by Hugh Walpole
She went up to her father’s room, as was her custom every morning after breakfast. He was lying at his open window, watching, with those strange, restless eyes of his, the great expanse of sea and sky stretching before him. His room was full of light and air. Its white walls and ceiling, great bowls of some of the last of the summer’s roses, made it seem young and vigorous and alive. It was almost a shock to see that huddled, dying old man with his bent head and trembling hands — but his eyes were young, and his heart.
As she looked at him, she wondered why she had never really cared for him. At first she had been afraid; then, as she grew older and a passionate love for and pride in the family as a conservative and ancient institution developed in her, that fear became respect, and she looked up to her father from a distance, admiring his reserve and pride but never loving him; and now that respect had become pity, and above all a great longing that he might live for many, many years, securing the household gods from shame and tending the fire on the Trojan hearth. For at the moment of his death would come the crisis — the question of the new rule. At one time it had seemed certain that Robin would be king, with herself a very vigilant queen-regent. But now that was all changed. Harry had come home, and it was into his hands that the power would fall.
She had often wondered that she knew her father so little. He had always been difficult to understand; a man of two moods strongly opposed — strangely taciturn for days together, and then brilliantly conversational, amusing, and a splendid companion. She had never known which of these attitudes was the real one, and now that he was old she had abandoned all hope of ever answering the question. His moods were more strongly contrasted than ever. He often passed quickly from one to the other. If she had only known which was the real one; she felt at times that his garrulity was a blind — that he watched her almost satirically whilst he talked. She feared his silences terribly, and she used often to feel that a moment was approaching when he would reveal to her definitely and finally some plot that he had during those many watchful years been forming. She knew that he had never let her see his heart — he had never taken her into his confidence. She had tried to establish some more intimate relationship, but she had failed; and now, for many years, she had left it at that.
But she wanted to know what he thought of Harry. She had waited for a sign, but he had given none; and although she had watched him carefully she had discovered nothing. He had not mentioned his son — a stranger might have thought that he had not noticed him. But Clare knew him too well to doubt that he had come to some definite conclusion in the matter.
She bustled cheerfully about the room, humming a little tune and talking to him, lightly and with no apparent purpose. He watched the gulls fly past the open window, his eyes rested on a golden flash of sun that struck some shining roof in the Cove, but his mind was back in the early days when he had played his game with the best and had seen the bright side of the world.
“He was a rake, Jack Crayle” — he seemed scarcely conscious that Clare was in the room— “a rake but a good heart, and an amusing fellow too. I remember meeting old Rendle and Hawdon Sallust — Hawdon of the eighties, you know — not the old man — he kept at home — all three of them at White’s, Rendle and Sallust and Crayle; Jack bet Rendle he wouldn’t stop the next man he met in the street and claim him as an old friend and bring him in — and, by Jove, he took it and brought him in, too — sort of tramp chap he was, too — dirty, untidy fellow — but Rendle was game serious — by Gad, he was. Said he was an old friend that had fallen on evil times — gave him a drink and won the bet—’63 that was — the year Bailey won that polo match against old Tom Radley — all the town was talking of it. By Gad, he could ride, Bailey could. Why — —”
“It’s time for your medicine, father,” said Clare, breaking ruthlessly in upon the reminiscences.
“Eh, dear, yes,” he said, looking at her curiously. “You’re never late, Clare, always up to time. Yes, yes, well, well; in ‘63 that was. I remember it like yesterday — old Tom — particular friend he was of mine then, although we broke afterwards — my fault too, probably, about a horse it was. I — —”
But Clare gave him his medicine, first tying a napkin round his neck lest she should spill the drops. He looked at her, smiling, over the napkin.
“You were always a girl for method,” he said again; “not like Harry.”
She looked at him quickly, but could guess nothing; she was suddenly frightened, as she so often was when he laughed like that. She always expected that some announcement would follow. It was almost as if he had threatened her.
“Harry?” she said. “No. But he is very like he used to be in some ways. It is nice to have him back again — but — well, he will find Pendragon rather different from Auckland, I’m afraid.”
Sir Jeremy said nothing. He lay there without moving; Clare untied the napkin, and put back the medicine, and wheeled the chair into a sunnier part of the room and away from the window.
“You must get on with Harry, Clare,” he said suddenly, sharply.
“Why, yes,” she answered, laughing a little uneasily. “Of course we get on. Only his way of looking at things was always a little different — even, perhaps, a little difficult to understand”; and then, after a little pause, “I am stupid, I know. It was always hard for me to see like other people.”
But he was not listening to her. He was smiling at the sun, and the birds on the lawn, and the flashing gold of the distant sand.
“No, you never saw like Harry,” he said at last. “You want to be old to understand,” and he would say no more.
