Parents and Children

by Ivy Compton-Burnett

  ‘It does not seem that she would give you much trouble,’ said Isabel.

  ‘Hush, boys, hush. Not before the children,’ said Luce.

  ‘Well, shall we put the marriage in a fortnight?’ said Sir Jesse, trying to help his daughter-in-law.

  ‘I am afraid I must press for it earlier, even in a matter of days,’ said Ridley. ‘But I thank you, Sir Jesse, for generously furthering my cause. I wish I could rid myself of the idea that I am carrying off my bride.’

  ‘Why does one dislike the term, bride, as applied to one’s mother?’ said Luce.

  ‘There are several reasons, and none of them can be mentioned,’ said Graham.

  ‘Not before the children,’ said Venice.

  ‘We seem to be giving rise to a good deal of confidential discussion, Eleanor,’ said Ridley.

  ‘Are you going to be married as soon as on Friday?’ said James, in a high voice.

  ‘I thank you, James,’ said Ridley, ‘for putting into words what I did not dare to myself.’

  ‘Will you just go into the church and come out again, married?’

  ‘I thank you again, James.’

  ‘And then Mother will be Mrs Ridley Cranmer?’

  ‘I thank you once more, my boy.’

  ‘So you have thought out all the steps,’ said Regan, in a cool tone.

  ‘I fear that I stand exposed,’ said Ridley.

  ‘Shall we all come to the church?’ said Venice.

  ‘No, dear child,’ said Eleanor. ‘You will say good-bye to me here, and I shall come to see you on the day I come back from my honeymoon.’

  ‘And then you will come every day,’ said James.

  ‘In this atmosphere of reconciliation I will take my leave,’ said Ridley. ‘I must betake myself to the duties that beset my remaining hours.’

  ‘I will come to the door with you,’ said Eleanor.

  Regan gave her a swift look.

  ‘It is strange that we resent Mother’s treating Ridley as she treated Father,’ said Luce.

  ‘Surely it is not,’ said Daniel.

  ‘She does not do so,’ said Isabel.

  ‘That is true,’ said Graham.

  ‘How you all suppress your personal feeling!’ said Hope. ‘It is wonderful when you have so much. I somehow feel ashamed of Ridley, and yet he is only doing what your father did, and that must be a great and good thing, I suppose. I wonder if your mother knows her place in my life. I have only just found it out myself. Luce is too young to want me for a friend, and your grandmother would not be able to bear one.’

  ‘You come nearer to it than anyone, Airs Cranmer,’ said Luce. ‘Grandma does not shrink into herself or take the defensive when she hears your approach.’

  ‘No, dear, but is that the test of real friendship? I feel it is generous of you to welcome Ridley. And it is a sensible idea to keep him in a house apart. I wonder I never thought of it. They say it is never too late to mend, but in this case it is. Your mother will be one of those people who really have two homes.’

  ‘I wonder whom they will lose next. Their grandfather or me?’ said Regan.

  ‘The loss of your son has not killed you, Lady Sullivan. We must face facts,’ said Hope.

  Regan was laughing as Eleanor returned to the room.

  ‘What is the jest?’ said the latter.

  ‘It was not one, Mother,’ said Luce, ‘and as far as it was, it would not gain by repeating.’

  ‘What was it, my dear, nevertheless?’

  ‘It was about Grandma’s dying.’

  ‘Not dying, dear,’ said Hope.

  ‘I warned you not to have it revealed, Mother.’

  ‘But that is such a terrible solution,’ said Graham.

  ‘It is odd that old people think so little of their death,’ said Regan.

  ‘They make a good many false claims, in that case,’ said Isabel.

  ‘They would look foolish, if they forgot it,’ said her grandmother. ‘Other people never separate them from it.’

  ‘I think they feel stoic and heroic when they talk of it,’ said Graham.

  ‘So it is true that human motives are mixed,’ said Hope.

  ‘I warned you not to have it revealed, Mother.’

  ‘I must apply myself to my duties for the next days,’ said Eleanor. ‘There are things to be done for the children, before I leave them, I must take them into the town on Thursday, to get them some things that Hatton wants for them.’

  ‘Don’t they want them for themselves?’ said Hope. ‘I thought the child was father of the man.’

