‘So Alison is not down yet, Father?’
Duncan did not reply.
‘So Alison is not down yet, Father?’
Duncan caused himself to smile.
‘I can hardly say she is down, can I, Sibyl?’
‘I wondered if she was tired after yesterday.’
‘Then you did not express yourself very clearly.’
‘Set us a better example, Father. Is there any reason for her not being down?’
‘No doubt there is, Nance, or she would be down.’
‘I wondered if she would like her breakfast sent up,’ said Nance, finding her voice falter over the words.
Her father’s sounded impeded by amusement.
‘You are neither of you very good at expressing yourselves this morning.’
‘We’ll do better, Father. Would she like her breakfast taken up?’
‘I do not think any message has come down.’
‘Here she is!’ said Sibyl.
‘Here she is!’ said Duncan. ‘And here is Grant! Here he is!’ 153
‘Good morning, one and all,’ said Alison, caressing her husband. ‘Oh, now I begin this sitting in someone else’s place!’
‘I have been acting as your deputy,’ said Nance, moving from the urn.
‘Pray keep the seat; I am sure its real owner would rather you had it. After all, you are a relation of hers. But where is she? Where is my predecessor? It speaks well of her, that I already miss her. I quite share the general feeling.’
There was a pause.
‘I moved the portrait to its old place,’ said Grant. ‘We are used to it – it looks better there.’
‘Cannot she bear to see me sitting here?’ said Alison, taking the seat. ‘I am glad she has a family who think of her comfort. If I have a successor, I don’t want to spend all my time gazing down at her. I hope you will consider me as well. That space will have to be empty, Duncan, until you come to a wife who consents to occupy it.’
Duncan gave a laugh as of easy amusement.
‘It must be entertaining to have a succession of wives, and watch their relations. Your first two are getting on fairly well. I quite agree that the first of all was above the average.’
Duncan seemed suddenly to shrink into himself.
‘I wish we could know what she would have thought of you, Alison,’ said Sibyl, softly.
‘Sibyl, have you lost your senses?’ said her father, in a low, harsh tone.
‘When did she flit?’ said Alison. ‘Does she generally make her journeys at dead of night?’
‘I moved the portrait in the evening,’ said Grant, ‘after you had gone to bed.’ 154
‘After we were together in the drawing-room? So that is why you came down. I did not assume it was to get a glimpse of your new aunt.’
‘Did you not go to bed, when you appeared to be going, Grant? Even in the smallest matters, it is correct to give the right impression.’
‘I came down to move the portrait, Uncle; and Alison and I talked for a time.’
‘The portrait was not in the drawing-room,’ said Duncan, in an almost absent manner, looking into his cup.
‘It was in the dining-room, and then on the landing,’ said Alison. ‘It appears to have missed the drawing-room out. Neither of your first two wives approves the room. It is another point they have in common.’
‘Are we all going to church this morning?’ said Sibyl.
‘It is Sunday,’ said her father, crushing any hope of an altered routine.
‘I wondered if Alison cared to go. People are not always as regular as we are.’
‘She and I think alike on fundamental things.’
Duncan and Alison walked to church, followed by the three young people, who had walked so often behind him and another woman. The many times of their following Ellen seemed to condense themselves into a single, overpowering memory. If Duncan had felt any doubt on this following of precedent, he gave no sign.
Alison walked swiftly into the church, and complied when her husband ushered her to the first place in the pew. The rustle that greeted her, rose and fell, and then seemed to swell and hold in spite of itself. She glanced about with an appearance 155 of natural interest, and then seemed to forget where she was. After the service Duncan walked to the halting place, and simply introduced his wife.
‘How are you, my dear?’ said Gretchen. ‘I hope as good as you look.’
‘Well, if that is so, I admit we have nothing to complain of,’ said Dulcia, aside.
‘Ah, here is someone whom you like to have with you,’ said Mr Bode.
‘We do, Mr Bode,’ said Sibyl.
‘How do you do?’ said Almeric, looking at Alison’s face.
‘We are glad to see you,’ said Florence. ‘We have all looked forward to this moment.’
‘We have, but in what spirit?’ said Dulcia.
‘In one we could now confess,’ said her brother.
‘Did you find your journey tiring yesterday?’ said Beatrice.
‘It was not such an ordeal as this, I am sure,’ said Dulcia, suddenly pressing forward.
‘It must be dreadful to be stared at like this. Let us stand back,’ said Beatrice, with a movement to sweep the group backwards.
‘We are not staring, because we are looking with friendly interest,’ said her cousin. ‘We will not be thrust aside in disgrace.’
‘We will not be thrust, but we will go of our own accord,’ said Beatrice, looking surprised that no one followed.
