“Get me in,” he shouted.
“Come on, Wilmot. Come out and help Banker.”
I wished that I could see better, but I had to be careful. I wondered what the red-faced man would say if he saw me. He was clearly a very forceful personality and it was, I felt, very necessary indeed for me to remain hidden.
“Get me up the steps,” he said. Then I can manage. Show ‘em. Banker.”
The little procession went into the house at last, and as I made my cautious way to the bridge I had a fancy that I was being followed, perhaps because I felt so guilty to be on the wrong side of the stream. I did not look round but ran as fast as I could and it was only when I had sped across the bridge that I paused to look back. I was sure I saw a movement among the trees but whether it was a man or woman there I was unsure, but I did have the feeling that I had been observed. I began to feel uneasy, wondering whether whoever had seen me would complain to Mama. There would certainly be trouble if he-or she-did. That I had stepped on to forbidden territory would be bad enough but to have been seen doing it would bring forth storms of contempt upon my head.
On my way to my room I met Miriam. The owner of Oakland Hall is back,” I told her.
May God preserve us! ” she cried.
“Now I suppose there’ll be entertaining, eating and drinking and all kinds of depravity.”
I laughed gleefully.
“It’ll be exciting,” I began.
“It’ll be disgusting,” she retorted.
“I think he’s had some sort of accident,” I ventured.
"Who? “
"The er . the one who took Oakland from us. “
“I’ve no doubt he deserved it,” she said with satisfaction.
She turned away. The very thought of them was obnoxious to her; but I was enormously interested.
I asked Maddy about them because she always gave me the impression that she could tell me a good deal if only I could make her break some vow she had made not to, and often, in fact, she did seem secretly as though she wanted to talk.
I said: “Maddy, a man in a bath chair was taken into Oakland Hall yesterday.”
She nodded. That’s him,” she said.
The one who bought it from us ? “
“He made a fortune. Never been used to such a place before. He’s what you call one of them new rich.”
“Nouveau riche.” I informed her grandly.
“Have it your own way,” she said, ‘but that’s what he is. “
“He’s an invalid?”
“Accident,” she said. That’s what happens to his sort. “
“His sort? What sort?”
Made a great fortune, he did, and he buys Oakland Hall and them that has lived in it for generations untold has to give it up. “
The Claverings gambled while he worked,” I said.
“It’s like the ant and the grasshopper. It’s no use blaming him. They both got their deserts.”
“What’s insects got to do with it? You’re what I call a hopper yourself. Miss Jessica. You’re no sooner on to one thing before you’re after another.”
This is all part of the same subject,” I protested.
“I’d like to get into the Hall. Is he going to stay here?”
You can’t get about all that easy when you’ve had one of your legs off. Still, he got the fortune, though it did cost him a leg. ” Maddy shook her head.
“It only goes to show that money’s not everything .. though in this house you’d sometimes think it was. Mrs. Bucket says she reckons he’s home to stay.”
Who’s Mrs. Bucket? “
She’s cook over there. “
What a perfectly glorious name. Bucket! Though that ought to have been the housemaid. The cook should be Mrs. Baker or Mrs. Stewer. So you know Mrs. Bucket, do you, Maddy?
“Considering that she was at Oakland when I was there it seems natural that I should know her.”
“And you see her now and then ?”
Maddy pursed her lips. I knew that she was visiting Mrs. Bucket and I was glad. A little careful prodding and I might learn something.
Well, it ain’t for me to stick my nose up in the air when I pass someone I’ve known for twenty years, just because . “
“It certainly is not. You’re an example…”
“It couldn’t be laid to Mrs. Bucket’s door, nor Mr. Wilmot’s neither. It wasn’t as though there was a place for them here. To expect them to throw themselves out just because …”
“I understand perfectly. So he lost a leg, did he?”
You’re on your cross-questioning again. Miss. I can see through that sure as eggs is eggs. It’s one thing for me to have a word with Mrs. Bucket now and then and it would be another for you to. So you make certain you keep on the right side of the stream and don’t go asking so many questions about things that don’t concern you. “
So in spite of the fact that Maddy had visited Mrs. Bucket I was not going to prise any more information out of her.
It was a sultry July day and I was sitting by the stream looking over Oakland territory when suddenly it happened. A chair, with a man sitting in it, came into view. I started up because as the chair came towards me I realized that the occupant was the man I had seen arriving in the carriage. There was a tartan rug over his knees so I couldn’t make out whether or not he had one leg. I watched while the chair seemed to gather speed as it came towards me.
Then I realized what had happened. It was because the chair was out of control that it moved so fast and it was gathering momentum as it came down , the slight incline towards the stream. In a few moments it would be there and would surely overturn.
I wasted no time. I ran down the slope and waded through the stream.
Fortunately we had had a drought and there was not a great deal of water, but willingly I splashed through what there was and ran up the slope on the other side just in time to catch the chair before it went down into the stream.
The man in the chair had been yelling: “Banker ! Banker ! Where in God’s name are you. Banker?” until he caught sight of me. I was clinging to the chair and it took all my strength to hang on to it and at one moment I thought it was going to carry me down with it.
The man was grinning at me; his face was redder than ever.
“Goodo!” be shouted.
“You’ve done it. A little shaver like you and you’ve done it.”
There was a kind of steering bar in front of him; he guided this, and the chair started to move along parallel with the stream.
There,” he said. That’s better. I’m not used to the perishing thing yet. Well, now I’ve got to say my piece, haven’t I? Do you know I’d have turned over but for you ?”
“Yes,” I said, coming round to the side of the chair. You would. “
“Where were you, then ?”
“On the other side of the stream… our side.”
He nodded.
“Lucky for me you were just at the right spot at that time.”
“I’m often at that spot. I like it.”
“Never seen you before. Do you live over there?”
“In the Dower House.”
“You’re not a Clavering?”
“Yes I am. What are you ?"
” A Henniker. “
"You must be the one who bought Oakland from them. “
The very same. “
I started to laugh.
“What’s funny?” he said; he had a rather sharp way of talking.
“Meeting like this after all these years,” I said.
He started to laugh too. I don’t know why it should have seemed so funny to us both, but it did.
“Nice to meet you. Miss Clavering.”
“How do you do, Mr. Henniker?”
“Quite well, thank you. Miss Clavering. I’m going to drive my chair up a bit. It’s uncomfortable here. Up under the tree there in the shade. Let’s come and get acquainted. “