  ‘I don’t know how these duties get put off.’

  ‘You had every excuse, Mother,’ said Luce.

  ‘Who is going into the town?’ said James, in a casual manner.

  ‘You and Honor and Gavin,’ said his mother. ‘Nevill can do with what is handed down.’

  ‘I should think he can,’ said Hope. ‘I wonder it does not overwhelm him.’

  ‘That means a holiday for James,’ said Eleanor, sighing. ‘And I suppose the wedding day does too.’

  ‘I shall have to say good-bye to you,’ said James, going on quickly to the next words. ‘You won’t mind living in the little house, will you?’

  ‘No, not at all. It will be my own.’

  ‘That will be a change for the better,’ said Regan, in an almost cordial manner.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘What is the matter, Gavin?’ said Eleanor, as she returned to the house with her children. ‘Why are you staying in the carriage? You seem in such an odd mood.’

  Gavin got out and walked up the steps without a word.

  ‘What is wrong with him, Honor?’

  ‘He wanted you to stop and listen to him in the street. And now he wants to go back again.’

  ‘He must know he can’t do that. We are later than we ought to be already. Grandma is waiting for us. It is tiresome of him to make my last day so difficult.’

  James frolicked up the steps in the manner of a different and easier boy, and Honor followed in a neutral manner.

  ‘Why do people speak to each other, if other people don’t listen?’ said Gavin, without looking back.

  ‘I heard what you said,’ said his mother. ‘You remember that I answered. But you must know you made a mistake.’

  ‘I know that I saw him,’ said Gavin. ‘All my life I shall know.’

  ‘Children do fancy they see things, when they have them in their minds. Going where Father sometimes took you, reminded you of him, and you thought you saw him. That was all.’

  ‘I wasn’t reminded of him; I wasn’t thinking about him. I haven’t thought much about him for some time.’

  ‘Honor, can’t you persuade him that he must be wrong?’

  ‘He really thinks he saw him. You can’t persuade a person then.’

  ‘Well, run upstairs and try to forget it.’

  ‘I shan’t ever forget it,’ said Gavin, going heavily from stair to stair. ‘I shall remember it every minute. I shan’t ever remember other things.’

  ‘Honor, tell Hatton what he thinks, and ask her to explain to him.’

  ‘I shall tell her,’ said Gavin.

  ‘Perhaps you had better say nothing about it,’ said Eleanor.

  ‘I shall tell her,’ repeated Gavin.

  ‘No, you had better not, my boy. Do you hear what I say?’

  ‘If I didn’t hear, I couldn’t answer.’

  Eleanor sighed and went her way, prevented from pressing the point by the thought that it was her last day with her children.

  Gavin went to the nursery.

  ‘I saw Father,’ he said.

  ‘No, you are making a mistake,’ said Hatton.

  Gavin sat down to take off his boots, and wasted no further word.

  ‘You have fancied it,’ said Hatton, looking at his face, while Mullet, also observing it, came to his aid.

  Gavin leaned back and accepted the latter’s ministrations without attention to herself.
/>   ‘Poor Gavin is not well,’ said Nevill, glancing at his brother.

  ‘He really thinks he saw him,’ said Honor, to Hatton.

  ‘Of course he does, or he would not say so.’

  ‘He does do that sometimes,’ said Nevill, in shocked condemnation of his brother’s practices.

  ‘It is easy to imagine things,’ said Mullet, falling into the error of judging other people by herself. ‘When he has had his dinner, he will see how it was. When we are hungry, our minds are out of our control.’

  ‘I wasn’t hungry,’ said Gavin. ‘We had things to eat at a shop. I am not hungry now.’

  ‘Did he tell the mistress about it?’ said Mullet to Honor.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And what did she say?’

  ‘Something like what you and Hatton have said.’

  ‘Did she mind his saying it?’

  ‘Yes, I think she did rather.’

  Gavin took no notice when his plate was set before him, but presently took up his knife and fork, to forestall the inevitable pressure. As he ate, his colour returned, and he went through the meal with his normal appetite. When his sister talked, he answered with his usual directness, and he followed the others down to dessert, as though neither expecting nor desiring anything else. Nevill ran into the room and spoke at once.

