Ivy Compton-Burnett - Parents and Children

‘What are you going to be when you grow up?’ said Fulbert, catching his son and lifting him to his knee.

‘He will be a king,’ said Nevill, reconciling himself to his situation.

‘Then you will be above your father.’

‘Yes, Father is only a man.’

‘Why do you want to look down on us all?’

‘He will take care of you. And he will take care of Hatton and Mullet too.’

‘And what will Hatton be?’

‘She will be a lady when he marries her.’

‘But then she will be a queen.’

‘No, he will. There is only one. Hatton likes it to be him.’

‘What will the rest of us be?’

‘All stand round him and wear long clothes. Not a king, but very nice.’

‘And what will you wear?’

‘A crown.’

‘He has seen a picture,’ said Luce.

‘He will sit on a throne,’ said Nevill, raising his arms, ‘And a man will kneel down on a cushion with his gold stick.’

‘I am going to leave the table before that office is suggested for me,’ said Graham, to his brother. ‘It seems to have points in common with that of a shoeblack. You can come with me to cover my retreat.’

‘Where are you going?’ said Daniel, when they gained the hall.

‘To visit the Mariowes. That is a thing that Grandpa would dislike. You can come and scan their faces for signs of their parentage. That is what you want to do. I am glad I am not so nearly related to Grandpa.’

‘We must keep a stern hold on our tongues.’

‘Oh, I will keep Grandpa’s guilty secrets,’ said Graham, relapsing into his usual manner. ‘And in future I will commit errors base enough to be hushed up.’

‘He feels you have caused him to waste his substance. And I see there have been drains upon it. A second family is not exactly an economy.’

‘He has rendered it as much of one as possible,’ said Graham, looking at the cottage. ‘Why did he establish the fruits of his sin at his gates?’

‘Because he could do it most cheaply there,’ said Daniel, hardly realizing that he spoke the simple truth.

Priscilla came at once to meet them.

‘Well, there ought to be a bond between us. We all thought we were fatherless, and we all find we are not.’

‘So the truth has escaped,’ said Daniel, ‘and with its accustomed dispatch.’

‘And we find that our feelings do not go beyond speech. And we are glad of that. The speech will be a relief. We are looking forward to it.’

‘Mother and Sir Jesse decided to set conventions at nought,’ said Susan.

‘And there is one law for the man and another for the woman,’ said Priscilla. ‘That makes it braver of Mother. And she has to be coupled with Sir Jesse. And that does seem a credit to her.’

‘How has it got out?’ said Daniel.

‘Hope thinks Ridley spread it abroad,’ said Susan. ‘Out of revenge on your family.’

‘Revenge for what?’ said Graham. ‘For patience and hospitality and welcome of him in our father’s place? If a word was wrung from us, when his full plan emerged, it is surely to be understood.’

‘He is angry at having fallen from his pedestal.’

‘So Grandpa is to do the same. Well, he will not do so,’ said Daniel. ‘No one can speak of the truth to him, and he will die in ignorance that anyone knows. He has already forgotten that we do.’

‘So you know the whole,’ said Graham, to Priscilla.

‘We hope we do. We have done our best. The full story may never come to us. But the bare facts are enough. We are quite satisfied.’

‘It should go no further,’ said Susan. ‘In our case it hardly can. But James goes to school.’

‘James does not know,’ said Daniel.

‘No doubt the boys at the school do. And James will give his own evidence. And soon know himself.’

‘He cannot bring his friends home. We escape that risk,’ said Graham, leaning back. ‘He might be put to have tea in the nursery, or have to obey the governess, or be asked how his lessons were progressing.’

‘Anything might happen,’ said Daniel; ‘anything would; anything did, when we were young.’

‘I wish Ridley’s crime had not a tragic side,’ said Graham.

‘It does spoil one’s full enjoyment of it,’ said Priscilla. ‘But people’s reasons for crimes always make one want to cry. Think of Sir Jesse, lonely in a far land and needing Mother. And think of Mother, prepared to face anything for Sir Jesse’s sake. Between ourselves, it does seem rather odd of Mother.’

‘Think of Ridley,’ began Graham, and broke off.

‘I am glad Sir Jesse need never know that we know,’ said Lester. ‘It would make it awkward for Priscilla to show him our accounts. It would seem too businesslike a relation.’

‘Surely you do not owe him your confidence to that extent?’ said Daniel.

‘We owe him everything, even life,’ said Priscilla. ‘And we might have known that it is only owing people that, that leads to owing them other things.’

‘It is a good thing he is the father of all three of us,’ said Susan. ‘It would be a poor exchange to gain Sir Jesse and lose each other.’

Lester raised his eyes.

‘Have you ever suspected the truth?’ said Daniel.

‘We shall think we have, unless we check ourselves in time,’ said Susan. ‘I have thought of it, but it seemed that Sir Jesse had not enough feeling for us.’

‘I have no excuse to make; it simply never occurred to me,’ said Priscilla. ‘That is what my woman’s instinct has done. I hope it means that I am a masculine type. And I believe Sir Jesse has sometimes looked at me with a parent’s eye. I have had every chance.’

‘It seems almost too obvious a solution,’ said Susan. ‘And a good many things did point the other way. Sir Jesse’s lack of affection, his putting us so near his house, his not disclaiming interest in us. But no doubt he knew they did.’

‘Did Hope tell you?’ said Daniel.

‘She said nothing until she found we knew,’ said Susan. ‘No one told us in words, but something in the air was too much.’

‘Hope knows where to draw the line,’ said Lester.

‘I had no idea of that,’ said Priscilla. ‘I was quite self-reproachful when I knew.’

‘It is a great thing to feel we have a claim on Sir Jesse,’ Lester said in a grave tone.

‘No legal claim after you are fourteen,’ said Daniel.

‘Well, people are always children to their parents,’ said Priscilla. ‘And it does not seem that Sir Jesse has a great regard for rules.’

‘When our origin is what it is, why is not Luce allowed to visit us?’ said Susan.

‘That is the reason,’ said Daniel. ‘It is the blood relationship. Lester might fall in love with his niece. So might you with your nephews, but Grandpa would think that was unlikely.’

‘The difference in age would be supposed to prevent it,’ said Susan.

‘Something has done so,’ said Graham.

‘I wonder Sir Jesse never thought we might suspect the truth,’ said Susan.

‘I think he had almost forgotten it himself,’ said Priscilla, ‘until the loss of his son reminded him, and he saw himself as childless except for us. I see it all now. Of course people always say that, but why shouldn’t they, when it is true? What is the good of their having the help, if they don’t take advantage of it?’

‘I wonder if he had a family anywhere else,’ said Lester, as if struck by a new idea.

‘He has only lived in two places,’ said Daniel, ‘and he was provided for in both of those.’

‘I should have liked to be there when the truth came out,’ said Susan.

‘You little know,’ said Graham.

‘I am not afraid of saying that I feel with Susan,’ said Priscilla. ‘Women may be tough, but falsehood does not make it any better. I wish we had been present, and I almost feel we had a right to be.’