by Sara Seale
If Kate heard him she was too concerned with soothing her child to pay very much heed. She was on her knees, with her arms tight round him, trying to elucidate the flood of grievances which poured from him, and her eyes, meeting Victoria’s, were reproachful.
“What have you been doing to him?” she demanded. “He’s feverish and probably has a chill.”
“The feverish appearance is due to temper, not a chill, dear Kate,” Robert interposed, with that suggestion of amused tolerance for human unreason which he could assume so devastatingly at times, and Kate looked at him angrily.
“Then you’ve probably upset him. If I’d known you were thinking of coming down for the day I’d have come back in the morning and none of this would have happened,” she replied with rather a sweeping disregard for cause and effect, and Robert grinned.
“Well, I suppose it’s possible you might have averted trouble, but it would have been a shame to cut your holiday short before you’d even got started. I came down on Friday,” he said quite gently, and she disengaged Timmy’s clinging hands and got slowly to her feet.
“You mean you’ve spent the week-end here?” she said, her voice sounding tight and unfamiliar.
“Yes, do you mind? I wasn’t to know, of course, that you wouldn’t be here, but Victoria kindly made me welcome.”
“I’m sure she did. It’s even possible she made the suggestion herself. She’s been concerned at your absence for some little time,” Kate snapped.
Has she indeed? ’ said Robert with interest, but made no attempt to corroborate or otherwise, and Victoria, convinced now that Kate’s feelings for her cousin went only too plainly rather deeper than friendship, experienced an unreasoning sense of guilt as if she had indeed, been responsible for engineering the visit. This was no time, however, for denials, with Robert standing there, quite undisturbed, and clearly rather enjoying the situation.
“I’m sorry you should think that, Kate,” she said in a cool little voice. “I had no more idea than you of Robert’s intentions, but since he looks on this as his home and seldom does give notice of his arrival, it never occurred to me to refuse him a bed.”
She was aware that Robert’s eyes were resting on his cousin with a rather enigmatical expression and Kate coloured faintly as if conscious that in the heat of the moment brought about by matronly concern she had spoken without her usual logical calm. She smiled a little ruefully at Victoria.
“Of course it didn’t,” she said: “I’m afraid I spoke without thinking. All the same, Robert should have known better.”
“What! Knocked up the local at that hour of night to take me in in case the neighbours talked?” Robert exclaimed, and Victoria felt greatly relieved when Elspeth, appearing in the doorway to welcome Kate back, arrived in time to catch his remark and said in her nursery voice, and with a significant broadening of accent:
“You’ll surely no be fashin’ yourself with gossiping tongues after all this time, Mrs. Allen. There’s many a week-end Mr. Rab visited here, with only mysel’ to presairve the proprieties, and no talk ever came out of that, to my sairtain knowledge.”
“That was different. I’m a widow with a child and old enough to ignore the conventions,” Kate replied, but she sounded as if she knew it to be a weak defence, and Elspeth sniffed.
“Widows are no less immune from gossip as far as I know, and you’re no’ so old that a man wouldna look at you twice,” she retorted tartly, “but let me take this laddie off to his bed now he’s stopped his bawling and you sit down and rest yourself until he’s ready to be tucked up. Run along, Timmy, your mammy’s back safe and sound and she’ll be up in a wee while to read you a story.” Robert, taking the hint, was already filling glasses for the evening aperitif and Timmy allowed himself to be led away without protest. Victoria, anxious not only to fulfil her duties but to leave the two cousins to settle their differences without being hampered by her presence, ran up the little corner staircase as a short cut to the nursery and hoped that Kate’s homecoming hadn’t been spoiled by such an explosive reception.
“That’s better,” Robert said as Kate took off her hat, tossing it carelessly on to the floor, and relaxed in a deep chair with her drink. “I can appreciate that arriving at such an unpropitious moment you were naturally thrown off balance, but you were acting a little out of character, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t. I’ll admit that in the heat of the moment I probably said more than was wise, but I’m concerned for that child’s reputation so long as I’m responsible for her, and you should have had more sense than to invite trouble with the authorities.”