  ‘Mother will be gone tomorrow,’ he said, and rapidly corrected his tone. ‘Poor Mother will be gone away very soon.’

  ‘They like the constant holidays,’ said Eleanor, with a smile and a sigh.

  ‘It was a chance to give Miss Pilbeam a day to herself,’ said Luce.

  ‘I thought we need hardly trouble,’ said Eleanor. ‘Nevill had his lessons alone.’

  ‘Just him and Miss Pilbeam,’ said the latter.

  ‘It was not worth Miss Pilbeam’s while to come for half-an-hour,’ said Luce.

  ‘He had an hour,’ said Nevill. ‘Then Hatton came for him.’

  ‘I should like to die,’ said Gavin, looking round the table.

  ‘Why would you?’ said Regan and Graham at once.

  ‘Because as long as you are alive, things can happen that you don’t like. Even if you couldn’t bear them, they would happen.’

  ‘A good description of life,’ said Isabel.

  ‘It is too one-sided,’ said Eleanor. ‘And in your case it would be absurd. No children could be more fortunate.’

  ‘We haven’t any father,’ said Honor. ‘So they could be.’

  ‘We could have one, if we liked,’ said Gavin.

  ‘Does he mean Ridley?’ said Luce.

  ‘He thinks he saw Father today,’ said Honor.

  ‘I did see him,’ said her brother. ‘In the town, when we were there with Mother.’

  ‘It is a fancy he has had,’ said Eleanor.

  Gavin’s face did not change.

  ‘What makes you think so, my boy?’ said Sir Jesse. ‘Why did you not speak to him?’

  ‘Grandpa, don’t press it,’ said Luce, in a low tone. ‘It is not a matter to push to its logical conclusion.’

  ‘He didn’t want me to,’ said Gavin. ‘He didn’t want us even to see him.’

  ‘I should think that is very likely true,’ said Eleanor, gently. ‘So he would like you just to forget it. And that is what we will do.’

  ‘Did you know he was there?’ said Gavin, meeting her eyes.

  ‘Of course she didn’t,’ said Honor. ‘Or she wouldn’t be going to marry Mr Ridley.’

  ‘Then she won’t be able to forget it. She says things that are not true.’

  ‘So that is what you think of me,’ said Eleanor.

  ‘He will think of Mother always when she is gone away,’ said Nevill.

  ‘I seem to have chosen the right course,’ said Eleanor. ‘People have no trouble in adapting themselves to it.’

  ‘I don’t think I could ever come to a decision,’ said Graham. ‘I hope my life will not afford much power of choice.’

  ‘I should say the hope is grounded,’ said Sir Jesse.

  ‘You are not going to live far away,’ said James, to his mother.

  ‘No, of course not, my boy. I could not bear to do that.’

  ‘I should think you could,’ said Gavin.

  ‘My dear, I have just said I could not,’ said Eleanor, in a tone of speaking to a much older person. ‘You must let people give their own account of themselves. You can’t know as much about them as they do.’

  ‘You can think you do. You can be sure.’

  ‘Then you should remind yourself that you are likely to be wrong.’

  ‘I never remind myself of things. If I don’t think they are true, why should I?’

  ‘It is an office we do tend to reserve for other people,’ said Isabel.

  ‘Why does this luncheon feel like an anniversary?’ said Graham.

  ‘It is my last luncheon as a member of the household,’ said Eleanor. ‘I think I shall try to forget it.’

  ‘You do forget things,’ said Gavin.

  ‘What kind of things?’

  ‘Not little things.’

  ‘So I forget big things, do I? Would you all say so? Would you, Luce?’

  ‘No, Mother dear, I should not.’

  ‘Would you, Daniel?’

  ‘No, it seems to me an unwarrantable assertion.’

  ‘Would you, Graham?’

  ‘No, I should have thought you would have them written on your heart.’

  ‘Would you, Isabel?’

  ‘No, I should have thought the opposite.’

  ‘Would you, Venice?’

  ‘No, I shouldn’t,’ said Venice, opening her eyes.

  ‘Would you, James?’

  ‘No, I should have thought you would remember them.’

