A Family and a Fortune

by Ivy Compton-Burnett

  ‘Then he is a dear, sensible boy,’ said Matty.

  ‘Sensible certainly,’ said her nephew.

  ‘Well, Clement, I don’t know what to say,’ said Justine.

  ‘You can say what you will say to Mark and Aubrey.’

  ‘Well, I suppose that is fair in a way, but it does seem that there is a difference. But I will say nothing. The matter is taken out of my hands.’

  ‘It was never in them.’

  ‘Now don’t take that line with your sister. That does not make matters better.’

  ‘I have no wish to improve them. I find them well enough.’

  ‘I am afraid you do, Clement.’

  ‘Now that is not sensible, dear, and perhaps not even quite kind,’ said Matty.

  ‘It seems fair that all three brothers should have something, if two have,’ said Miss Griffin.

  ‘Well, it is really a matter for the family.’

  ‘Aunt Matty, don’t snub Miss Griffin in public like that,’ said Justine. ‘That is certainly not quite kind.’

  ‘My dear, you may have a way of coming between people, but between Miss Griffin and me there is our own relation.’

  ‘I am afraid there is, Aunt Matty.’

  There was a long silence.

  ‘Dear, dear, money, money, money!’ said Justine, leaning back and locking her hands above her head. ‘Directly it comes in, away fly dignity, decency, everything.’

  ‘Everything but true generosity,’ said Mark.

  ‘Dignity and decency depend up to a point on money,’ said Clement.

  ‘Indeed that is true,’ said Dudley. ‘You have only to go round the cottages. It seems absurd to say that money is sordid, when you see the things that really are.’

  ‘And that come from the lack of it.’

  ‘Why should it be sordid any more than any other useful thing?’ said Matty.

  ‘They say that it is a curse,’ said Dudley, ‘but I do not find it so. I like being a person to confer benefits. There, that is the worst.’

  ‘Dear Uncle!’ said Justine. ‘Enjoy your money and your generosity and all of it. You have never had a chance before.’

  ‘So you don’t think that the things I gave were more valuable than money. I knew that people never really did.’

  ‘To talk about money’s having no value is a contradiction in terms,’ said Clement.

  ‘Now I think that is honest, dear,’ said Matty.

  ‘Aunt Matty, you are going rather far in your implications,’ said Justine.

  ‘You do not go in for such things, dear, I know.’

  Justine put back her head in mirth, the action so familiar in her aunt somehow throwing up her unlikeness to her.

  ‘That may be fair, but we won’t start, another skirmish. And I don’t take it at all as an insult, however it was meant. I am one for the direct and open line. Now here are the other elders, come in the nick of time to prevent our discussion from becoming acrimonious.’

  ‘They are running it fine,’ said Clement.

  ‘Well, have you made up your minds how to spend your uncle’s money?’ said Oliver.

  ‘Yes, we have,’ said Clement, pausing a moment to get the plan of his speech. ‘The house is to be put in repair for Father and Mark; there is to be an allowance for me; and something is to be done for Aubrey’s future.’

  ‘Oh!’ said Blanche. ‘Oh, it is too quick. I did not think it would all be arranged at once like that.’

  ‘Would it be better for being delayed?’

  ‘I don’t know what to say. It does not seem right somehow. I really feel almost ashamed.’

  ‘To tell you the truth, Mother, so do I,’ said Justine. ‘But I could not help it. I plead guilty to the suggestion about Aubrey’s future, but otherwise I can hold myself apart.’

  ‘As a benefited person, I feel that my tongue is tied,’ said Edgar. ‘The mention of me was adroit.’

  ‘It was simply true,’ said Clement.

  ‘Dudley, I don’t know what to say,’ said Blanche. ‘What can you think of them all?’

  ‘I feel that we are drawn closer. They will not spoil things for me by letting me feel alone. I don’t think Clement and I have ever been so close before, and I expect them to share my joy, and people ought not to share a feeling without sharing the cause of it. I should not think it is possible. And I should be ashamed of feeling joy over a thing like money, if no one felt it with me.’

  ‘There is something in that, I suppose,’ said Justine.