“What authorities? I’m not aware that one requires a licence for week-end visiting.”
“Oh, don’t be so deliberately aggravating! You know very well I was alluding to the solicitors and their charges upon my responsibility. What do you suppose their reaction will be when news of this innocent week-end reaches them?”
“Not so obvious as yours, one must hope. In any case there’s no reason to suppose your absence from home would be unduly noticed.”
“I daresay not, since the girl isn’t without tact and a sense of discretion—still, I can hardly tell her not to mention it when she writes without giving her ideas she’s better without.”
“Then you will have to keep your fingers crossed and rely on that sense of discretion, won’t you?” he replied, sounding, she thought, reprehensibly unconcerned.
“You don’t seem to realise how tricky this situation could be,” she said rather sharply. “It’s not a question of morality or even of outdated conventions, but the peculiar conditions laid down by Mr. Brown. Any minute Victoria could be removed from my care and no reasons given. Old Mr. Chappie made it very plain at the time that a concession had been made in the matter of temporary employment only so long as I complied with certain provisos. It puts me in a very awkward position.”
“Not so awkward as that of poor Victoria Mary should your forebodings come to pass,” he retorted with rather unseemly levity, and she glanced up at him, frowning “Oh, you’re in one of your tiresome moods!” she exclaimed crossly. “I’ve no doubt the whole thing strikes you as a trivial storm in a teacup, which it well may be, but at least you might consider Victoria’s point of view. She’s happy here with a pleasant illusion of home, and wouldn’t take at all kindly to being uprooted again for lack of a little forethought.”
“All of which is unlikely to occur for such far-fetched reasons, but even if it did—” he said, and stopped.
“Yes? Even if it did?”
“It would scarcely be the end of the road for Victoria, only for Mr. Brown,” he concluded softly, and she glanced at him suspiciously.
“What do you mean by that ambiguous remark?” she asked, and went on without waiting for an answer: “Incidentally, I’ve a bone to pick with you—quite a large bone in view of this surprise visit.”
“What have I done now to flaunt the conventions, or is it merely a matter of personal annoyance?”
“Nothing personal as far as I’m concerned, but I happened to run into Irene in London, looking very glamorous and expensive and bursting with well-bred curiosity about your latest conquest.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“Only that she apparently happened to meet you one day coming out of Flora’s where you used to spend such a fortune on flowers for her and had the inquisitiveness to go inside and make enquiries. They were most discreet, of course, and mentioned no names, but the address you had written out was still lying on the counter, and since it was only too familiar to Irene, it set her thinking.”
“And her thoughts presumably fixed on you.”
“Oh, no. Irene may have been piqued by our long friendship, but she never considered me worth a jealous pang—besides, the name of the mysterious recipient of five dozen highly-priced roses was plainly written above the address and, being a new one to Irene, set her agog with speculation.”
“Very likely,
since women are never content to relinquish old claims, but it’s scarcely a matter of much moment, is it?”
“Perhaps you’ve forgotten,” Kate said rather deliberately after a glance at his face, “that Victoria received five dozen roses from Mr. Brown on her birthday, but only a card from you.”
“Well, what of it?” Robert retorted, and turned to replenish his glass so that she had no means of reading anything from his expression.
“What of it? Well, surely there must be an explanation, unless you were just amusing yourself at her expense, which wouldn’t have been very nice. What are you up to, Rob? Flowers purporting to come from a stranger you’ve always rather ridiculed, and now picking the one week-end to appear yourself, when I’m conveniently out of the way.
“That was just the luck of the draw—I’d really no idea you were in London,” he answered casually. “As for the flowers, it seemed a pity not to give Mr. Brown s image a boost by crediting him with something warmer than the dictates of cold charity.”
