Ivy Compton-Burnett - A Heritage and its History

“Hamish meant it, Father,” said Naomi. “You can take his word as it was said. He has never valued his place for himself. He was only glad to give so much to me. It is best to see the future as it is. You can look forward and see yourself the head of the house and the family.”

“And my Naomi the daughter of them both,” said Simon, putting his arm about her. “We will make up a fairy tale together. We will be the king and the princess in it. But we will remember that is what it is.”

“It is more than that,” said Graham, as his father and sister moved aside. “It would be Father’s dream realised, the hope of his youth restored. It would raise him to his level, make him the man he should have been. We ought to want to see it. But we hardly know if we do.”

“We pity the results of his lapse,” said Ralph. “But should he be actually compensated for them?”

“He has not been,” said Walter. “He has lived the years you have seen. Whatever his future may be, they will lie behind. One view might be that he has suffered enough.”

“I can’t help half-liking him to suffer. He has always half-liked me to; I believe even quite liked it.”

“He was anxious about our uncertain future,” said Graham, “and felt he should prepare us for it.”

“It is too soon for you to be mellowed by prosperity. We are still to look to our settled fate.”

“And you still harp on it,” said Simon, returning to the group. “I need have no fears about your ideas of the future. The old ones seem to be enough. My lesson has gone deep. I can congratulate myself on it.”

“But not on everything else,” muttered his son.

Simon came to dinner in an absent manner, conscious of his altered character in the eyes of his family. He saw his words in the light of their knowledge, and hesitating to speak in his usual manner, spoke little.

“What a long day this has seemed!” said his mother, meaning to break a silence.

“It has brought us a different father,” murmured Ralph. “And we can see he knows it.”

“It has brought me another son,” said Simon, turning to him. “I think you are more exposed than I am. You have not dared to show your real self before. I wonder you do so now. I am not the only person present. Your mother and sister see you as you are.”

“Then you and I are on equal ground, sir.”

“We are all exposed,” said Walter. “The day has been a test. And if we have all withstood it but one, it is a good average.”

“I have seen it and thought so,” said Simon. “It has been a help to me. Only one of us, as you say, has failed.”

“Will Hamish really transfer the place to you, Simon, after his father’s — your uncle’s death?” said Julia.

“He will,” said Naomi. “I know his mind. He will not live in that house without me. He has seen it from a boy as his home and mine.”

“From a boy!” said Simon. “What harm has been done!”

“So Father’s confession may have restored him to it,” said Ralph. “It would be an ironic fate.”

“After twenty-four years,” said Walter. “It is what it would be.”

“It is Naomi who has lost it. She must see things in her own light.”

“Which of us needs to be told that?” said Simon. “She or I?”

“Or her mother?” said Fanny.

“In your place I should wish I had not told the truth, sir,” said Ralph.

“I wish I had had any choice but to tell it.”

“I should wish it for Naomi’s sake.”

“It was for her sake that I told it, as you know. Why do you think you have this score to pay off? I have done my duty to you.”

“As you saw it,” said his son.

“Duty is seldom liked either by the doer or the object,” said Fanny. “And why should it be? It is not often of advantage to either.”

“So we are to forget Hamish’s promise, sir?” said Graham. “I am to take the post at Oxford, anyhow for the time?”

“Yes, and probably for always. We must put the idea from our minds. It is likely it will be forgotten, and I hope it from my heart. If Hamish should hold to it, I should be in his hands. I should succeed to my uncle’s place, and you in your turn to mine. You would relinquish other claims, and do your duty here, as you had seen it done. Ralph might say it was not all you had seen. So I have said it for him. It is not hard to supply his words.”

“And this is putting it out of your minds!” said Ralph.

“We shall think you are envious of Graham, if you continue in this vein.”

“How could I be, when the matter is to be forgotten? You are the person who remembers it.”

“There has never been any feeling like that between the brothers,” said Julia.

“There has never been this between them before.”

“What would Naomi choose, as thuigs are now?” said Ralph.

“I have no choice,” said his sister. “It makes no difference.”

“It would make a little, my dear,” said Simon. “I would see that it did.”

“If the prospect is not a likely one, Hamish is the person who knows it,” said Ralph.

“He would not wish that said,” said Simon. “He was to be taken as knowing his mind. His boyhood is over.”

“It is true that it is,” said Naomi.

“His wish will be respected,” muttered Ralph. “Father said he could supply my words. I can do the same for him.”

“Who is that at the door?” said Fanny. “Oh, it is the children.”

“Shut the door, Claud,” said Simon.

“No, it is Emma’s turn.”

“Shut it for her, as you should.”

“She doesn’t want it shut. She leaves doors open. I am shutting it for you.”

“We ought to be in bed,” said Emma, looking at her grandmother. “But it is a holiday tomorrow, and the Dolt — Miss Dolton doesn’t mind if we are late.”

“Who is the Dolt?” said Julia, gravely.

“We don’t mean she is really a dolt,” said Claud. “It is a shortening of her name.”

“An abbreviation,” said Emma.

“Do you mean it is a pet name?” said Graham.

The children looked at each other, and almost smiled.

“Is it true that we are going to be rich?” said Claud.

“No, it is not,” said Simon. “Who told you such a thing?”

“Nurse said something had come through. She didn’t know any more.”

“It is true that we are poor now,” said Emma. “The nursery teapot is cracked.”

“Well, perhaps you can have another,” said Fanny.

“Oh, it will hold for some time. And it is homely to have it cracked. It is like a book.”

“It will make a memory,” said Claud.

“It is true that teapots in books are out of repair,” said Graham. “I had not thought of it.”

“It is the crack that has a meaning,” said Emma. “Anyone might have a teapot.”

“And have an accident with it,” said Ralph.

“That is when the meaning comes. Everyone doesn’t have a new one.”

“Well, nothing has happened,” said Simon. “There is to be no change.”

“Well, we are used to it,” said Emma. “And poverty is nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I am not ashamed,” said Claud. “But perhaps we could have a new book between us.”

“One about children,” said Emma. “But not meant only for children to read.”

“Emma will read it to me. It is a chance that she is more forward. It is no credit to her.”

“And none to you either, I suppose?”

Claud fell into mirth.

“Well, you can go to the village with Miss Dolton and choose a book.”

“What do you say?” said Julia.

“Thank you, Father,” said Emma, turning to the door, and continuing to her brother. “It doesn’t seem we are quite so poor. I think something is different. Nurse can feel things, when she doesn’t know. I suppose people who don’t know much, would have to.”