‘My wife, Jekyll,’ said Duncan.
‘What a penetrating look!’ said Alison. ‘It seemed to go down to my soul. Of course my soul is the part of me that you are concerned with.’
Oscar and Fabian laughed, and Beatrice stood expressionless. 156
‘Now do you find us all what you expected, Mrs Edgeworth?’ said Dulcia.
‘She could hardly know what to expect,’ said Duncan.
‘Now, Mr Edgeworth, don’t tell me!’ said Dulcia, lifting a finger. ‘You have not said a word of all the friends who have made your life! Tell that to the marines, if you will, but not to me.’
There was a pause.
‘It is kind of you all to hide your feelings so well,’ said Alison. ‘You must be longing to spurn me as an interloper.’
‘No, Mrs Edgeworth! Any feeling of that kind has already faded,’ said Dulcia.
‘It has been rampant, has it? I rather respect you for it. I am all for loyalty to the past.’
‘I expect you have a tiny feeling of respect for us, for it. But indeed it has not been rampant. It has been suppressed almost as soon as there.’
‘Not quite as soon? I am glad of that; I should not have liked to interfere with your deeper feelings.’
‘Mrs Edgeworth, you have not interfered with them,’ said Dulcia, on a note of earnestness. ‘There may have been some feelings for ourselves, simply and rightly kept away from you. The feelings for your concern are what you have seen.’
‘Is this better or worse than we expected?’ said Nance to Grant.
‘It is worse: Dulcia has no right to live,’ said Grant, with unusual asperity.
‘I think you have such a charming Christian name, Mrs Edgeworth,’ said Beatrice. ‘I admire it very much.’
‘Then why not make use of it?’
Duncan gave the faint frown, which was henceforth to greet any breach of conversation in his wife. 157
‘What do you think of our harvest decorations, Mrs Edgeworth?’ said Miss Burtenshaw. ‘We want you to see in them an expression of our welcome.’
‘I think they are a definite success.’
‘Have you noticed the decorations, Mr Jekyll?’ said Beatrice, recognizing that a church’s adornment might hardly detain its rector.
‘I say with Mrs Edgeworth, that their success is definite.’
‘Oh, we shall be saying everything with Mrs Edgeworth soon!’ said Dulcia, with a sort of groan. ‘She has come here to impose herself on all of us; I can see that.’
‘So you do like Alison, Dulcia?’ said Sibyl.
‘I give in!’ said Dulcia; ‘I give in. I came out this morning ready to resent her; to do my part in the general deprecation; to continue playing what I begin to see a cowardly part. But I am faltering; I am feeling the spell; I admit it.’
‘You do,’ said her brother.
‘What do you think of her, Almeric?’ asked Sibyl.
‘She seems considerably better than most people.’
‘Nance,’ cried Dulcia, wending her way through the group, ‘Almeric has fallen! My brother has succumbed! What think you of that?’
‘I think it is natural.’
‘Dear, I am so glad for you,’ said Dulcia, pressing up. ‘I had so dreaded for you – I hardly know what. I am so rejoiced that it was a false premonition.’
‘It certainly seems an occasion of more joy than we anticipated.’
‘Dearest, I see it is worse for you in a way. To have the dear place taken by – well, really taken; to say nothing of your own place! But you are generously glad for all concerned.’ 158
‘I have never seen more clearly, that people make their own places.’
‘That is a much better way to put it. It was a called for correction.’
‘Are you going to take an interest in the church, Mrs Edgeworth?’ said Beatrice.
‘Am I supposed to? Does it go with my place? Did my predecessor take an interest in it?’
There was a pause.
‘Did you – do you mean the first, the late Mrs Edgeworth?’
‘There has only been one before me, hasn’t there? I understood I was only the second.’
There was some laughter.
‘No, she did not take much interest in it,’ said Miss Burtenshaw. ‘We will not secure your support under false pretences.’
‘But you can take your own line, Mrs Edgeworth,’ said Dulcia. ‘You are not bound to any precedent, I think. That does not seem in any way indicated. It might indeed be indicated in the other way. Not that there is anything against either course; there is simply nothing in it at all.’
‘I am not sensitive about following in her wake. When I am sitting in her chair, and lying in her bed, and married to her husband, there is not much point in making trivial exceptions. I will take her line about the church, as it fits my own inclinations.’
‘Mrs Edgeworth, everything in both the rooms has been changed. It almost goes without saying,’ said Dulcia. ‘It would have been done; and it has been done. You do not need us to vouch for it.’
There was silence, and Florence and Cassie began to talk.
