Testimony of Two Men

by Taylor Caldwell

  Robert put on his coat, after a blush of shame that he had forgotten it, and sat down. Jonathan sat near him negligently, his thin legs crossed, his profile to Robert as if he had forgotten him. Harald was superbly gracious. He smiled at Robert amiably. "A drink before lunch?" he suggested. His eyes were warm and affectionate, as if he had known Robert for many years and considered him a dear friend.

  "Whiskey and soda, as usual, for me," said Jonathan, still staring absently at the river. Robert considered. His mother did not believe in strong liquor and he had known, even in college and at medical school and at Johns Hopkins, only beer and wine and sherry. He doubted, in this atmosphere, that any of them would be the proper thing. "Sherry," said Jonathan, as if reading his mind. Robert hated himself for the heat in his face. "No," he said. "Thanks, just the same. I think I'd like whiskey, too."

  "Good," said Harald. He struck a bell on the table near his elbow. The sound was abrupt in that peaceful stillness. A moment later an elderly man in a white jacket came to the door. "Three whiskies and soda, Albert," said Harald, in his kind voice. "Please."

  The old man smiled at him like a father. "Surely, Mr. Ferrier," he said. "At once."

  "And would you mind, Albert, asking Miss Heger to join us here? You could bring the sherry for her, too."

  "Whiskey," said Jonathan, still not turning his head.

  "Oh, come now, Jon! Don't be disagreeable. Jenny doesn't drink whiskey! She's a lady."

  Jonathan yawned. "She usually drinks whiskey, too. Don't put on for Bob."

  Harald still smiled. But his eyes looked pained and Robert was sorry for him. Harald nodded to Albert. "Four whiskies, then." He hesitated. "You'll be giving Dr. Morgan a bad impression of us here, Jon."

  "He'll get worse, in the town." Jonathan spoke indifferently. He looked now at Robert. "My mother drinks whiskey and likes it. And why not? Such stupidity, thinking women are better, or worse, than men."

  Robert did not know what to say. He wished that Jonathan were less intolerable. But Harald was saying with enthusiasm, "Hambledon is a splendid town, really! You'll enjoy it, Doctor. Nothing like Philadelphia, of course, but nicer in many ways—"

  "Why, then, are you always scheming with lawyers to leave it?" asked Jonathan.

  Harald immediately became serious. He leaned earnestly toward his brother. "Now, Jon. You know that's not true. Isn't Hambledon my home? Didn't I always return to it when—"

  "Papa's money began to run out, or he refused you any more."

  Harald laughed lightly. "Oh, come on, Jon! This is Dr. Morgan's first visit here and—"

  "We mustn't give him a bad impression. Yes, I know. But do you expect he'll never hear about us in the town? There're hundreds of old biddies of both sexes who'll be only too anxious to tell him all about the Ferriers. Better if he hears it at firsthand."

  "You make us sound disreputable, or something."

  "And that's what we are."

  Harald was silent. He continued to smile, however. The door opened and Jenny came out upon the terrace. She had removed her brown apron, but her blue cotton dress was stained here and there, carelessly, with earth, as if she had come fresh from the garden. Her expression was sullen and remote. She did not look at any of the men, and did not acknowledge them when they rose and greeted her. She moved quickly, with the awkwardness of a colt, to a distant chair, sat down, turned her face away, and folded her large white hands in her lap.

  Robert looked at her profile furtively. Close at hand as she was, she appeared almost incredibly beautiful, her brow and fine nose and white chin thrown into relief by the vivid water, her black hair tumbling in the manner of a schoolgirl about her long pale neck and rigid shoulders, and then dropping down her straight back. She had a remarkably sweet breast, high and firm; her waist was very small; her hips swelled under her dress with grace and smoothness. Robert thought that never had he seen a girl so extraordinarily lovely. He saw the glint of fierce blue between her black lashes, intent, as aware as an animal's, and as unmoved, but watchful and full of enmity.

  "I've ordered whiskey and soda for you, Jenny," said Harald in a very gentle voice, almost pleading. "I'm glad you can join us."