He talked to her no more that morning, and she was vaguely uneasy. What was he thinking about Harry, and how did his opinion influence the situation?
She fancied that she saw signs of rebellion. For many years he had allowed her to do what she would, and although she had sometimes wondered whether he was quite as passive as she had fancied, she had had no fear of any disturbance. Now there was something vaguely menacing in his very silences. And, in some undefined way, the pleasure that he took in the cries of birds, the plunge and chatter of the sea as it rose and fell on the southern shore, the glint of the sun on the gold and green distances of rock and moor was alarming. She herself did not understand those things; indeed, she scarcely saw them, and was inclined to despise any one who loved any unpractical beauty, anything that was not at least traditional. And now this was a bond between her father and Harry. They had both loved wild, uncivilised things, and it was this very trait in their character that had made division between them before. But now what had been in those early years the cause of trouble was their common ground of sympathy.
They shared some secret of which she knew nothing, and she was afraid lest Robin should learn it too.
She went about her housekeeping duties that morning with an uneasy mind. The discipline below stairs was excellent because she was feared. It was not that she was hasty-tempered or unjust; indeed the cook, who had been there for many years, said that she had never seen Miss Clare angry, and her justice was a thing to marvel at. She always gave people their due, and exactly their due; she never over-praised or blamed, and that was why people said that she was cold; it was also, incidentally, responsible for her excellent discipline.
She was, as Sir Jeremy had said, a woman of amazing method. But the attitude of her actual household helped her; they were all, by education and environment, Trojans. Whatever they had been before they entered service at “The Flutes” — Radicals, Socialists, Dissenters, or Tones — at the moment of passing the threshold they were transformed into Trojans. Other things fell from them like a mantle, and in their serious devotion to traditional Conservatism they were examples of the true spirit of Feudalism. Beldam, the butler, had long ago graduated as Professor in the system. Coming as page-boy in earlier years, he had acquired the by no means easy art of Trojan diplomacy. It was now his duty to overhaul, as it were, every servant that passed the gates; an overhauling,
moreover, done seriously and with much searching of the heart. Were you a Trojan? That is, do you consider that you are exceptionally fortunate in being chosen to perform menial but necessary duties in the Trojan household? Will you spend the rest of your days, not only in performing your duties worthily, but also in preaching to a blind and misguided world the doctrine of Trojan perfection and superiority? If the answer were honestly affirmative, you were accepted; otherwise, you were expelled with a fortnight’s wages and eternal contempt.
Even the scullerymaid was not spared, but had to pass an examination in rites and rituals so severe that one unfortunate, Annie Grace Marks, after Beldam had spoken to her severely for half-an-hour, burst out with an impetuous, “Thank Gawd, she was a Marks, which was as good as the High and Mighty any day of the week, and better, for there wasn’t no pride in the Marks and never ‘ad been.”
She received her dismissal that same evening.
But the case of Annie Marks was an isolated one. Rebellion was very occasional, and, for the most, the servants stayed at “The Flutes” — partly because the pay was good, and partly because the very reiteration of Trojan supremacy gave them a feeling of elevation very pleasant to their pride. In accordance with all true feudal law, you lost your own sense of birth and ancestry and became in a moment a Trojan; for Smith, Jones, and Robinson this was very comforting.
So Clare had very little trouble, and this morning she was able to finish her duties speedily, and devote her whole attention to the crisis that threatened the family.
She decided to see Garrett, and made her way to his room. He was writing, and seemed disturbed by her entry. He had been working for some years on a book to be entitled, “Our Aristocracy: its Threatened Supremacy.” He was still engaged on the preliminary chapter, “Some aspects of historical aristocracy,” and it had developed into a somewhat minute account of Trojan past history. He had no expectations of ever concluding the work, but it gave him a pleasant sense of importance and seemed in some vague way to be of value to the Trojan family.
He was always happy when at work, although he effected very little; but, after all, the great stylists always worked slowly. His style was, it is true, somewhat commonplace; but his rather minute output allowed him to rank, in his own estimation, with Pater and Omar Khayyám, and disdain the voluminous facility of Thackeray and Dickens. He was, he felt, one of the “precious” writers, and so long as no one saw his work he was able both to comfort himself and to impress others with the illusion.
It was said vaguely in Pendragon that “Garrett Trojan was a clever fellow — was writing a book — said to be brilliant, of great promise — no, he hadn’t seen it, but — —” etc.
So Garrett looked at his sister a little resentfully.
“I hope it’s important, Clare,” he said, “because — well, you know, the morning’s one’s time for work, and once one gets off the track it’s difficult to get back; not that I’ve done much, you know, only half a page — but this kind of thing can’t move quickly.”