‘Was not the house done up, to receive Mrs Edgeworth?’ said Almeric to his mother. ‘If it was not, it shows very bad taste.’ 159
‘I don’t know if it was thought of, dear. We did not think of it, did we?’
‘It was not our business.’
‘I must take my wife home,’ said Duncan. ‘She had a long day yesterday. The others may follow as they please.’
‘There are future days,’ said Fabian.
‘Good-bye, Mrs Edgeworth,’ said Dulcia, standing forward. ‘May I say how glad I am – how heartily I endorse the general sentiments to-day?’
‘Good-bye, all,’ said Alison, waving her hand. ‘I believe I have filled a blank in your lives. I am glad it has only remained for a few months.’
‘Well, light has been thrown upon our family conditions,’ said Nance. ‘I see that some was indicated. I hope I do not exaggerate our appeal?’
‘The newcomer was willing to have it thrown,’ said Gretchen.
‘I think it is a good thing to speak of things openly,’ said Beatrice. ‘Then nothing can ferment and fester underneath.’
‘Yes, there are more dark corners in most minds, than in that one,’ said her cousin.
‘More that are kept dark,’ said Nance.
‘Do you not like her, Nance?’ said Dulcia, in a surprised manner.
‘Yes, we all like her. But I expect her feelings are much as our own. Indeed we know they are, as she reveals them.’
‘We need not like and understand her less well for that,’ said Beatrice.
‘Indeed no. We meet on a ground of common womanhood,’ said Miss Burtenshaw, for some reason changing colour.
‘Darling, how wonderfully and beautifully you are behaving!’ said Dulcia, suddenly to Nance. ‘Here we have all been 160 sympathizing, and grimly awaiting with you the dread phenomenon! And here we turn round, and show complete change of face, and turn up as large as life on the other side! I really do feel it for you, though my opinion has to remain as it is. And it would be worse for you, if it did not, wouldn’t it?’
‘If your opinion is the true one.’
‘Darling, you are strained and worked up,’ said Dulcia, in explanation of this.
‘So the change in your life has taken place,’ said Almeric to Grant.
‘Yes, and I think my tone has so far been perfect.’
‘And are you settling down all together?’ said Mr Bode.
‘Do not hurry them, Father. They must be a little keyed up as yet. They have taken a full first step.’
‘So have we all,’ said Fabian.
‘You have struck a time of test,’ said Miss Burtenshaw. ‘You will be finding there is compensation.’
‘How much nearer is your uncle’s wife to your age than his?’ asked Almeric.
‘Two years older, against thirty-nine younger. You heard what Miss Burtenshaw said.’
‘That is a way to talk! Heard what I said indeed! I heard what you said.’
As the Edgeworths took their leave, Gretchen looked after them.
‘So that is the child who takes Ellen Edgeworth’s place.’
‘Mrs Jekyll, Nance reproved me for making some such speech,’ said Dulcia. ‘And to my mind justly. She said, and so firmly and simply, that everyone makes his or her own place; and I felt the rebuke to that moment, and was silenced.’ 161
‘Well, I am not,’ said Gretchen, turning to Florence. ‘There are breakers ahead in that house, unless I mistake.’
‘Well, we must hope you do mistake, Mrs Jekyll,’ said Dulcia, her clear voice seeming an advantage, as it had to pierce Gretchen’s back.
‘The person whom I am sorry for, is that father’s pet, Sibyl,’ said Beatrice.
‘I fear there is an element of tragedy there,’ said her cousin.
‘I hardly think so,’ said Florence; ‘I doubt if the father has ever made a pet. And she is a girl who will make her own life.’
‘Mrs Smollett, I do like your sane, healthy views,’ said Dulcia. ‘They are just the thing for this moment. I am prevented from bringing that mother’s pet, Nance, forward.’
‘We will not do that,’ said Beatrice, ‘as she would not do it herself.’
‘That may be a reason for doing it for her,’ said Miss Burtenshaw.
‘And what will your duties be, Miss Jekyll, under this new régime?’ said Dulcia. ‘I should say, what are your good intentions for the family?’
‘My duties will hardly exist, as they are not to be different.’
‘When shall we have your report of the situation, Miss Jekyll?’ said Mrs Bode.
‘We shall meet as usual, I think. I must be proceeding into the heart of it.’
‘Mother, that was deserved,’ said Dulcia. ‘Miss Jekyll is giving us no report. And much as we should like one, we would rather have her the loyal friend she is.’
‘I would rather have the report,’ said Fabian. ‘I hope Miss Cassie can adapt herself to conditions.’ 162
‘There she goes, dear Miss Jekyll!’ said Dulcia, shading her eyes. ‘Walking forward, as though she made nothing of the uncertain future. I think there is a peculiar dignity in service to your equals. No pride of liberty or choice quite comes up to it.’