  She gave no indication that she had heard him. Her sullen expression did not change. Why, she hates him! thought Robert. Then he had another thought: No, it was Jonathan whom she hated. She had seen him, and Robert, in the grove of trees after all. In that unpolluted air a good eye could detect anybody across even a mile of water. Robert became uncomfortable. As he stared at the girl like a boy he felt his nape tingle and the backs of his broad pink hands. His eye dropped to her bare throat; light lay in its hollow like a tiny pool of quivering water. The tingling increased in his flesh, and he did not know what it was. His eyes dropped even farther to her breast and could not turn away. He did not know that Jonathan was watching him with amusement. He was now staring at Jenny's round white arms, bare from the strong elbows.

  Albert returned with a silver tray, a bottle of soda water, and a bottle of whiskey. The men began to watch him prepare the drinks, as if he fascinated them. The silent girl apparently was disturbing their peace of mind, though she did not even look at them. Albert took a glass to her and she accepted it in silence, not turning her head.

  "Cheers," said Harald, nodding amiably at Robert. "And good health to you, Doctor, and may you be with us a very long time."

  "Thank you," said Robert. He paused. "And please call me Bob." He smiled like a shy youth. "No one does in Philadelphia. I'd like to start it in Hambledon."

  "Don't encourage it with patients," said Jonathan. "If you insist on getting very friendly with them, which is not the best thing in the world, let them call you Robert—after a long time of probation."

  "You mustn't listen to Jon," said Harald, with indulgence. "He's very formal, for all he doesn't wear the conventional frock coat and striped trousers." He became serious. "Everybody will miss him here. But—under the circumstances—I think it is wise to leave—"

  Jonathan took a long drink at his glass. "And you'll like it better, too."

  "Now, Jon. Why should I?"

  Jonathan held the glass halfway to his lips and looked at his brother. But he said nothing. Harald was at ease again. However, Robert, who was usually not aware of what his mother called "currents," felt that something dark and inimical had moved onto the terrace and now stood between the brothers. Jonathan's stare at Harald was cold. Harald seemed not to notice it. He was sipping at his glass contentedly. Robert was drinking also. He had tasted whiskey but once before in his life, as a child, when he had a bellyache and his father had mixed a concoction of honey, whiskey and hot water for him. He hadn't liked the whiskey. He did not like it today. His ears were beginning to ring a little, though the sensation was quite agreeable. He was still vaguely disturbed at the sudden tension that had lurched into the atmosphere. Then he saw that Jenny was looking at him with the lack of interest of a statue. Her eyes stared into his, clouded and aloof, much more blue than the river and much more still. Only the small trembling light in the hollow of her throat was alive.

  Yet Robert knew that she was studying him with hard thoroughness. He suddenly wanted her to like him, to know him as harmless. He swallowed, made himself speak through a tight throat. "Do you like gardening, Miss Heger?"

  It was as if she either had not heard him or had no intention of replying to him. Then she shrugged and said in a dull tone, "I just work in my father's rose gardens. He planted them himself. But he never lived to see them flower." Her face did not change, nor the indifference in her voice.

  "Sad," said Jonathan. Robert's full mouth tightened. Did he have to mock everything so meanly, even a girl's natural grief for her dead father?

  Jenny still looked only at Robert. "Sad," she repeated. "He never even saw the house completed. He never lived a single day here." She spoke without emotion. But the light in the hollow of her throat quickened.

  Harald said, "Jenny was only a little girl when h
er father died. They were very fond of each other. Then Myrtle, Jenny's mother, and Jenny, came to live here. It's a happy place."

  "A very happy place," said Jonathan. "Felicity. Charm-Sweetness. Enchantment." He put his glass down with a thump. "And sentimental."

  "Don't be insulting, Jon," said Harald, with mildness. "We like it, Jenny and I. It was old Pete's dream. It's unfortunate for him that he didn't live—"

  "But fortunate for you," said Jonathan.

