“I gathered that ” She and Ben were very friendly at one time. “
"You mean. ? “
He looked at me maliciously.
“You wouldn’t understand,” he said.
“I think I understand … perfectly,” I contradicted.
“It gives them a certain standing in the household. Jimson was taken into the Company. He’s good at figures … quite a good worker but uninspired. ” And Lilias? “
“A pleasant girl… more talented than you’d think.”
“How do you know what I think?”
“My dear wife, I read you like a book. I saw your eyes on her contemplatively.”
“She seemed eager to please you. Is that why you consider her talented?”
“Of course. It shows her wisdom. Ah, they have prepared the bridal suite for us.”
He opened the door and, turning to me swiftly, swept me off my feet and carried me into the room. I did not protest because that was what I realized he was hoping I would do. I remained passive until he sat me down.
“Oh dear, oh dear,” he said, clucking his tongue. They’ve made the same mistake. ” He was regarding the big four-poster bed with feigned dismay. There is a dressing-room.” He slipped his arm through mine and took me to it.
“Designed for those occasions when all is not harmony between the married lovers. The bed looks uncomfortable. Moreover, its proximity would be distasteful to you.” He went to a bell-rope and pulled it.
Lilias been far off.
“Lilias,” said Joss, ‘will you have my old room made ready for me? I shall need it. “
She looked startled but I saw the speculative gleam in her eyes. I was again wondering what the relationship had been between her and Joss.
“I will see to it immediately,” she said. As she went out joss turned to me.
“You see what consternation you arouse in us all.”
I did not answer. My cheeks were burning.
A maid came in with hot water.
“I’ll leave you,” said Joss, ‘and I’ll come for you in just under an hour’s time for dinner. “
He went out and I looked round the room. The curtains were a light shade of yellow, the carpet a darker one; and there was a primrose-coloured counterpane on the bed and touches of varying shades of yellow, all blending beautifully with each other throughout the room.
It was indeed pleasant. I washed, changed into a green silk dress and wondered when the rest of my baggage would arrive.
Then I went to the window and pulled up the blind. The sun immediately blazed in. Looking out, I could just see beyond the grounds to the calico tents of Fancy Town. I imagined Ben in this house revelling-in the similarities to Oakland and looking out on the town which had begun with my father’s dream.
“Ben, are you satisfied now ?" I whispered, and I thought of the sudden fear which had come to me in the burned-out inn. I knew those fears were still there in the back of my mind waiting to emerge.
I longed for Ben then. I wanted to explain to him that when he had arranged our lives he had. not been aware of what danger he was putting me in.
I seemed to hear his laughter.
“It was a free choice, wasn’t it? You didn’t have to, did’ you You wanted everything the marriage brought you … both of you. You took what you wanted, well, now you must pay for it’ Oh Ben, I thought, you were a ruthless man and your son is the same.
You lived hard; you brushed aside those who stood in your way. Did you ever think, Ben, that I might be in Joss’s way?
What was this idea which had been creeping into my mind since I had had my nightmare in the Bush? It was almost as though it had been a warning.
When Joss came before dinner I was ready and waiting for him.
He said: The Lauds dine with us. They always have. You’ll have to get to like them. They’ll go out of their way to please you. Mrs. Laud is a wonderful manager. You can leave everything to her. We often have people in and out. for meals, I mean. She manages that sort of thing very well. “
The dining-room was panelled like the one at Oakland and had long windows reaching from floor to ceiling at which there were blue draperies bordered with silver. A candelabrum stood in the centre of the table and at either end was a decoration of variegated leaves which was very effective. Mrs. Laud had arranged everything very tastefully.
I saw her sharp eyes take in the details as though doubly to assure herself that they were as they should be. We were served with soup followed by roast chicken and these were excellently served.
I felt ill at ease because I was aware of a certain tension at the table. I had a feeling that there was a great deal I had to discover about my new home. I believed that beneath the surface was something which would change the entire atmosphere if it came to light. It was an odd feeling. When I looked in her direction I would find Lilias’s eyes on me; she smiled or looked hastily away and I asked myself whether I had been right in assuming she had some deep feeling for Joss and that our marriage was a great blow to her.
Mi’s Laud gave a kind of silent direction to the servants and I had the idea that she missed nothing.
I was mostly a listener at the dinner table that night, for the conversation was all about the Company and of this, of course, I had everything to learn.
Mrs. Laud said: Tom Paling was badly hurt when the wheel came off the buggy he was driving. He’d been up to the house to see Jimson and on the way back to the town the wheel came off and he was nearly killed.”
“Paling!” cried Joss. “Good God! He’s all right now, I hope.”
“He’ll never walk again. Jimson took over his work … and I believe the department is running better than it ever did before. But you tell Mr. Madden, Jimson.”
“Well, you see,” said Jimson, ‘this happened and we thought it was the end of poor Tom. He injured his back and he’s partly paralysed. I took over his work at once. “
Joss was clearly disturbed.
“Paling was one of our best men. What about his family?"
"They’ve been looked after, said Jimson. "You'll see tomorrow that nothing has suffered in the department.”
“Jimson was working day and night,” said Mrs. Laud, That’s a shock,” murmured Joss.
“What else happened?”
The Trants’ homestead was burned to the ground,” said Lilias.
“We know that,” replied David Croissant “We called there on the way here.”
“What happened to the Trants?” asked Joss. They escaped, I hope. “
“By great good fortune, yes. And they’ve set up a sort of cook-house in the town. It’s quite useful.”
“It must have been a terrible blow to them. ” It was. James was quite broken but Ethel rallied him and they got this idea and now they’re doing fairly well. It’s useful for those who are working in the offices. They can slip out and get a meal—and a lot of people buy cooked food to take away. “
“Some good has come out of it, then,” said Joss.
“I think you will find that some good has come out of Tom Paling’s accident,” said Mrs. Laud.
“I’ve heard that the department has never been run so well as it has since Jimson took over.”
That's just Mother’s talk,” said Jimson modestly.
“We’ll see; replied Joss.
“I thought,” went Mrs. Laud, “that you would want the Bannocks to come up to dine. You’ll see Ezra tomorrow in the town. of course, but perhaps you would like me to ask them for dinner tomorrow.”
“Isa will want to see what I’ve brought with me,” said David.