‘Aunt Matty,’ said Justine, in a low tone, bringing her face near to her aunt’s, ‘this house is moving towards the future. It is perhaps not: a place for so much talk of the past.’
‘They are a matter of age, I think,’ said Mark. ‘The young are said to live in the future, the middle-aged in the present, and the old in the past. I think it may be roughly true.’
‘And I am so old, dear? Your old and lonely aunt? Well, I feel the second but hardly the first as yet. But I shall go downhill quickly now. You won’t have to give me so much in the present. I shall be more and more dependent upon the past, and that is dependent upon myself, as things are to be.’
‘People are known to be proud of odd things,’ said Dudley, ‘but I think that going downhill is the oddest of all.’
‘Yes, you forget about that, don’t you?’ said Matty, in a sympathetic tone. ‘About that and the past and everything. It is the easiest way.’
‘Miss Sloane, what has your life been up till now?’ said Justine, in a tone of resolutely changing the subject. ‘We may as well know that piece of the past. You know our corresponding part of it.’
‘The man whom I was going to marry died,’ said Maria, turning to her and speaking in her usual manner. ‘And I did live in the past. It may not have been the best thing, but it seemed to me the only one.’
‘Then long live the future!’ said Justine slipping off her aunt’s chair and raising her hand. ‘Long live the future and the present. Let the dead past bury its dead. Yes, I will say it and not flinch. It is better and braver in that way. Mother would feel it so. Aunt Matty, join with us in a toast to the future.’
‘Aunt Matty raises her hand with a brave, uncertain smile,’ said Aubrey, as he himself did this.
Chapter 8
‘Now all to the fore,’ said Justine, ‘and in a natural way, as if you were thinking of Father and not of yourselves. It is his occasion, not ours, you know. People do not return from a honeymoon every day.’
‘It is not the first time for Father,’ said Mark. ‘And Maria planned it for herself before.’
‘I wonder if Father will think of last time,’ said Aubrey.
‘Now I should not wonder that sort of thing,’ said his sister. ‘Just take it all simply and do what comes your way. The occasion is not without its demand. I do not find myself looking forward with too much confidence.’
‘Boys, can you look your father straight in the eyes?’ said Aubrey.
‘Will he want just that?’ said Mark. ‘Will he be able to do it with Uncle?’
‘Oh, why should he not?’ said Clement. ‘He need not hang his head for behaving like a natural man.’
‘That is a thing I never thought to see him do.’
‘I can still only think of Uncle as he was at the wedding,’ said Justine. ‘Easy, self-controlled, courteous! It was a lesson how to do the difficult thing. We have only to think of that example, if we find ourselves at a loss.’
‘Is Father in love with Maria?’ said Aubrey in a casual tone.
‘Yes, we must say that he is. The signs are unmistakable. We could not be in doubt.’
Aubrey did not ask if the same signs had been seen between his father and mother: he found he could not.
‘Come, Mr Penrose,’ said Justine, as the latter edged through the group. ‘If you want to slip away before the arrival, we will not say you nay. We know that it is our occasion and not yours.’
Mr Penrose responded to this reminder by hastening his steps.
‘Were you wondering about me?’ said Dudley, approaching from the stairs. ‘The scene would lose its point if I were not here. I shall not try to acquit myself as well as I did at the wedding. There are not enough people here to make it worth while. I hope the memory of me then will remain with them.’
‘It remains with us, Uncle.’
‘Justine spoke quietly and simply,’ said Aubrey.
‘That is not what I meant. Does it remain with Mr Penrose?’
‘Yes, indeed, Mr Dudley. Mrs Penrose and I found it a most enjoyable occasion. We have several times spoken of it.’
‘Oh, away with you, Mr Penrose,’ said Justine, with a laugh. ‘Your heart is not in the occasion as ours is. And indeed why should it be?’
Mr Penrose did not admit that he saw no reason.
‘I am most interested, Miss Gaveston.’