  Robert wished, all at once, that he had not accepted the invitation. His discomfort was acute. Then he saw that Jenny, for the first time, had turned her face to Jon. It had changed. Hatred was there, more fierce and relentless than ever, but something else was there too, which was secret and violent. Was it despair? Robert had never been famous for his imagination. He had always accepted things at their face value, never looking beneath the obvious for any ulterior meaning. It had never occurred to him so to look. But now he was fascinated by the girl's expression. She had become even paler than before, as if in great pain. Her fingers were clenched on her glass, and the tips had whitened with pressure.

  Jonathan was indolently studying the water again, as if forgetting everyone on the terrace. Harald said to Robert, "You mustn't mind his nasty remarks, Bob. He's always making them. There's nothing personal in them, I assure you."

  "Always personal," said Jonathan. "Come off it, Harald. I'm a gentleman. I never insult anyone except intentionally."

  Swine, thought Harald, still determinedly smiling. He was all serenity and indulgence. He said, "How's Mother today?"

  "Do you care? However, she's as well as possible."

  Jenny regarded her glass intently. "Hasn't she improved? It's been a month since I last saw her. I thought she didn't look well."

  "Heart," said Harald with sympathy to Robert. "Not very serious, but disabling sometimes. That was the trouble with Myrtle, too. She had to take digitalis regularly."

  "I'm sorry," said Robert, with a feeling of helplessness.

  Jonathan replied to Jenny. "She isn't very well. She's had a lot to bear."

  "Let's forget morbid things," said Harald, rising. "I hear the lunch bell. Jenny?"

  The girl rose swiftly, her head high and stiff, and swept by them into the house. "Bob?" said Harald, and Robert followed her. She was already disappearing through a wide door which had opened into the hall, and there was startling sunlight in its dimness.

  The dining room was very large, with a high peaked roof of timbers. The walls were covered with rich rose damask, and the same rose color hung at tall thin windows, which had a view of the river. Here the furniture was definitely old, and Spanish, dark and heavy, the chairs carved, the seats cushioned in deep red velvet An Aubusson rug of obvious authenticity lay on the floor in tones of buff and soft blue. The long refectory table had been set with a delicate lace cloth, crystal and gleaming silver. A huge fireplace, rough and of white granite, stood at a farther wall, with copper utensils on the flagged hearth. It was a cold and forbidding room for all its taste and luxury. Jenny was already seated, remote and silent again, not lifting her eyes.

  Harald sat genially at the head of the table, and Jenny at the foot where her mother had sat. Robert sat at Harald's right hand, Jonathan opposite. "This room," said Jonathan, "would make an excellent mortuary."

  "Oh, come on," said Harald. "You've said that a hundred times. Do you think Jenny likes to hear what you think of her father's house?"

  Jonathan yawned. He looked at the immense buffet, dark with age, and surmounted by wrought-iron candlesticks. "Still a mortuary," he said. "Why the hell don't you turn this damned place over to the town as a museum?"

  "It's Jenny's home. She might object" Harald was lightly amused.

  He doesn't like this place, either! thought Robert, astonished.

  "Jenny," said Jonathan, "would you object?"

  She did not answer. "Now, Jenny," said Harald, "be nice and answer your dear Uncle Jon."

  The girl still did not answer. Again Robert wished he had not come. The strange hostility had followed them here.

  "Do answer your dear Uncle Jon," said Jonathan.

  The girl jumped to her feet. There were tears in her eyes. "I'll have a tray. In my room," she said, and before the men could rise, she had run out.

  "See what you've done. Again," said Harald, but without animosity. He smiled apologetically at Robert. "I don't know what's the matter with those two. Jon is always annoying poor Jenny, and baiting her, and she can't stand him. You'd think they'd control themselves, wouldn't you? Especially seeing we have you as a guest."

  "Stop being the perfect host," said Jonathan, not in the least disturbed by Jenny's wild rush from the dining room.

  Swine, thought Harald again. He can't behave for a minute. I hope to God he gets out soon. He said with serenity to Robert, "I see we have mock turtle soup today, and a nice fresh fish. I hope you enjoy it. Wine?"

  The food was wonderfully seasoned and served. Robert usually had a healthy appetite, and he had been hungry. He was no longer hungry; he had the strongest urge to leave this place, and the company of brothers who so evidently hated each other. He was shocked. He had never seen fraternal hatred before; he had not really thought it existed. He did not wonder what had caused it. It was enough for him that it existed, and he was deeply shaken. It was against nature!

