Seeing his father seated in his chair with the tartan rug over his knees and his mother hovering close, it occurred to me that he had delayed asking Minta to marry him because of his parents. When he was married he would be expected to live at Whiteladies and he wished to remain with his father for what time was left to him.
We all met again on Christmas morning at church and in the late afternoon went to Wakefield Park where we were to dine. The place looked festive hung with holly and mistletoe and I was reminded of Adelaide’s attempts to bring an English atmosphere into our home on the other side of the world.
It was the traditional Christmas—turkey and plum pudding blazing with brandy, and gifts for everyone from a Christmas tree in the centre of the drawing-room. Toasts were drunk to our hosts, to their guests and particularly to newcomers. There were several guests besides ourselves and after dinner more called in. In a large ballroom we danced, to the music of two violins, the old country dances—Jenny Pluck Pears and Sir Roger de Coverley—and afterwards we waltzed and some of us tried the minuet. I enjoyed it all and tried not to think of Christmases spent in Australia. Franklyn’s parents stayed up until the end and I noticed the old man nodding and beating time to the music, and how his eyes and those of his wife followed Franklyn all the time.
“It was a lovely Christmas,” I told Franklyn; and he replied in his stilted way how pleased he was that I had not been bored by their old customs.
On the way home Stirling admitted it had been an enjoyable day and told me he had invited them all to the Mercer’s House for the New Year.
“We must put our heads together,” he said, ‘and plan something equal to Mr. Franklyn Wakefield’s entertainment. “
( was a little ashamed of that New Year’s party. Stirling had sent for a firm of London caterers to come down and manage the whole thing. He scattered invitations throughout the place. Special plate was brought down; expert chefs came to do the cooking; and he even decided that we should have footmen in blue velvet livery wearing powdered wigs.
I laughed aloud.
“It’s ridiculous,” I said, ‘for a small country house like this—and appalling bad taste. “
“I wish we could have it in Whiteladies,” he said wistfully.
“Imagine that hall …”
“This is not Whiteladies, and what are these people going to think when they see your hired flunkeys.”
But I could not dissuade him.
Mrs. Glee was inclined to be indignant.
“I could have managed very well, Mrs. Herrick, with an extra maid or two and [ would have known where to get them,” she scolded reproachfully.
“I hope Mr. Herrick is not dissatisfied with my cooking.”
I assured her that this was not the case and that Mr. Herrick had acted without consulting me. I should have planned a very different sort of party—with Mrs. Glee’s help, of course.
She was mollified and when she saw the decorated dining-and drawing-rooms and all the preparations, she began to take an immense pride in them. We were going to outshine Whiteladies and that meant something to her. She became quite excited, especially as she would take an authoritative part in the proceedings.
I don’t know whether I could call that evening a success. At least it was memorable. Fancy lamp-posts had been fixed outside the house and red carpet laid down on the steps of the portico. Stirling had hired a band which was set up in a little room between the dining-and drawing-rooms and the players wore red breeches with white Hungarian blouses. The table decorations were a masterpiece of roses which were very expensive at that time of the year. The guests were duly impressed and faintly embarrassed in the midst of such grandeur; consequently it was not such a merry party as we had had at Wakefield Park. Stirling had arranged for a pianist to entertain us ana afterwards we danced in the drawing-room which had been made ready for this purpose. It was not a ballroom such as they had at Wakefield Park, but it was when the dancing started that the party became enjoyable. We danced folk dances which Maud led because she ran a class for them, and then everyone became more natural. At a quarter to twelve we sat down waiting for midnight to strike; and when it did we joined hands and sang “Auld Lang Sync*. I had Franklyn on one side of me, Minta on the other; and I felt happy because I knew them.
When the last of the guests had gone Stirling and I sat down in the drawing-room and talked about the evening.
“You have made your point admirably,” I told him.
“Your friends and neighbours will no longer doubt that they have a millionaire in their midst.”
“It’s rather a pleasant thing to be.”
“When it gets you what you want; but do remember money won’t buy everything.”
“Name a few things it won’t.”
Those things which are not for sale. “
“You’ll see. I’ve made up my mind I’m going along to have a talk with Sir Hilary.”
“When?”
“In a few days’ time.”
“So you’re waiting a few days! Tactful of you but I marvel at your sloth. Why not go along tomorrow and say:
“Sir Hilary, I’ve made it clear to you that I am a millionaire, an ostentatious fellow who likes to stress the point. I’m ready to pay what you ask.” “You’ve changed, Nora. Sometimes I wonder whether you’re on my side.”
“I’m always on your side,” I said.
He smiled, understanding. That was love between us, unshakeable, inevitable. I could criticize him; he could mock me; it didn’t matter.
We were meant for each other and it would always be like that. True, I married Lynx; but then Lynx had decided that. And I was so close to Stirling that I shared his adoration of the strange man who had been his father. Stirling had had no choice but to stand aside for Lynx; and I had no choice but to stand aside for Whiteladies . which after all was for Lynx. But we were one-Stirling and I. After a year of widowhood I would become his wife.
As he smiled at me that night I was as certain of this as [ had been during that time in the cave when we had lain close together while a forest fire raged over our heads and we thought never to come out alive. There was the same understanding between us now.
By the end of January Stirling’s patience gave out and he went to see Sir Hilary. I was in the library when he came in, his face white, his lips tight and a look of blank despair in his eyes.
“What’s happened?” I cried.
“I’ve just come from Whiteladies.”
“Is something terribly wrong there?”
He nodded.
“I’ve made an offer to Sir Hilary.”
“And he refused. Is that all? I could have told you it would happen.”
He sat down heavily and stared at the tip of his boot.
“He says he can’t sell … ever. No matter what offer he had, he couldn’t.
“I’m saddled with the house and so is the family,” he said. Those were his words. Saddled with it! There’s some clause that won’t allow them to sell. It was made by some ancestor who had a gambling son. The house remains in the family . whatever happens. “
I felt as though a burden had been lifted from my shoulders.
“That’s settled it. You’ve done all you can and there’s an end to the matter.”
“Yes,” he said, ‘it would seem so. “
“You tried. No one, not even Lynx, could have done more.”
“I didn’t expect this.”
“I know. But I told you there are some things which are not for sale.
Now you can put it out of your mind and start planning for the future.”
“You’re glad, I believe.”
“I think it’s wrong to try to take from people something which belongs to them.”
“He used to talk so much about it. He was determined that we should be there.”