Mary Westmacott - Giant's Bread

‘Willingly.’

Precise, dry, even, word after word fell from the old lawyer’s lips. His meaning was clear and unmistakable! Too much so! It didn’t leave a loophole for doubt.

Vernon listened. His face was very white, his hands grasped the arms of the chair in which he was sitting.

It couldn’t be true – it couldn’t! And yet, after all, hadn’t Mr Flemming said very much the same, years ago? Yes, but then there had been the magic words ‘twenty-one’ to look forward to. ‘Twenty-one’ which by a blessed miracle was to make everything right. Instead of which:

‘Mind you, the position is infinitely improved from what it was at the time of your father’s death, but it is no good pretending we are out of the wood. The mortgage –’

Surely, surely, they had never mentioned a mortgage? Well, it wouldn’t have been much use, he supposed, to a boy of nine. No good trying to get round it. The plain truth was that he couldn’t afford to live at Abbots Puissants.

He waited till Mr Flemming had finished, and then said:

‘But if my Mother –’

‘Oh, of course. If Mrs Deyre were prepared to –’ He left the sentence unfinished, paused and then added: ‘But, if I may say so, every time that I have had the pleasure of seeing Mrs Deyre, she has seemed to me to be very settled – very settled indeed. I suppose you know that she bought the freehold of Carey Lodge two years ago?’

Vernon hadn’t known it. He saw plainly enough what it meant. Why hadn’t his mother told him? Hadn’t she had the courage? He had always taken it for granted that she would come back with him to Abbots Puissants, not so much because he longed for her presence there, as because it was – quite naturally – her home.

But it wasn’t her home. It never could be in the sense that Carey Lodge was her home.

He could appeal to her, of course. Beg her, for his sake, because he wanted it so much.

No, a thousand times no! You couldn’t beg favours from people you didn’t really love. And he didn’t really love his mother. He didn’t believe he ever really had. Queer and sad, and a little dreadful, but there it was.

If he never saw her again, would he mind? Not really. He would like to know that she was well and happy – cared for. But he wouldn’t miss her, would never feel a longing for her presence. Because, in a queer way, he didn’t really like her. He disliked the touch of her hands, always had to take a hold on himself before kissing her good night. He’d never been able to tell her anything – she never understood or knew what he was feeling. She had been a good loving mother – and he didn’t even like her! Rather horrible, he supposed, most people would say …

He said quietly to Mr Flemming:

‘You are quite right. I am sure my mother would not wish to leave Carey Lodge.’

‘Now, there are one or two alternatives open to you, Mr Deyre. Major Salmon, who, as you know, has rented it furnished all these years, is anxious to buy –’

‘No!’ The word burst from Vernon like a pistol shot.

Mr Flemming smiled.

‘I was sure you would say that. And I must confess I am glad. There have been – er – Deyres at Abbots Puissants for, let me see, nearly five hundred years. Nevertheless, I should be failing in my duty if I didn’t point out to you that the price offered is a good one, and that if, later, you should decide to sell, it may not be easy to find a suitable purchaser.’

‘It’s out of the question.’

‘Very good. Then the best thing, I think, is to try and let once more. Major Salmon definitely wants to buy a place, so it will mean finding a new tenant. But I dare say we shall have no great difficulty. The point is, how long do you want to let for? To let the place for another long term of years is, I should say, not very desirable. Life is very uncertain. Who knows, in a few years the state of affairs may have – er – changed very considerably, and you may be in a position to take up residence there yourself.’

‘So I shall, but not the way you think, you old dunderhead,’ thought Vernon. ‘It’ll be because I’ve made a name for myself in music – not because Mother is dead. I’m sure I hope she’ll live to be ninety.’

He exchanged a few more words with Mr Flemming, then rose to go.

‘I’m afraid this has been rather a shock to you,’ said the old lawyer as he shook hands.

‘Yes – just a bit. I’ve been building castles in the air, I suppose.’

‘You’re going down to spend your twenty-first birthday with your mother, I suppose?’

‘Yes.’

‘You might talk things over with your uncle, Mr Bent. A very shrewd man of business. He has a daughter about your age, I think?’

‘Yes, Enid. The two eldest are married, and the two youngest are at school. Enid’s about a year younger than I am.’

‘Ah! very pleasant to have a cousin of one’s own age. I dare say you will see a good deal of her.’

‘Oh, I don’t suppose I shall,’ said Vernon vaguely.

Why should he be seeing a lot of Enid? She was a dull girl. But of course Mr Flemming didn’t know that.

Funny old chap. What on earth was there to put on such a sly, knowing expression about?

‘Well, Mother, I don’t seem to be exactly the young heir!’

‘Oh, well, dear, you mustn’t worry. Things arrange themselves, you know. You must have a good talk with your Uncle Sydney.’

Silly! What good could a talk with his Uncle Sydney do him?

Fortunately the matter was not referred to again. The extraordinary surprise was that Joe had been allowed to have her way. She was actually in London – somewhat dragoned and chaperoned, it is true – but still she had got her way.

His mother seemed always to be whispering mysteriously to friends. Vernon caught her at it one day.

‘Yes – quite inseparable, they were – so I thought it wiser – it would be such a pity –’

And what Vernon called the ‘other tabby’ said something about ‘First cousins – most unwise –’ And his mother with a suddenly heightened colour and raised voice had said:

‘Oh! I don’t think in every case.’

‘Who were first cousins?’ asked Vernon later. ‘What was all the mystery about?’

‘Mystery, darling? I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Well, you shut up when I came in. I wondered what it was all about?’

‘Oh, nothing interesting. Some people you don’t know.’

She looked rather red and confused.

Vernon wasn’t curious. He asked no more.

He missed Joe most frightfully. Carey Lodge was pretty deadly without her. For one thing, he saw more of Enid than he had ever done before. She was always coming in to see Myra, and Vernon would find himself let in for taking her to roller skate at the new rink, or for some deadly party or other.

Myra told Vernon that it would be nice if he asked Enid up to Cambridge for May week. She was so persistent about it that Vernon gave in. After all, it didn’t matter. Sebastian would have Joe and he himself didn’t much care. Dancing was rather rot – everything was rot that interfered with music …

The evening before his departure Uncle Sydney came to Carey Lodge and Myra pushed Vernon into the study with him and said:

‘Your Uncle Sydney’s come to have a little talk with you, Vernon.’

Mr Bent hemmed and hawed for a minute or two and then, rather surprisingly, came straight to the point. Vernon had never liked his uncle as much. His facetious manner had been entirely laid aside.

‘I’m coming straight out with what I want to say, my boy – but I don’t want you interrupting till I’ve finished. See?’

‘Yes, Uncle Sydney.’

‘The long and short of it is just this. I want you to come into Bent’s . Now remember what I said – no interruptions! I know you’ve never thought of such a thing, and I dare say the idea isn’t very congenial to you now. I’m a plain man, and I can face facts as well as anyone. If you’d got a good income and could live at Abbots Puissants like a gentleman, there wouldn’t be any question of the thing. Well, I accept that. You’re like your father’s people. But for all that, you’ve got good Bent blood in your veins, my boy, and blood’s bound to tell.