‘And to put to other purposes,’ said Thomas, appearing in his turn and using a tone of kindliness and pleasure.
‘It is so good of you to be interested,’ said Blanche. ‘It has been a great event for us all. We are still quite excited about it.’
Sarah met Blanche’s eyes.
‘Poor Mrs Middleton!’ said Justine. ‘Do satisfy her curiosity.’
‘Yes, I want to hear, dear,’ said Sarah, almost with pathos. ‘I want to know how it came about, before we talk of it.’
‘My godfather’s lawyers wrote to say that my godfather had died and left me all he had,’ said Dudley. ‘He died a few days ago as a very old man. I am so glad that you would like to hear; I was afraid that people might be getting tired of the subject.’
‘He had no children, Mrs Middleton,’ said Justine, in a benevolent tone. ‘Indeed he seems to have had no relations.’
‘Then it was natural that he should leave his money to your uncle?’ said Sarah, her face lighting at this clearance of her path.
‘Quite,’ said Dudley. ‘I have every right to it. But I did not know that he had any. I heard a few days ago and told my brother last night, and today we all discussed it at breakfast.’
‘You did not tell them all at once?’
‘No, I waited to get confirmation. It was not needed, but I felt that I wanted to have it.’
Sarah bowed her head in full understanding.
‘And my father and sister came in to learn all about it,’ said Blanche, ‘and have just gone. I found the news such a tonic yesterday. I thought I was too tired to sleep, and I had the best night I have had for months.’
‘That is right, both of you. Tell Mrs Middleton succinctly all she wants to know,’ said Justine.
‘We are indeed glad to know that,’ said Thomas, putting a sincere note into his tone.
‘How had they heard?’ said Sarah, her eyes just crossing Justine’s face. ‘They came quite early, didn’t they?’
‘They came soon after breakfast,’ said Justine with indulgent fluency. ‘They had heard from one of the tradesmen, who had heard from Jellamy. We had discussed it at breakfast in the latter’s hearing.’ She gave a little laugh.
‘And already it seems quite familiar knowledge. How did you hear?’
‘My dear, it is all about everywhere,’ said Sarah, now able to follow a lead into the drawing room. And what a sum! ‘A quarter of a million!’
‘A twentieth of a million,’ said Dudley. ‘No more to do with a million than with any other amount. I do not know why people mention a million. Everything is a fraction of one.’
‘And this is really a twentieth?’ said Sarah, pausing with a world of knowledge in her tone. ‘Well, I don’t know whether to congratulate you or the rest of them. I expect they have already made their wishes known.’
Her voice asked for further enlightenment, and Mark sat down by her side and gave her as much as he chose.
‘A little house in Cambridge for Clement,’ she said, as she rose at the moment of her satisfaction. ‘And this house to be put in order for your father. Ah, that will be a joy to you all. This beautiful inheritance! And Aubrey to have what he needs as time goes on. And your dear sister to be helped in her useful work. Well, I will leave you to rejoice with each other. It is pretty to see you doing it together.
‘Let us send you in the carriage,’ said Blanche, who had resumed her work.
‘No, we will walk and perhaps drop in on your sister. My husband will like a chat with your father. The men like to talk together.’
‘The women may not object to it on this occasion,’ said Thomas, with a smile. ‘I may say how very pleased I am.’
‘Now do you feel fully primed, Mrs Middleton, with all that you want to discuss?’ said Justine, as she went to the door with the guests.
‘Yes, dear, I know it all, I think,’ said Sarah, resting her eyes once more on Justine’s face. ‘I don’t like things to pass me by, without my hearing about them. We are meant to be interested in what the Almighty ordains.’
‘Mrs Middleton gives as much attention to the Almighty’s doings as He is supposed to give to hers,’ said Mark.
‘I am glad the Almighty has given half a million to Uncle,’ said Aubrey.
‘Half a million!’ said Dudley. ‘Now I am really upset.’
‘What did you think of Mrs Middleton’s account of her curiosity, Justine?’ said Clement.
‘Poor Mrs Middleton! We can’t call it anything else.’
‘She can and did,’ said Mark.
Sarah went on to the lodge, desiring to know the Seatons’ share in the fortune and hoping that it was enough and not too much. The matter was not mentioned and her compunction at overhearing the letter vanished. She saw that she could not have managed without doing so.
Chapter 5
‘Uncle is walking with Miss Sloane on the terrace,’ said Aubrey to his sister.
‘Well, that is a normal thing to do, little boy. I notice that Uncle is often with Miss Sloane of late. It may be that it gives Aunt Matty a chance to talk to Father.’
‘He has been helping her up the steps. She goes up them by herself when she is alone.’
‘Well, when you are older you will learn that men often do things for women which they can do for themselves. Uncle is a finished and gallant person, and there has been a late development in him along that line. He seems to be more aware of himself since he had this money. I hope it does not mean that we took him too much for granted in the old days. But the dear old days! I can’t help regretting them in a way, the days when he gave us more of himself, somehow, though he had less of other things to give. I could find it in me to wish them back. I don’t take as much pleasure in my new scope as I did in the old Uncle Dudley, who seems to have taken some course away from us of late. Well, I have taken what I can get, and I am content and grateful. And I hardly know how to put what I mean into words.’
Blanche looked up at her daughter as if struck by something in her speech, and rose and went to the window with her work dropping from her hand.
‘Mother, what is it? Come back to the fire. Your cough will get worse.’
Blanche began automatically to cough, holding her hand to her chest and looking at her daughter over it.
‘It is true,’ she said. ‘They are walking arm-in-arm. It is true.’
‘What is true? What do you mean?’ said Justine, coming to her side. ‘What is it? What are we to think?’
‘We are spying upon them,’ said Aubrey, his tone seeming too light for the others’ mood.
‘Yes, we are,’ said his sister, drawing back. ‘No, we are not. I see how it is. Uncle is choosing this method of making known to us the truth. We are to see it and grasp it. Well, we do. We will let it stand revealed. So that is what it has meant, this strange insight I have had into something that was upon us, something new. Well, we accept it in its bearing upon Uncle and ourselves.’
‘Dear Dudley!’ said Blanche, picking up her work.
‘Dear Uncle indeed, Mother! And the more he does and has for himself, the dearer. And now go back to the fire. You have grown quite pale. It cannot but be a shock. Aubrey will stay and take care of you, and I will go and do as Uncle wishes and carry the news. For we must take it that that is what his unspoken message meant.’
‘We must beware how we walk arm-in-arm,’ said Aubrey.
Blanche extended a hand to her son with a smile which was absent, amused, and admonitory, and remained silent until her other sons entered, preceded by their sister.
‘Standing at the landing window with their eyes glued to the scene! Standing as if rooted to the spot! Uncle chose his method well. It has gone straight home.’