  ‘Well, it is nearly time for luncheon,’ said her mother. ‘I suppose I must not say any more. We have had such a nice walk. I feel all the better for it and Miss Sloane has quite a colour. It was so kind of her to come with me. Father, did you get your sleep?’

  ‘I slept like a child, my dear, as is well for a person approaching his second childhood.’

  ‘That is not the speech of someone doing that, Grandpa,’ said Mark.

  ‘Father, what a way to talk! Well, I must go and take off my things. Perhaps Miss Sloane would like to come with me. And then we should open these windows. You have all been in here all the morning.’

  ‘With all our selfish hopes and desires,’ said Clement. ‘But I wonder that Justine has not been like a breath of fresh air in herself.’

  ‘I expect she has,’ said Blanche, patting her daughter’s cheek.

  ‘I have certainly been a breath of something, Mother, but I believe it has been felt to be more like a draught. But it may have been fresh and wholesome.’

  ‘We did not talk about the good fortune all the time,’ said Matty. ‘We had our glimpse of other things. I gave them an early experience of my own, which amused them with its likeness to this one. Its likeness and its difference, shall we say? Well, what do you think of your aunt’s varied history? I see you are not to be allowed to dwell on it. Your mother is directing our attention to more material things.’

  ‘The luncheon will not improve by waiting, dear, and I like it to be nice for you all. Let the boys help you out of your chair.’

  ‘Thank you, dears, Miss Griffin will do it. I am more used to her,’ said Matty, forgetting that she had objected to Miss Griffin’s presence. ‘But she seems to be having a little nap. Wake up, Miss Griffin; even our pleasure days have their little duties, you know.’ Matty’s tone of rallying reproof changed as she found herself alone with her companion. ‘You appear to have fallen into a trance. You can’t come out just for enjoyment when you come with me. There is some thought of your being of a little use. You are not quite in the position of Miss Sloane.’

  ‘I did not know that you wanted any help.’

  ‘Of course I want the help you always give me. I cannot be deprived of the few little things I have, just because other people suddenly have so much. You need not lose yourself in their experience. It will affect no one but themselves. It will anyhow make no difference to you.’

  ‘You so often get out of your chair by yourself. I can hardly know when you want help.’

  ‘Well, understand that I always want it, when you are standing by doing nothing. It would not: be suitable for me to manage alone, when it is easier for me with help, and you are there to give it. I wonder you do not see it. But then I suppose you see nothing.’

  ‘Just fancy all that money!’ said Miss Griffin, who was used to meeting attacks as if she were unconscious of them. ‘I can hardly grasp it.’

  ‘You won’t have to. That is the last thing you will have to do. So that is what you have been doing instead of keeping your eyes open for my convenience. I see that a break from routine does not suit you. I must remember it.’

  ‘When a break comes very seldom, it does sometimes upset people,’ said Miss Griffin, in a lower tone.

  ‘Oh, you are going to be like that! That is to be the result of a little change and pleasure. I must see that you do not have it. I see that it does not work. I must take counsel with myself and arrange for your life to be nothing but duty, as that is what seems to su
it you.’ Matty, as she spoke, was accepting Miss Griffin’s ministrations as if they were rendered by a machine, and indeed the latter could only perform them in this spirit. ‘Well, are we going in to luncheon, or am I going in alone? Perhaps you had better go straight home and be by yourself. That would probably make the best of you.’

  Miss Griffin followed Matty without reply, and seemed consciously to change her expression to one of anticipation.

  ‘Come in, Miss Griffin,’ said Justine, as if Miss Griffin needed this encouragement and her aunt did not, an attitude more supported by fact than she knew. ‘Come in and sit by me. And Aunt Matty, take the seat by Father. And Miss Sloane on his other side, if she will.’

  ‘The seats are all arranged, dear,’ said Blanche.

  ‘Yes, Mother, but a word of help is not amiss. They were all standing about like lost souls. A large family party is the most baffling thing.’

  ‘I will sit on the other side of Miss Sloane,’ said Dudley, ‘and go over everything from the beginning. She can hardly check me; she does not know me well enough.’

  ‘Do not abuse her indulgence, Uncle. Well, Mr Penrose, what sort of a morning?’