“I’m sorry, Garrie,” she answered, “but you’ve got to talk to me. There are things about which I want your advice.”
She did not really want it; she had decided on her line of conduct, and nothing that he could say would alter her decision — but it flattered him, and she needed his help.
“Well, of course,” he said, pushing his chair back and coming to the fire, “if it’s anything I can do — What is it, Clare? Household or something in the town?”
“Oh, nothing,” she laughed at him. “Don’t be worried, Garrie; I know it’s horrid to disturb you, and there’s really nothing — only — well, after all, there is only us, isn’t there? for acting together I mean — and I want to know what line you’re going on.”
“Oh! about Harry?” He looked at her sharply for a moment. “You know that I object to lines, Clare. They are dangerous things.” He implied that he was above them. “Of course there are times when it is necessary to — well, to be decisive; but at present it seems to me that we must wait for the situation to develop — it will, of course.”
“I knew that you would say that,” she said impatiently. “But it won’t do; the situation has developed. You always preferred to look on — it is, as you say, less dangerous; but here I must have your help. Harry has been back a week; he is, for you and me, unchanged. The situation, as far as we go, is the same as it was twenty years ago. He is not one of us, he never was, and, to do him justice, never pretended to be. We, or at any rate I, imagined that he would be different now, after all that time. He is exactly the same.” She paused.
“Well?” he said. “All that for granted, it’s true enough. What’s the trouble?”
“Things aren’t the same though, now. There is father, and Robin. Father has taken to Harry strongly. He told me so just now. And for Robin — —”
“Scarcely captivated,” said Garrett drily. “Have you seen them together? Hardly domestic — —”
Then he looked at her again and laughed. “And that pleases you, Clare.”
“Of course,” she answered him firmly. “There is no good in hedging. He is no brother of ours, Garrett. He is, what is more important still, no Trojan, and after all family counts for something. We don’t like him, Garrett. Why be sentimental about it? He will follow father — and it will be soon — après, le déluge. For ourselves, it does not matter. It is hard, of course, but we have had our time, and there are other things and places. It is about Robin. I cannot bear to think what it would mean if he were alone here with Harry, after all these years.”
“He would not stay.”
“You think that?” Clare said eagerly. “It is so hard to know. He is still only a boy. Of course Harry shocks him now, shocks everything — his sense of decency, his culture, his pride — but that will wear off; he will get used to it — and then — —”
It had been inevitable that the discussion should come, and Garrett had been waiting. He had no intention of going to find her, he would wait until she came to him, but he had been anxious to know her opinion. For himself the possibility of Harry’s return had never presented itself. After all those years he would surely remain where he was. In yielding his son he had seemed to abandon all claim to any rights of inheritance, and Garrett had thought of him as one comfortably dead. He had contemplated his own ultimate succession with the pleasurable certainty that it was absolutely the right thing. In his love for a rather superficial tradition he was a perfect Trojan, and might be relied on to continue existing conditions without any attempt at radical changes. Clare, too, would be of great use.
But in a moment what had been, in his mind, certainty was changed into impossibility; instead of a certain successor he had become some one whose very existence was imperilled — his existence, that is, on the only terms that were in the least comfortable. Everything that made life worth living was threatened. Not that his brother would turn him out; he granted Harry the very un-Trojan virtues of generosity and affection for humanity in general — a rather foolish, gregarious open-handedness opposed obviously to all decent economy. But Harry would keep him — and the very thought stirred Garrett to a degree of anger that his sluggish nature seldom permitted him. Kept! and by Harry! Harry the outlaw! Harry the rebel! Harry the Greek! Garrett scarcely loved his brother when he thought of it.
But it was necessary that some line of action should be adopted, and he was glad that Clare had taken the first step.
“You don’t think,” he said doubtfully, “that he could be induced to go back?”
“What!” cried Clare, “after these years and the way he has waited! Why, remember that first evening! He will never leave this again. He has been dreaming about it too long!”
“I don’t know,” said Garrett. “He’ll be at loggerheads with the town very soon. He has been saying curious things to a good many people. He objects to all improvement and says so. The place will soon be too hot for him.”
But Clare shook her head. “No,” sh
e said. “He will soon find out about things — and then, in a little, when he takes father’s place, what people think odd and unpleasant now will be original and strong. Besides, he would never go, whatever might happen, because of Robin.”
“Ah, yes, there is Robin. It will be curious to watch developments there. Randal comes to-day, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, this afternoon. A most delightful boy. I’m afraid that he may find Harry tiresome.”
“We must wait,” Garrett said finally; “in a week’s time we shall see better. But, Clare, don’t be rash. There is father — and, besides, it will scarcely help Robin.”