  "You aren't eating," said Jonathan, and for the first time Robert heard genuine kindness in that deep voice.

  Robert looked at him, and was startled and shaken again. It was as if Jonathan were pitying him! Robert was suddenly and confusedly angry.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Harald pleasantly insisted on showing Robert part of the house after a lunch which had seemed disastrous to him. "And don't forget your studio," Jonathan suggested. "The studio, by all means." Harald was not perturbed. "What a joker," he said, with the utmost amiability. He took Robert's arm.

  The vast drawing room was in the tower wing, and it had been made oval accordingly. The ceiling was beamed in mahogany, the stone floor covered with Oriental rugs like dimmed jewels, the walls lined in deep green silk damask in a fleur-de-lys pattern, the casement windows hung with tapestry draperies. Here was another big fireplace of whitish granite, but larger, the background bricks heavily coated with soot. In this heavy grandeur the French furniture appeared frivolous: small gilt chairs, little gilt and velvet settees, round marble tables with gilt legs, sofas in bright blue damask and satin, crystal-and-gold lamps, pedestals holding Dresden china figurines of shepherds and shepherdesses in pastel colors, old paintings of eighteenth-century wigged gentlemen and pre-French Revolution ladies with white hair and bared bosoms, ornate and massive mirrors, the frames in intricate gilt design, little buhl cabinets filled with objets d'art, and footstools in tapestry and velvet Apparently some designer had wished to lighten the weight of the room, but even Robert, who knew nothing of balance and proportion and suitability, felt the furniture made the room absurd. He could not explain why. He looked at the windows and again saw the blue of the water, the opposite shore and the purpling mountains.

  "Silly, isn't it?" asked Jonathan. Harald only smiled. Robert said, "It is a very nice room." Jonathan chuckled. Robert again had the impression that both brothers were laughing together this time, and this made him feel uneasy.

  "Now, what would you have on this island instead?" Harald asked his brother with good humor.

  "I've told you before. A sturdy large farmhouse of field-stone, or, at the most pretentious, a Georgian house. Poor old Pete and his delusions of grandeur! A peasant dreaming of a palace."

  "There's nothing wrong with dreams," said Harald. "How can a man live without a dream of something greater than himself?"

  "You manage fine. You always did," said Jonathan.

  "You're so subtle," replied Harald. "I don't think you yourself know what you're saying most of the time."

  There was the breakfast room, round and cheerful, with Amish furniture in birch and m
aple, which Robert liked at once, and the morning room, as Harald called it with a curious wide-eyed expression, all dark oak and bright chintz, and the library, thin, narrow, long and gloomy, lined with books which obviously no one ever read, and whose leather

  covers had been chosen only for their color value. The leather furniture in black, dark blue and crimson was ponderous and forbidding, and there was a dank and leathery smell here, as of disuse. Great dull portraits were hung on what wall space remained, bearded Victorian gentlemen and prim ladies. "Old Pete's illustrious ancestors," said Jonathan.

  "Don't gibe," said Harald. "If Pete invented ancestors, it did them no harm, nor him, either. He wouldn't be the first in America."

  Robert was very weary not only of the castle, which did not seem to him to be as charming as at first, but of the wrangling brothers. There was an undertone in their objective insults which vaguely alarmed him, for though the overtone was light, the one below was vicious. Harald, at least, was tolerant and had a sense of humor, Robert thought. It was Jonathan who was the most offensive, determined to be insulting and even crude. It's strange, thought Robert, I never considered him to be deliberately obnoxious and uncouth and cruel before. That poor girl! If he does, indeed, despise her as he admitted to me, ordinary good manners should have kept him from baiting her.

  "Now the studio!" said Jonathan, in a voice ringing with false enthusiasm. "The heart of the castle, the real reason for its being!"

  "Oh, shut up," said Harald, smiling broadly. "Bob wouldn't be interested in my daubs." But Robert, who was liking him more and more in contrast to Jonathan, whom he was liking less and less, said, "I don't know much about art—"