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 and 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.