‘Of course you are, most interested; and what a feeling compared with ours! Away with you to the sphere which claims your feeling.’
Mr Penrose obeyed, but with some feeling over for the sphere he left.
‘Oughtn’t Aunt Matty to be here?’ said Mark.
‘No,’ said his sister. ‘No. I decided against it. You do not suppose that I have not given the matter a thought? We must break the rule that she is to be here on every occasion. We must not hand on such rules to Maria, ready made. Things cannot be quite the same for Aunt Matty here in future. Maria has a debt to her and doubtless will repay it, but the manner and method thereof must be her own. It may not be her choice to be confronted by her husband’s sister-in-law on her first home-coming. Aunt Matty will be with us at dinner, and that is as much as I felt I could take on myself.’
‘You and I are wasted on this occasion, Justine,’ said Dudley. ‘It must be enough for us if we have our own approval. My trouble is that I only care for other people’s.’
‘Uncle, you know you have enough of that.’
‘Is Maria very old to be a bride?’ said Aubrey.
‘Not as old as Father to be a bridegroom,’ said Mark.
‘Well, men marry later than women,’ said Justine.
‘Welcome to the bride and bridegroom,’ said Aubrey, raising his hand.
‘Welcome to your father and his wife,’ said his sister gravely.
‘Welcome to my brother and the woman who preferred him to me,’ said Dudley. ‘I am equal to it.’
‘I should not be, Uncle,’ said Justine, in a gentle aside. ‘I should put it out of my mind, once and for all. That is the way to gain your own good opinion and mine. Oh, here are the travellers! I feel we ought to raise a cheer.’
Aubrey gave her a glance.
‘I should suppress the impulse,’ said Clement.
‘Oh, you know what I mean.’
‘Well, so would everyone else.’
The scene was over in a minute. Maria was simple and ready, kind and natural; Edgar was stilted and sincere; and both were themselves. Dudley shook hands with both as if after an ordinary absence. His natural spareness and the flush of the occasion covered his being worn and pale. Maria kissed her stepchildren as if she had thought of nothing else, and took the head of the tea table without demur. She made some reference to Blanche in the course of supplying her family, and joined in the talk of her which followed. They felt that the situation was safe, and had a sense of permanence and peace. They had begun to talk when a trap drove up to the door.
‘Aunt Matty!’ said Aubrey.
‘That high trap!’ said Justine.
‘Is she not expected?’ said Edgar.
‘Not until dinner, Father. I thought it was all arranged. And that fidgety horse! Will she ever get down?’
Dudley and Mark and Jellamy were perceived to be approaching the scene, and Matty was set upon the ground.
‘Perhaps she has come to welcome me,’ said Maria.
‘She has come for no other reason,’ said Clement.
‘She comes!’ said Aubrey.
Matty came in and went straight up to Maria, her eyes seeking no one else.
‘My dear, I was so sorry not to be here to welcome you. The trap I had ordered did not come in time, and Miss Griffin had to go for it. I would not have had you arrive without a familiar face from the old world. You have so many from the new one.’
‘I have had a very good welcome.’
‘Yes, they are good children and mean to continue to be so. They are my own nephews and niece. But I feel that I am the bridge between the old life a
nd the new, and I could not let you cross the gulf without it. The gulf is so much the widest for you.’
‘I am safely on the other side, with the help of them all.’
‘So you are, dear, and I will sit down and see it. I will have my chair, if I may. Thank you, Dudley; thank you, Mark; thank you, my little nephew. You are all ready and willing; you only want a little reminder. I will sit near to Maria, as it is she who is glad of my presence. Do not let me displace you, Edgar; that is not what I meant. We will sit on either side of her and share her between us. We are used to that sort of relation. I want to feel that this second time that I give you your life companion, is as much of a success between us as the first.’ Matty gave Edgar a swift, bright look and settled her dress.
There was a pause.
‘We did not know you were coming,’ said Justine, ‘or we would have sent for you.’
