
‘Serving other people can’t take us so far,’ said Halliday.
‘It must take them further,’ said Kate. ‘It is to be accepted.’
Ainger returned with a flushed face, humming to himself, and sat down idly in his place.
‘Fetch me that parcel on the pantry table,’ he said to Simon presently.
Simon brought it to him.
‘Unpack it,’ said Ainger sharply, as if the direction should have been superfluous.
Simon disclosed a box of cigars, and Ainger took it and strolled to the door.