All at once Kate was angry. She knew from past experience that she would learn nothing from Robert by calling him to account, but she had a sudden clear picture of the soft radiance lighting up Victoria’s face as she looked down at the roses in her arms and said wonderingly. “They’ve crowned my whole day ...” and suddenly itched to pick a quarrel with him. “Cold charity is at least more honest than an attempt to bamboozle an unsuspecting innocent for one’s private amusement,” she snapped at him. “You must have a peculiar sense of humour, Robert, if playing tricks of this sort affords you entertainment.”
I think,” he replied with the sudden icy politeness of a stranger, “we won’t pursue this subject any further. I have nothing to say that would satisfy you at this juncture, neither am I prepared to justify my actions. However, I would strongly advise you to keep your knowledge to yourself unless you’re out to make trouble.”
“I wouldn’t dream of reducing that bright bubble of happiness to the ugly reality of an ill-timed jest for my own satisfaction, but watch your step, my dear. It isn’t wise to tread on dreams lightly and the young have a right to theirs however foolish they may seem to others,” Kate said, and jumped, spilling her drink on her smart new suit as Victoria’s voice said from the bottom of the staircase:
Thank you, Kate, but I’d rather know. It’s much more humiliating to be bolstered up with fairy tales to save one’s pride than to face the fact that one has been made a fool of.”
There was an instant of shocked silence. Kate dabbed ineffectually at the stain on her skirt while she sought vainly for the right words: Robert, standing by the fireplace, put his half-empty glass down on the mantelshelf, creating a staccato sharpness of sound, but otherwise did not move, and Victoria remained where she was at the foot of the stairs. Her face was rather white, its planes and angles sharply accentuated giving her a curiously fragile look, but she held herself very erect with an odd kind of stillness which was strangely moving.
“How much have you heard?” Kate asked at last realizing the futility of trying to cover up with soothing improvisations.
“Oh, everything, I think,” Victoria answered still in those cool, unhurried tones. “I listened, you know. I listened quite deliberately. I was coming down to tell you Timmy was ready to be tucked up and I heard you reproving Robert for coming down this week-end and I thought he might say something which would give me a clue to—to certain things I wanted to know. Then you sidetracked him with your discovery about the roses, so I just sat at the top of the stairs till you had both finished. As you said yourself, Kate, it wasn’t a very nice trick to play, knowing how much I’ve always hoped for some sign of interest from Mr. Brown, but I suppose I was fair game. Robert, I realise now, is fond of playing tricks to pass the time, but I won’t be had again. Will you go up to Timmy? He’s looking forward to his bedtime story.”
Robert still said nothing, and Kate got slowly to her feet, uncertain whether it was best to leave them alone, or try to minimise the consequences of a crisis she had unwittingly brought about.
“Victoria ...” she began hesitantly as she crossed the room “... it’s no use saying I’m sorry you overheard our conversation, but you mustn’t think you were being made a fool of. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for Robert’s odd behaviour, so don’t ...” She tailed off rather lamely and Victoria prompted politely: “Don’t what?”
“Nothing. There’s nothing I can possibly advise in the circumstances. I’ll be in the nursery if you want me, but I won’t come down till I’m called,” Kate replied, adding over her shoulder as she passed Victoria at the foot of the stairs: “And you’d better make your excuses good, Robert, if you want to keep your newly-won advantage.”
Robert stooped with leisurely deliberation to throw another log on the fire.
“Well ...” he said at last as Victoria did not move, “... hadn’t you better come and sit down? There’s no point in us shouting abuse at one another across the width of the room.”
“I haven’t been shouting, and I see no reason why you should need the support of abuse,” she replied with that strange, unnatural composure, and he frowned, impatient of his careless phrasing.
“Quite right. I was presuming, I’m afraid, on experience of other occasions when sparring matches between us took on rather a flavour of prep-school retaliation,” he said, deliberately using the teasing intonation which used to rile her in the past, hoping to goad her into an outburst which would relieve her feelings.