  ‘Well, to be frank, Miss Gaveston, not up to our standard. I am not disposed to make any complaint, as I think the family news is responsible. It is natural and perhaps not wholly undesirable that it should be so. And I hope we shall atone for it tomorrow.’

  ‘Now, little boy, what sort of hearing is this? And when Uncle has been thinking of you and your future! What kind of return is this to make?’

  ‘He did not know about that, dear,’ said Blanche. ‘He has been excited about his uncle, as you all have. And any difference for him will not be for a long time. We must allow him his share of the pleasure, so I think he might have a holiday this afternoon. We must not expect him to settle down so much sooner than anyone else. You have all been shaken out of yourselves, and no wonder. What do you say, Edgar?’

  ‘What you do, my dear. It is - it seems to me the thing to be said.’

  ‘And you, Mr Penrose?’ said Justine. ‘We should not dream of upsetting the routine without your sanction.’

  ‘Well, I should be disposed to be indulgent upon the occasion, Miss Gaveston.’

  ‘There, little boy, there is your holiday assured.’

  ‘Half holiday,’ said Aubrey.

  ‘I am afraid it is nearer a whole one than it should be.’

  ‘They will be able to go for a long walk’, said Blanche, ‘instead of having to be back by four.’

  ‘Well, really, Mother, I think Mr Penrose might have his share of the celebration. I should guess that he is inclined to shake the dust of this house off his feet. He has his own private life as much as we have.’

  ‘Well, Mr Penrose will do as he likes, dear. Aubrey can play by himself.’

  ‘It is very considerate, Mrs Gaveston.’

  ‘Am I big enough to play alone?’ said Aubrey.

  ‘No, you are not,’ said his sister. ‘You are incapable of managing your time. I will see that we both spend a pleasant and profitable afternoon.’

  ‘You have all stopped talking about my inheritance,’ said Dudley. ‘Does it mean that you think enough has been said about it? Miss Sloane does not seem to think so. But she may not know how much has been said.’

  ‘I have thought of nothing else since I heard of it, Uncle.’

  ‘Neither have I,’ said Aubrey. ‘I have a witness.’

  ‘Neither have I,’ said Dudley.

  ‘I should like to hear what your uncle is going to do for himself,’ said Blanche.

  ‘I doubt if we shall have that satisfaction, Mother,’ said Justine, ‘great as it would be. Uncle is a man of few and simple desires. Unless he has a house of his own, which heaven forbid as long as we are all in this one, it is hard to see how he is to spend so much on himself. He has his interests and occupations and his brother. More he does not ask of life.’

  ‘He has all of us as well,’ said Mark. ‘That cannot be left out of account. Anyhow it has not been.’

  ‘Our desires have a way of getting bigger with our incomes,’ said Matty. ‘Just as they have to get smaller with them. I have had the latter experience, and rejoice the more that all of you are to have the first.’

  ‘Miss Sloane shows a great patience with our family drama,’ said Mark. ‘I am too enthralled by it myself to wonder.’

  ‘I have come on your family at a dramatic moment. Patience is the last thing that is needed.’

  ‘That is what I should have thought,’ said Dudley. ‘I am wounded by Mark’s speech.’

  ‘Wait a moment, Miss Sloane, I am going to ask it,’ said Justine. ‘It is not a crime, if it is a little unconventional. Which do you consider the better to look at, my father or my uncle? Do not hesitate to say; they will not mind.’

  ‘I am afraid I do hesitate,’ said Maria, laughing. ‘And I had not thought of making a comparison.’

  ‘Oh, come, Miss Sloane, that is not quite ingenuous. People always think of it; it seems inevitable. They can’t see the one by the other, without summing up their respective characteristics and ranging them on different sides.’

  ‘Dear Justine, Miss Sloane had not thought of it,’ said Blanche. ‘She has told us.’

  ‘Well, she will think of it now, Mother, as I ask her to. I am sure she has never denied anyone without more reason.’

  ‘I have never met two people whom I should see less in terms of each other.’

  ‘Ah, now that is subtle, Miss Sloane. And I believe you are right. Now I come to consider, neither have I. It is simply superficial to talk as if one were a feeble copy of the other.’

