Brian Aldiss - Life in the West

Squire had not expected that. He stopped as Teresa saw him.

‘Oh, darling, there you are!’ cried Teresa. ‘We are so late, I thought you’d be gone.’ She moved towards him in a tentative way: so tentatively that Jarvis, also coming forward, overtook her, sticking out a boney hand.

‘Glad to see you again, Mr Squire. I’ve been taking care of Teresa.’ He smiled with all the teeth at his command. ‘What a journey we’ve had!’

So overcome was Squire by this effrontery that he accepted the hand before realizing it. The touch of it immediately roused him and he withdrew his own.

‘So you’re the creature who’s been fooling around with my wife and sneaking into my home when I was away! Get out immediately!’

Jarvis opened his mouth rather wide and stuck his fists on his hips.

‘If you’re going to be unfriendly, two can play that game.’

‘Don’t you dare make trouble here, Tom,’ Teresa said.

‘Oh, don’t mind us,’ Belinda said, closing the front door. ‘Feel at home.’

Squire said, ‘Teresa, you’re mad bringing this fellow here!’

‘Don’t you order me to get out, Mr Squire,’ Jarvis said, his confidence returning. ‘It’s not your place any more than it is mine. I’ve got every right to be here. I’m looking after your wife, and so what? You weren’t so much of a success in that line, gallivanting round the world.’

He showed signs of continuing his discourse, but Belinda said coolly, ‘You do not have as much right to be here as Mr Squire, young man, whatever your name is. Just for the record, Mr Squire was invited here and is our guest. You were not invited and you are not our guest.’

‘Belinda! I was going to introduce you. Vernon has brought me all the way back from Malta. We’ve been travelling for hours…’ Teresa looked close to tears.

‘No doubt he took you all the way to Malta, too,’ said Belinda.

Ron Broadwell appeared in time to hear this last exchange.

‘Any trouble?’ he asked.

‘Ron, this fellow has the impertinence to turn up here with my wife on his arm. I shall not stay if he does. You’ve arrived with her, Jarvis, you can take her away again — back to Malta, for all I care.’

Jarvis said, ‘If you weren’t old enough to be my father, I’d bash your face in.’

‘You can try if you like. You’d get a few surprises.’

‘For two pins I would, you self-satisfed — ’

Broadwell moved forward, his bulk making the advance an impressive sight. ‘I’m not having an intruder spoiling our evening. You must make up your own mind what you are doing, Teresa. Of course you’re welcome to stay on your own.’

Teresa stamped her foot and shook her fists. ‘My God, Tom, how you disgrace me — in front of friends. Vern only wanted to be your frien…’

Turning to Jarvis, Broadwell said, ‘You aren’t welcome here. Get out and go home. Close the door behind you. Go on, vamoose!’

Glaring angrily at her husband, Teresa said, ‘We came here in perfect innocence. I wasn’t going to turn Vera away after all our troubles today. You ought to try Alitalia some time. I knew it was the wrong day to travel; the stars were against it, but I wanted to see you on New Year’s Eve. Now you show how little you care, telling Vern to take me away, treating me — ’

He had swung away in disgust, but now he turned back. ‘What did you want to see me for, Teresa? You’ve shown no inclination these last months. I suppose you want to borrow money?’

She grasped Jarvis’s arm. ‘I’m sorry, Vern, I didn’t mean to drag you into this. He always tries to humiliate me. I loved and trusted you once, Tom. As for you, Belinda, I knew you were never a friend of mine — ’

‘Oh, yes, I was,’ Belinda said sharply. ‘I was a good friend of yours, because I’ve never hinted to you that not for one moment did I think you did at all a good job of being Tom’s wife. Now you’ve found someone of your own kind, perhaps Tom can find someone to make him happier. That’s what we all hope.’

Ron laid a hand on his wife’s arm. She glared like a cat about to pounce, and then put an arm round him.

‘Such fun to be totally honest for once,’ she said: ‘Sorry, Teresa.’

But Teresa had already turned back to her husband. ‘You of all people accusing Vernon of fooling around with me behind your back. Why can’t I invite him home? He only came for coffee and a business chat. I’ll invite in who I like. I wanted him to see my work. I’m not going to be cooped up while you do what you please with any woman you fancy.’

Jarvis was also talking. Squire found he had ceased to listen. Before the spectacle of his wife attacking him and defending Jarvis, all the fight had gone out of him. He was thinking rather abstractedly about closing up the Hall, perhaps even selling up — why not? Maintaining it was just a struggle — and going abroad somewhere, living on capital and royalties. Maybe California. Or one of the Adriatic islands. Mali Losinj. But even if they were Yugoslav, they were still communist. Singapore? Malaysia. Without Laura?

Jarvis was still talking, wagging a finger, maintaining a long self-righteous discourse, chiefly concerned with how his popularity with women was sustained because he treated them right, although he didn’t think it was fair to marry. Furthermore, he cultivated Teresa because she was good at her craft and they would make a success of the business they were developing if only their capital hadn’t run out unexpectedly. Even that was because of his generosity. He was too generous.

Squire realized that Séverine and her husband were listening with fascination — the scent of her perfume reached him. Much as he hated this occasion, he recognized that he could laugh about it with her afterwards. Possibly rather a long time afterwards.

He noted also that Teresa’s mother and Willie had made themselves scarce. His dry mouth reminded him how welcome alcohol would be.

‘Perhaps we should go and have a drink somewhere,’ he said, cutting in on Jarvis’s speech. ‘We’ll sort this false nonsense out once and for all. There’s bound to be a pub open in Ascot tonight. I won’t impose this disruption on my friends any longer. But if you are determined to consort with all and sundry, Teresa, then we must make arrangements accordingly.’

‘I didn’t say — ’ Teresa began, but Jarvis silenced her. ‘I’m not drinking with you, Mr Squire. Not after the way you’ve insulted me in front of these people. And damaged my reputation. I intended you no harm.’

Squire laughed with a poor parched sound. ‘You’d better understand that you’ve done me considerable harm — and Teresa also. If you don’t want to talk, why not simply blow back into the night, the way you came?’

At this point, Ron Broadwell heaved himself forward, clapping his hands. Belinda took Squire’s arm and squeezed him.’ I don’t believe it,’ she said.

‘Did you two come in a taxi?’ Ron asked Teresa, flinging open the front door.

‘Of course not. Vern had his car at the airport. And where’s my mother? Tom, you’re turning me away — realize that, you’re turning me away. I warn you, I don’t like it, and I shan’t stand for it.’

‘Good-bye, Teresa,’ he called.

‘Terry, let’s scram out of here,’ Jarvis said, tugging at his coat. He added menacingly to Broadwell, ‘And I’ll plant one on you if you shove me.’

‘Do you wish me to turn the dogs on you?’

The front door slammed. Broadwell ushered his wife and Squire into the living room to the fire, ostentatiously wiping sweat from his forehead.

‘I thought the blighter was going to attack me, I really thought he was going to hit me. You heard what he said? Well, Jacques, Séverine, you see how we English live. It’s all drama — the land of Shakespeare.’