“Yes, well ...” she said a little absently as if the past no longer greatly mattered, “I daresay I was easy meat, not being at all experienced in the art of repartee, but you hadn’t much in the way of opposition to sharpen your wits on, had you?”
“You think not? Well, Victoria Mary, it may please you to know that I found your repartee exhilarating and by no means adolescent, if that’s what you were implying,” he answered, still with that light raillery, but she looked at him with grave consideration, then said bleakly:
“It doesn’t please me at all. It only points an obvious truth that I was a convenient butt to provide entertainment for your idle moments.”
His manner underwent a subtle change and when next he spoke it was with the measured coolness he employed in court and his face became the cold, clever mask she had first known and disliked.
“If that’s what you think, you can hardly absolve yourself entirely,” he retorted. “You would have been willing enough, I fancy, to come to terms with me had I pressed my advantage this week-end, despite these unflattering opinions. On second thoughts, perhaps I was too forbearing and merely disappointed you.”
He regretted his words as soon as he saw the colour flooding her cheeks and her slender body seeming to shrink from an unexpected blow, but at least, he reflected wryly, he had succeeded in breaking through that alarming composure.
“That of course is what I should have expected from you,” she countered swiftly, and there was already a hint of tears in her voice. “All right, then! I’m too honest or too silly to deny that I was willing to be made love to because I thought ...well, it doesn’t matter now what I thought, but you at least might have had the decency to leave me my illusions ... to pretend, even though it was only make-believe, that you had found me p-pleasing.” She was crying now, quite unaware of it, and he gave a sharp exclamation and crossed the room in two strides to take her by the shoulders.
“You foolish, pig-headed little idiot! What do you suppose I was about if I didn’t find you pleasing?” he exclaimed, shaking her quite hard. “I may have made a mess of the whole damned business, but I wasn’t scheming to seduce you, whatever you may think now.”
“I don’t know what to think,” she said on a note of distraction, and stood very still, weeping on his shoulder for a snatched moment of comfort, then tried to pull away from him.
“No, you don’t,” he said, tightening his grip. “Not until we get this nonsense sorted out. Will you listen, now, while I p
lead my case?”
She nodded.
“You’ll remember we talked of a time that would be ripe for disenchantment,” he began, leading her to the fire and putting her gently into a chair. “I don’t think that time is quite yet, but I’ll have to take a chance on being premature and crave your indulgence.”
She had stopped crying and was listening to him politely but without much comprehension, and he realised he had made an error in trying to pave the way by wrapping his intentions in a semblance of make-believe when she said in a tired voice:
“You don’t have to go on pandering to my adolescent dream-world. I’m quite capable of distinguishing between fantasy and reality, even though I still sometimes like to make images.”
“I’m sure you are. Very well, I won’t waste time any longer trying for the delicate approach. Will you marry me, Victoria Mary Hayes, and try to overcome that aversion for browbeating barristers?”
He had in sheer self-defence dropped back into flippancy to cloak a proposal which might come as something of a shock, but he was unprepared for the naked pain which suddenly darkened her eyes or the swift dismay with which she sprang to her feet.
“That was quite unnecessary, Robert,” she said, and her voice was now completely steady and devoid of tears. “Whatever the unlucky results of this week-end, there’s no occasion to make things worse with gentlemanly offers of rectitude.”
“Good God!” he exclaimed, uncertain at that moment whether to laugh or be angry. “Where on earth do you get such phrases from? I can assure you that gentlemanly offers of rectitude wouldn’t in my opinion be any sort of foundation for a successful marriage, or even as the price of seduction, so don’t go weaving more fantasies to confuse the issue.”
“I’m sorry you should think so poorly of my efforts to be practical. I was merely trying to relieve you of a misplaced sense of duty, and there’s nothing particularly fanciful in that,” she said, and he regarded her in thoughtful silence for a moment, cursing the impulse which had led him to speak against his better judgment, and wondering how best to deal with an intelligence temporarily closed to reason.