  ‘It is worse than that,’ said Dudley. ‘It is too bad.’

  ‘They should give more attention to the comparison,’ said Edgar, smiling at the guest. ‘My daughter seems only to have grasped the essence of it at this moment.’

  ‘Oh, now, Father, you would like me to be perfect, wouldn’t you? Well, I am not, so you can make the best of it.’

  ‘Father may claim to have done so,’ said Clement.

  ‘I think we are better when we are greedy than when we are clever,’ said Mark. ‘The one quality is natural to us; the other is not.’

  ‘And your uncle can satisfy the one, but he can do nothing for the other,’ said Edgar, with another smile.

  ‘They might all do so much, Miss Sloane, if they would only apply themselves,’ said Blanche, pursuing the line of her children’s ability.

  ‘I suppose - have the arrangements you spoke of taken any form?’ said Edgar.

  ‘Not definitely, Father,’ said Justine, ‘but they are taking their course. Uncle has opened his purse in the way that I knew he would, as I indeed foretold, though my doing so raised an outcry. Clement is to have an allowance; Aubrey’s future is secure; the house benefits in whatever way you have arranged; and what your private and personal benefits are to be, we do not know. They are between you and him and will be left so.’

  Blanche took something from a dish which Jellamy handed, as if it were no good to interpose.

  ‘And what is my Justine to have from the open purse?’

  ‘Oh, trust you to ask that, Father. My position is safe with you. Well, I am having peace of mind about Aubrey. It is what I asked and what was at once granted to me. I could think of no other need.’

  ‘Who was to depend on Father to that extent?’ said Clement to his brother.

  ‘Perhaps Justine did. If so, we see that she was right.’

  ‘Justine holds herself apart from my easy generosity,’ said Dudley, ‘so that to her I am what I have always been, simply her uncle.’

  ‘But you shall be more than that!’ said his niece. ‘I will not stand aside a moment longer. You shall be generous to me. I will take a yearly subscription to my pet charity, to my old men and women in the village. Yes, I think I can ask that, without feeling that I am piling up a life already loaded. And you need not tell me that it is forthcomi
ng, because I know it is. Actually for myself I ask nothing, holding myself already too rich.’

  ‘And I have only felt that about myself for a few days. How much better you are than I am! And I already think I am poor.’

  ‘You will soon be right,’ said Mark.

  ‘You know I meant that a twentieth of a million was poor.’

  ‘One thing I say!’ said Justine, suddenly raising her hand. ‘One stipulation I make. Uncle shall feel free to break off these undertakings at any time, to stand as fully apart from them as if they had never been made. And this at any hint of demand from his own life. In one moment, at one fell swoop - at one swoop, what is his own is in his hands, to be deflected to his own purposes. It is on this understanding and this alone, that I subscribe to the engagements, and rejoice for other people and accept for myself.’

  ‘Well, that goes without saying, dear,’ said Blanche.

  ‘Oh, no, it does not, Mother. And therefore it shall not on this occasion. I am not quite without knowledge of life, though you probably believe me to be. I know how to safeguard the future or how it should be safeguarded. And as no one else made a move, I did it myself; and I am glad to have done it and glad to have it behind.’

  ‘It is well to have it said once,’ said Edgar. ‘We will all remember it has been said.’

  ‘Thank you, Father. If I could not depend on you, where should I stand?’

  ‘It is wise to say it for another reason. Your uncle can only use the income from this money. The capital is held in trust and cannot be touched.’

  ‘I can only will it,’ said Dudley. ‘So other people will have the use of it in the end. I am not in at all a selfish position. My godfather must have been afraid that I should rush to ruin. He did not mind if other people did. I do appreciate his special feeling for me. Indeed I approve of all his feeling.’

  ‘It may be a wise condition,’ said Maria. ‘You would be checked in any headlong course. I daresay you will live to be glad of it.’

  ‘I have done that already,’ said Dudley, lowering his voice. ‘We began to consider the repairs to the house, and I was checked almost at once. To do them all would take all my income and leave me as I was before, and I could not bear to be that. I think that fifty-three years must have made me tired of it.’