“And you would let the boys come, Lucius?”
“Yes, if someone may bring them.”
“Of course. But it had better not be Oliver’s friend. Now he has been here as a guest, I would rather have someone else in the other character.”
“Miss James will be the right person.”
“I may also send a mistress, Maria?” said Lesbia. “The ewe lambs do not go out unshepherded from the fold.”
“If you will not come yourself.”
“I will come with pleasure, if it does not preclude the mistress. I have no experience in daily superintendence. It is outside my sphere.”
“Will you come, Juliet?”
“No, I am afraid I should superintend, and appear to disadvantage. I do forget myself so easily. It might seem to be within my sphere, when honestly it is not. And the boys will be happier without Lucius or me.”
“And the girls will not without Lesbia?” said Sir Roderick.
The faint smile came to Lesbia’s lips without her summoning it.
“I do not know, Roderick. I do not concern myself with the matter. That is the best way to be free of them, and have them free of me.”
“Perhaps that nice woman, Miss Chancellor, will come,” said Maria. “We met at thestation and had a talk. We should meet as friends. And she seemed to be fond of Clemence.”
“She was fond of Clemence, Maria. It is probable that she would like to come. Her duties will be in abeyance. I will make the suggestion.”
“Cannot you just tell her to come, as her time is yours?” said Sir Roderick.
“Why, no, Roderick,” said Lesbia, slightly raising her brows. “And her time is her own. I do not know whom you are thinking of.”
Sir Roderick did not tell her.
“Of course we do not mean there is any chance of Clemence’s returning to the school. Maria is not making any move towards that.”
“I should hope not, indeed,” said Lesbia, laughing, ‘after all we have been through on the score. It would be a sinister threat.”
“Would you refuse to take her now, if I wanted to send her?” said Maria.
“Yes, I think so, Maria,” said Lesbia, in an incidental manner. “I do not care for uncertain pupils. They have an unsettling influence.”
“And it would not be the right policy to encourage that,” said Sir Roderick.
“It is fairer to the parents not to do so.”
“Would you also repudiate Sefton, Lucius?”
“You can say you would, Lucius,” said Juliet, “as there is no chance of your having the choice.”
“No, I think I should just accept him in the ordinary way.”
“Both courses have their own dignity,” said Oliver. “But I think the second has more.”
“I do not make sacrifices to dignity,” said Lesbia.
“How will you entertain the guests, Maria?” said Oliver.
“They will see the children, and have good things to eat, and wander about the place. That will be enough for them. They are not grown-up. You appear to be amused.”
“I am,” said her stepson.
“Will the girls expect anything more, Lesbia?”
“They will be glad to do as you say, Maria, and will think it kind to ask them,” said Lesbia, in a faintly recitative tone.
“Well, the day will come and go,” said Sir Roderick.
“It will come,” said his son. “And in the end it will go, though Clemence and Sefton will find themselves in some doubt about it. And with them it will remain.”
Chapter VII
“Well, Clemence, If we are not to see you at school, we must be content to see you in your home,” said Miss Chancellor, as she entered the Shelleys’ hall. “Not that that is not an ungracious way of referring to your invitation. We are most pleased to come, and thank you very much for thinking of us. Are we blocking your path, Miss Fire-brace?”
Lesbia gave Clemence a smile as she passed, and followed Aldom to the drawing-room.
“It is nice of you to want us here, Clemence,” said Verity glancing round the hall.
“I was so upset when you did not come back,” said Gwendolen. “I felt that our lives had gone apart, and that to you it meant nothing.”
“We were all disappointed not to see you, Clemence,” said Maud. “And it came as such a complete surprise. There had been no hint or suggestion of it.”
“Why did you suddenly decide to leave?” said Esther.
“Esther has not lost her abruptness,” said Miss Chancellor.
“I cannot help thinking it was a pity, Clemence,” said Maud, “Of course I know nothing about it, and have no right to form an opinion.”
“Only to express one,” said Verity.
“But you had settled down and got over the uncertain period,” went on Maud, without looking at Verity. “It seems a waste of the initiation stage, of which the point is that it leads to something further.”
“We must hope it will do so,” said Miss Chancellor. “We can build upon foundations anywhere, if they are well and truly laid. Not that a term was not a short time in which to lay them; which amounts to saying the same thing as Maud.”
“Who teaches you now, Clemence?” said Verity.
“Miss Petticott and my brother’s tutor, who taught us before.”
“And taught you well, if I remember,” said Miss Chancellor, with a note of having relegated Clemence to the past. “Miss Tuke, you have not greeted your former charge. It is remiss of you when she is also your hostess.”
“Poor Miss Tuke was ill in the train,” said Gwendolen, as though this explained the omission.
“Yes, Clemence, I was quite poorly,” said Miss Tuke, finding her tongue in this accustomed sphere. “And I felt quite a novice in attending to myself.”
“Would you like to lie down?” said Clemence.
“Dear, dear, no indeed. I should think I was somebody else.”
“And that would not do,” said Miss Chancellor, “when we are all dependent on your being yourself.”
“Shall I ask Adela to come to you?”
“No, no, I should have nothing to say to Adela, whoever she may be. But thank you, Clemence, my dear. I see you would do the right things in illness.”
“Such as fetching someone else to deal with it.”
“Well, that might be the right thing,” said Miss Chancellor, “as you are without experience in such matters. But Adela is baulked of her patient this time. Miss Tuke will have none of her.”
“Didn’t you wear that dress in the evenings at school sometimes?” said Esther.
“Yes, I believe I did. Or one something like it.”
“Did you have two dresses made almost alike?” said Gwendolen, looking at it with attention.
“It has been altered, hasn’t it?” said Esther.
“Yes, I think it has. Oh, yes, that is it,” said Clemence, looking down at the dress and giving it a careless pull.
“And you do not care whether it has or not,” said Miss Chancellor. “You will never cure Clemence of her indifference to such things, Esther. You may as well relinquish the effort.”
“She might have taken more trouble for our visit,” said Verity. “We have all made the most of our resources.”
Clemence sent her eyes over the figures before her and gave a faint frown, as though perplexed by the account.
“I cannot help laughing at your expression, Clemence,” said Miss Chancellor, proving what she said.
“Don’t you think Miss Chancellor’s dress is nice, Clemence?” said Gwendolen.
“Confess now, Clemence. You had no idea whether it was nice or not, and no wish to form one.”
“Don’t you like Miss Tuke’s new dress?” said Esther, at the same moment.
“Oh, my dress; well, I have to wear something. If I did not, what a saving it would be of time and trouble! It is other people’s dresses that are my province, and an interesting one I find it. I am pleased with Esther’s dress. Are not you, Miss Chancellor?”