‘You asked me to come, dear. I should have done so, of course, but you did remember the formality. But it was for dinner that you said. I did not know that they were expected so early. I only found it out by accident.’
‘We did not mean to give a wrong impression.’
‘No, dear? But you said for dinner, I think.’
‘I did not know you expected - that you would want to be here for their arrival. We thought they would have a rest, and that you would see them later.’
‘Have a rest, dear?’ said Matty, with a glance round and a twitch of her lips.
‘Well, stay with us for a little while, and then go upstairs by themselves and meet everyone at dinner.’
‘Maria never rests in the day, even after a journey,’ said Matty, in the casual tone of reference to someone completely known to her.
‘I am finding all this a rest,’ said Maria.
Matty looked round again, with her mouth conscientiously controlled, but with a gleam in her eyes.
‘Well, can it be true?’ said Clement.
‘I am finding it a great strain,’ murmured Aubrey.
‘Hush, don’t whisper among yourselves,’ said their sister.
‘I think I will have some tea, Justine dear,’ said Matty. ‘Or am I to remember that I was only asked to dinner?’
‘Really, Aunt Matty, I shall not reply to that.’
‘I am afraid I am pouring out the tea,’ said Maria, laughing and taking up the pot.
‘Are you, dear? I thought you were having a rest, and that Justine would still be directing things. I have had no directions except from her.’
‘You could not have them from me until I returned.’
‘You did not write to me, I thought you would want to arrange your first day yourself.’
‘I did not think of it. I was content just to come home.’
‘No, no, Aunt Matty. You will not make bad blood between Maria and me,’ said Justine, shaking her head.
‘Bad blood, dear?’ said her aunt, in a low, almost troubled tone. ‘I did not think there was any question of that. I had put the thought away. I am sure there is none any longer. I am sure that all the little pinpricks and jealousies have faded away.’
‘Justine does not know what such things are,’ said Edgar.
‘Well, I said they had faded away, and that amounts to the same thing.’
‘It is on the way to the opposite thing.’
‘Dear Father, he has come back to his only daughter,’ said Justine.
‘Incontrovertibly,’ said Aubrey, looking down.
‘Well, am I to have any tea?’ said Matty.
‘When you stop holding everyone rooted to the spot,’ said Clement. ‘As long as they are petrified, they cannot give you any.’
‘Well, I must lift my spell. I did not know it was so potent. Some people have more power than others and must be careful how they wield it. Thank you, Dudley, and a penny for your thoughts.’
‘I was thinking that I had never made a speech which carried a sting.’
‘I was wondering when we were going to hear your voice. I have never known you so silent.’
‘I recognize the sting. I almost think that the gift of speech is too dangerous to use.’
‘What should we do without your talent in that line?’
‘I believe that is a speech without a sting.’
‘Oh, Aunt Matty, if you would only do it oftener!’ said Justine, sighing. ‘You don’t know how far you could go.’
‘Don’t I, dear? I sometimes think I should be left in a backwater. I admit that I sometimes feel driven to apply the goad.’
‘Aunt Matty, how wrong you are! If only you would realize it!’
‘It must be a trying obligation,’ said Maria.
‘If you can manage without it in your ready-made family, you are fortunate,’
‘I see that I am.’
‘And we all see that we are,’ said Mark.
‘I am sure - I hope we have many happy days before us,’ said Edgar.
‘Rest assured, Father, that we are not poaching on your preserves,’ said Justine. ‘Maria is yours, root, barrel and stock. We claim only our reasonable part in her.’
Aubrey looked at his sister.
‘You don’t understand my wholehearted acceptance of our new life, do you, little boy? When you get older you will realize that there is no disloyalty involved.’
‘It is a rich gift that I have brought you,’ said Matty, smiling at Edgar. ‘So do you think I may have it in my own hands for a time, while you and Dudley go and make up your arrears, and the young ones play at whatever is their play of the moment?’