‘Peculiar is the word,’ said Gretchen, turning to go.
Cassie entered the Edgeworth’s hall as the family were going in to luncheon.
‘I am late, Bethia. We loitered after church.’
‘These days give us cause for hesitation, ma’am; but we are called upon to act our part in them.’
Cassie had spent the night at home, and on entering the dining-room, glanced at the space above the fire.
‘I am sorry to have driven away an old friend of yours,’ said Alison. ‘But when she saw me, she simply took to her heels and fled. There was nothing I could do about it.’
Duncan kept his features still.
‘Duncan does not like me to refer to her. But it is not fair that I should not do just that, when he was married to her for a quarter of a century. How does he know she likes him so much better than me? And she is so important here, that I must get on some sort of terms with her. Are you having to repress your feelings at seeing me in her place?’
‘It is your place now. And the sight of you arouses its own feelings.’
‘I suppose you are really the mistress of the house, and no one else has any place at all?’
‘I can save you as much of the management as you would like.’
‘Was my predecessor a capable housekeeper?’
‘Alison, we will make an end,’ said Duncan. ‘That chapter is closed, and we give our minds to the next.’ 163
‘But I may be allowed to take an interest in it? It is all fresh and exciting to me, though to you it is so familiar. I hope you do not feel you cannot stay with me, Miss Jekyll? I should be sensitive about driving away a second member of the house; and you might go farther than the landing.’
There was silence, and Nance and Sibyl glanced at their father.
‘Poor darling, did I worry him by making a friendship too high for me? Did my superior have to be banished to check my growing familiarity? I will try to maintain a respectful distance. Where more than one wife is the custom, I believe there are rules for the treatment of the head wife. If I am too young and ignorant to know them, there is the more reason for me to keep my place.’
‘I did not disguise from you that I was a widower.’
‘You did not. You made it clear you were one; but you should have been more careful to give a right impression.’
Duncan remained silent, and his mood cast a gloom. Alison, less in training than the rest, sprang from her seat and disappeared. There was a stir, but no one spoke before her husband.
‘Grant, go and see if Alison would like any fruit.’
Grant went to the drawing-room, where Alison was sitting with a book.
‘Why did you run away from us?’
‘I felt I would rather be here than there; and I can’t understand why no one shared my preference.’
‘We should not dare to indulge it. I am to ask if you will have some fruit.’
‘I do not approve of my predecessor’s training of her husband.’
‘I daresay not; but you see it would be better not to talk of her.’ 164
‘Why should I not talk of her, when she is the constant preoccupation of other people?’
‘Not of mine, when you are there.’
‘I am sorry I disturb your memories, when they are such a sacred part of you.’
‘You disturb more of me than that, Alison.’
‘I think I do want some fruit,’ said Alison, running to the door.
Duncan smiled at his wife, making little of her mood. Nance and Cassie talked to cover any uneasiness. Sibyl looked up to contribute her smile, and glanced from Grant’s face to Alison’s.
After luncheon they walked in the grounds to show Alison the place. The husband and wife were on easy terms, and the rest of the day was short. In the evening, when Duncan went to the library, he signed to his wife to accompany him, and to Grant not to follow.
‘I will have you for what you are, my own. I have been sharing you with too many persons.’
‘Is it not your custom to share your wives? Have you been more than usually generous?’
‘Now let us have done. In the past we know our lines have not met. It is the future we are to share.’
Duncan drew his wife towards him, and she sat with her arms about him, crooning a song into his ear. When his eyes closed, she sat on, humming to help his sleep, in youth’s pity for the easy weariness of years.
When Grant brought the papers, he was met by a warning gesture. He tip-toed across the room, and conducted a dumb intercourse. Something in the change came through to the sleeper, and his eyelids stirred; and the young man fell on his knees behind a couch, and remained mute and still. 165
Duncan set himself to a lover’s scene, through which Alison suffered from her sense of a listener, and Grant from his own feelings. When Duncan went to bed, tired by the subtle demand of the day, his wife was aided by precedent to remain.
‘I will go on with things in my own mind, as you have had enough. It is humbling to be the romantic one. I hope it is what you are used to.’
‘None of that, as I have said. And don’t sit too long and forget your husband. I will not be used to that.’
As Duncan’s steps sounded on the stairs, Grant came from behind the couch. Sibyl, coming to put out the lamps, found her stepmother alone and unoccupied. The latter rose, and taking her arm, walked with her towards the stairs, and Sibyl, mounting them at her side, glanced down into the moonlit room.