‘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.’