The word was obeyed before it was considered. Edgar withdrew with his brother and his children found themselves in the hall.
‘If I were Maria,’ said Clement, ‘I would not let Aunt Matty order the house.’
‘She will not do so for long; do not fear,’ said his sister. ‘There are signs that she is equal to her charge. I am quite serene. And I was glad to see Father and Uncle go off in their old way. Uncle still has his brother. I don’t think anything has touched that.’
Edgar and Dudley were sitting in their usual chairs, their usual table between them, the usual box of Dudley’s cigars at Edgar’s hand.
‘The young people have given no trouble?’
‘None.’
‘You have not lavished too much on them?’
‘Nothing. They keep to what they have,’
‘Is there anything to tell about the house?’
‘The work goes on. Mark and I have had our eye on it.’
‘Dudley,’ said Edgar, keeping his voice to the same level but unable to control its tones, ‘I have always taken all you had. Always from the beginning. You did not seem to want it. Now, if I have taken something you did want -’
‘Oh, I am a great giver. And giving only counts if you want what you give. They say that we should never give away anything that we do not value.’
‘It is the rarest thing to be.’
‘Well, I don’t wonder at that. It seems to be one of those things which may end anywhere. We see that it has with us. But I had to follow my nature. It may have been my second nature in this case. It would be best to hide a first nature quickly, and I was very quick. I hope people admire me. To be admired is one of the needs of my nature; my first nature that would be. But I should only expect them to admire the second. It would not often be possible to admire first natures. I used to think that you and I only had second ones, but now we have both revealed our first, and it gives us even more in common.’
Edgar looked at his brother, uncertain whether to be cheered or troubled by the tangle of his words.
‘You find you are able - you can be with Maria and me?’
‘Yes. There is not so much of my first nature left as you fear. And I daresay it is best that I should not marry. If a man has to forsake his father and mother, he ought to forsake his brother, and I find I could not do that. I suppose you have forsaken me in your mind? You should have.’
Edgar looked up with a smile, missing what lay
behind the words, and the cry from his brother’s heart went unanswered.
When Edgar’s children came down to dinner they found their aunt alone.
‘Well, here is the first evening of our new life,’ said Justine. ‘I feel easy and not uncheerful.’
‘Yes, I think so do I, dear,’ said Matty. ‘I think I can see my Maria over you all, as I could not see anyone else.’
‘I already see her taking her place at the table in my mind’s eye,’ said Justine, leaning back and closing her other eyes to give full scope to this one, ‘Easily and simply, as if she had always had it.’
‘Well, perhaps not quite like that, dear. That might not be the best way. I think she can do better.’
‘That would be well enough,’ said Mark.
‘I daresay she will take her place like anyone else,’ said Clement.
‘I think the boys admire their young stepmother, Justine,’ said Aubrey.
‘Well, we are at a difficult point,’ said Matty. ‘We are the victims of a conflict of loyalties. We must be patient with each other.’ She smiled at them with compressed lips, seeming to exercise this feeling.
Maria took her seat at the table as if she were taking it naturally for the first time.
‘The place is taken,’ murmured Aubrey.
‘And as I said it would be,’ said Clement.
‘Well, I want a little help in taking my place,’ said Matty. ‘I am not able to take it quite like that. Thank you, Edgar.’
‘I shall so enjoy shelving the household cares tomorrow,’ said Justine. ‘No housewife ever parted with her keys with less of a pang.’
‘You will give what help you can?’ said Edgar.
‘No, I shall not, Father. I know it sounds perverse, but a house cannot do with more than one head. Nothing can serve two masters. I go free without a qualm.’
‘I only serve one master,’ said Aubrey. ‘Penrose.’
‘Do you feel you would like a change?’ said Maria.
‘No, no, don’t pander to him, Maria; he will only take advantage. I mean, of course, that that is what I have found. You will form your own conclusions.’
‘Perhaps I shall find that I have learnt more from Penrose than many another lad at a great public school.’
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