  ‘Would you, Honor?’

  ‘No, I shouldn’t myself, but Gavin only means you forgot that you saw Father.’

  ‘He wouldn’t either,’ said Nevill, excitably. ‘He wouldn’t let them say it.’

  ‘My little boy,’ said Eleanor, lifting him to her knee.

  ‘He would kill them,’ said Nevill, sitting compliantly on it.

  Gavin appeared to be paying no attention.

  ‘Are you all going to say your own word to me on my last day?’ said Eleanor.

  ‘You would not think Mother was a person in whom hope would die so hard,’ said Graham.

  ‘I should like to have one from each of you to carry with me.’

  ‘Surely we have all said one,’ said Daniel.

  ‘And they will be easy to remember, as they are all the same,’ said Isabel.

  ‘It isn’t our fault that it is her last day,’ said Gavin.

  ‘The boy is upset in some way,’ said Sir Jesse.

  ‘Yes, of course that is what it is,’ said Eleanor.

  ‘Come, let us all disperse,’ said Luce. ‘There is no need to make it a melancholy occasion. Mother has things to do before tomorrow. She and I are going to do them together.’

  She left the room with her arm in her mother’s. Isabel and Venice and James took the chance to disappear. Sir Jesse withdrew with his grandsons, as was his habit since the loss of his son. Mullet came to fetch the children and led Nevill from the room. Gavin appeared to follow her, but in a moment fell behind and walked up to his grandmother.

  ‘I saw Father today,’ he said.

  ‘You are thinking of him, because Mother is leaving you. I am thinking of him too. So you and I are feeling the same.’

  ‘You are not thinking of him because of that, are you?’

  Regan laughed, and Gavin’s face flushed and his eyes filled with angry tears, but he spoke in a simple, controlled manner.

  ‘Perhaps he will come to the house.’

  ‘It would seem quite natural, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘Are you saying what you think is not true?’ said Gavin, looking into her face.

  ‘No, I am not. I shall never get used to being without him.’

  ‘This house is his home, isn’t
it?’

  ‘Yes, of course it is, or was.’

  ‘It is now,’ said Gavin. ‘He hasn’t any other. I could tell he hadn’t another one, like Mother.’

  ‘How could you tell?’ said Regan.

  ‘By the way he looked. And by the way he looked at Honor.’

  ‘Didn’t he look at you too?’

  ‘Not as much. He never does. That is how I first knew it was Father. And then I looked and saw that it was. And I called to Mother, and she went on. And when I looked back, he was gone.’

  ‘Where did you see him?’

  ‘In the dark street that goes from the big shops to the little ones. You know there are two inns there. Mother and Honor were in front of me, and Father came out of one of them. And he saw me first, because I was behind, and then he stood and looked at Honor.’

  ‘Did he know you saw him?’ said Regan, feeling it wise to draw out the child’s impression.

  ‘No, I don’t think so. If people who are back from the dead, are the same as other people, Mother ought not to marry Mr Ridley. It is against the’ law. But perhaps this is different.’

  ‘People can’t come back from the dead, my child.’

  ‘I think Father has. He looked like that. And he wouldn’t be the very first, would he?’

  ‘How did he look?’ said Regan, in a gentle tone.

  ‘Thin and pale, with a smaller face than he used to have. And his hands were small and pale, coming out of the sleeves of his coat. They looked like Mother’s or Luce’s. And he must be smaller himself, because his coat was so large. But I daresay he wouldn’t be quite the same. It must have been cold where he was, because the coat had fur on it; and he had worn it often, because it was mended down the front, and one of the fur cuffs was partly gone.’

  Regan’s eyes were fixed on her grandson, and she kept them on his face as she slowly rose to her feet.

  ‘Where did you say you saw him?’

  Gavin told her again, hardly varying his words, and she suddenly took his hand and hurried to the door. In the hall she snatched the first garment she saw, and almost ran out of the house. She was like a person who feels she must get something over, before she can settle to her life. As they drew near the stables, Gavin dragged at her hand and spoke in a weaker voice.

  ‘I don’t think I need go with you. Father doesn’t want to see me the most. Honor would be better, but one person is enough. It is best to be all together, when a person comes back from the dead.’