CHAPTER 26
Rosamond and Jenny had finished their tea. Jenny had already plunged back into her Gloria Gilmore, which was now at the very peak of sentiment and romance. Rosamond, for the moment unoccupied, lay back in her chair and considered with surprise her own reluctance to pick up the tray and get on with the business of taking it through to the pantry and washing up. After meaning to stay awake the night before, she had slept so deeply and heavily that it did not seem as if she was really awake even now. Her thoughts moved slowly and with an effort, and her body would not have moved at all if she had not pushed it.
The sound of Lydia Crewe’s bell brought her to her feet with an effort. Jenny frowned, jerked impatiently, and said, “Blast!”
“Jenny!”
Jenny made an impish face.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it just happened when you said it? Ping!-and no more bell! I think I’d blast Aunt Lydia too whilst I was about it.”
“Jenny-please!”
Jenny giggled.
“Oh, go along! I’ll say something much worse than that if it goes on ringing.”
Rosamond went into the crowded room with an intensification of the feeling it always gave her. There were so many things- the air was so hot and heavy that it was like moving against a sluggish tide. Her limbs were heavy too, and for a moment her head swam.
Lydia Crewe sat in her upright chair. Her grey features were composed. An old purple wrap flowed round her to her feet. The stones in her rings glittered under the chandelier. Every light was on.
“What is it, Aunt Lydia?”
Lydia Crewe said in her harsh voice,
“Come in and sit down. I want to talk to you.”
Rosamond felt a stirring of alarm. You didn’t talk to Aunt Lydia. She interrogated you, and she laid down the law. There was a cold remembrance of an interview when everyone thought that Jenny was going to die, and of another when the pattern of their life here was laid down and she had to receive it with what gratitude she could muster. She heard Lydia Crewe say, “I want to talk to you about Jenny,” and the room was suddenly full of fear.
“Yes, Aunt Lydia?”
“She is a great deal better. In fact, to all intents and purposes I think we may say that she is well. We have now to consider what the next step should be.”
“Yes-” The word came heavy and halting. She had not meant to let it stand alone, but Lydia Crewe did not wait for her to add anything to the one lame word. She went on in her decided way.
“It has been unavoidable, but no one can pretend that Jenny has been leading a normal life. A neglected education must have serious consequences in after years. She needs discipline, companionship, and a regular course of study. I do not think there can be any possible disagreement on these points. In fact, what she now needs is to go to school.”
It was what Craig had said-it was what she herself believed. But coming from Lydia Crewe it struck like a blow. Before she could find the right words the dominant voice was saying,
“I have therefore been instituting some enquiries. Miss Simmington’s school at Brinton appears to me to be just what is required. It is neither too small nor too large, the air is bracing, and the pupils are equipped to earn their own living. Lady Westerham gives me a very good account of the school and of Miss Simmington. She was left with a cousin’s children on her hands and has very kindly made herself responsible for their education, as I am prepared to do for Jenny’s.”
The deep-set eyes were fixed on Rosamond’s face. They demanded gratitude. They compelled it. Rosamond did the best she could.
“It’s very good of you, Aunt Lydia -”
The “but” which should have followed was never spoken. Miss Crewe had the word again.
“I am glad you should admit it. Young people are only too inclined to take everything for granted. I am prepared to pay Jenny’s fees, and to supply the outfit which the school requires. In return I shall expect you to continue your present duties here, and since you will no longer have Jenny to care for, I shall expect those duties to be carried out rather more efficiently than they have been. I am sure you will agree that the sooner Jenny takes advantage of this arrangement the better. In the circumstances, Miss Simmington has agreed to receive her immediately. She tells me that the outfit can be supplied locally.”
Rosamond was on her feet.
“Aunt Lydia, you don’t mean-you can’t mean that you have made all these arrangements without telling us!”
She met a formidable glance.
“You are taking a very strange tone, Rosamond. I have been put to considerable trouble, and I am prepared to undertake very considerable expense. I do not wish to remind you that you and Jenny are quite without resources of your own, but I feel obliged to do so. I have made these perfectly proper and suitable arrangements, and I expect you to fall in with them.”
Rosamond’s hands gripped one another.
“I know-Jenny will have-to go to school. I have been thinking about it-myself. I thought perhaps-next term-I thought perhaps I could get a post-near her-”
Miss Crewe said harshly,
“You have no qualifications for a post in a school. Your place is here where you can make some return, however inadequate, for what I am prepared to do for you.” She lifted some papers and held them out. “Here is a prospectus of the school, and the last letter which I have received from Miss Simmington. You will see that she suggests your bringing Jenny down on Friday.”
Rosamond made no attempt to take the papers.
“Oh, no-no!”
Miss Crewe said sharply,
“Please control yourself! I am prepared to make some allowance for the fact that this seems to have come as a surprise to you, though after the specialist’s last report you should have been prepared. You have, in fact, admitted as much.”
Rosamond spoke with an effort.
“I know-she ought to go to school. But it’s too soon. I must have time-to get her used to the idea. No one-no one would say it would be right to rush her like this. It would upset her- dreadfully.”
Lydia Crewe gave an impatient sigh.
“Really, Rosamond, you will have to watch your tendency to hysteria. If you take this attitude with Jenny, she will naturally be upset. I expect you to dwell on the advantages I shall be giving her and the companionship she will have. This agitation is entirely out of place. Please sit down and control yourself. If you go near Jenny in your present frame of mind, she will certainly set herself against the plan. Now I want to ask you quite seriously whether you think that Jenny’s present way of life should be prolonged.”
Rosamond sat down again. She mustn’t let Lydia Crewe shake her. The thing was unreasonable, and she must oppose it in a reasonable manner. She said,
“No, of course not. She must go to school, but not at a moment’s notice like this. And before she goes anywhere I should want to go down and see the head mistress, and the school, and the other girls. Jenny would feel quite differently about the whole thing if I could come back and tell her all about it.”
Miss Crewe had been looking down at her rings. The colours moved under the light of the chandelier. There was a large square ruby jostled by a great half-hoop of diamonds. There was a sapphire which had been given to her great-grandmother by the Regent, and the emerald which had been brought back from the Indies by a Crewe who had sailed with Drake. She looked up now, her eyes colder than the jewels, and said in a new voice-quieter-slower-bleak,
“So you are to call the tune? And take your time about it? Do you really know of no reason why time is just the one thing that neither you nor Jenny can be allowed to have?”
Rosamond felt cold at her heart.
“What do you mean?”
“You either know what I mean, or you are even stupider than I have thought you. Are you really ignorant of the fact that Jenny has been getting out of the house at night?”