A Dinner Of Herbs (64 page)

He had

expected someone pretty, slim like Mary Ellen had been, pert like Mary Ellen had been, uneducated and

somewhat raw as Mary Ellen had been. But here was this large cool creature who was

speaking again.

“I hope you had a good journey.”

The ordinariness of the words and tone not only surprised the man who was her father,

but definitely,

too, Hal and Mary Ellen alike. They had both fully expected some emotional response,

but it looked, as

Mary Ellen thought, that Kate was standing summing up this man as if he was a visitor

they all had some

doubts about. Yet she was being confronted by her father.

“Hello, Kate.” He could find nothing else to say. His voice sounded ordinary, no twang to it now.

After a moment of most uneasy silence in the room, he added, “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m very well. And you?”

“Yes, I’m very well too.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, let’s sit down.” Another time Mary Ellen would have thought. Oh!

Hal, there

you “o again, but now she smiled and said, “ A better idea would be to let us have some tea Come on. “

And she put out her hand towards Hal.

“Let’s see if the girls have got everything ready.”

Hal paused for a moment as if reluctant to leave the room, but an extra tight pressure on his hand

brought him forward. And when Mary Ellen pulled the sitting-room door closed behind

them he hissed

at her, “What did you have to do that for?”

“Tis best to leave them alone for a few minutes, thick-head.”

“Thick-head am I?” They were walking along the passage towards the dining-room now.

“Aye, I might be, but I’m not blind. You’re sorry for him, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I am.”

“My God! I never thought to hear that.”

“Well, you’re hearing it now.”

She made a face, then smiled at him; then leaning her head impulsively against his

shoulder, she muttered,

“Oh, Hal, Hal. We’re lucky.”

He pulled her round and, staring into her face, he demanded, “No regrets?”

“Aw! man’—she shook her head at him ‘don’t be so damned silly. No regrets, you say.

Twenty-four

years working on you, having to put up with you! Of course I’ve got regrets.” She

watched him pull his

chin into his neck before she added, “I’m only sorry it hasn’t been forty two.” Swiftly he put his arms

about her and kissed her hard on the lips, only to spring apart from her as John and Tom entered the

passage and simultaneously turned away, their hands over their eyes, as Tom cried, “In the daytime at

that, John!” and John replied, “Shameless! Absolutely shameless.”

“You two want me toe in your backsides?”

“You’ll have to do a standing jump to achieve that all in one go.

Dad. “ John’s face was solemn, and Tom added, “ Bet you the cream heifer, Dad, you

can’t do it. “

And at this, Hal’s two fists swung out and the young men, dodging them, hurried ahead

of their parents

into the dining-room to find Gabriel already there with the girls. But once in the room and the door

closed, their manner changed and Tom asked, “ How’s she taking it? “

Mary Ellen looked at Hal, and Hal looked at his family and said after a moment’s

thought, “You know, I

couldn’t really tell you. Polite, wasn’t she?” He glanced at Mary Ellen and she nodded.

“Yes, coolly polite.”

“Coolly?”

“Aye’—Hal nodded now from one to the other ‘that’s the word, coolly. As cool as spring water I

would say. I was worried1 thought on the sight of him we would have lost her—but I’m

not any more.”

“She wouldn’t go away with him, would she?” They all turned and looked at Florrie, and after the

mutterings of:

“Of course not. Don’t be silly. Whoever put that idea into your head?”

Mary Ellen said quietly, “It’s just possible, at least for a time.

He’s . he’s a very famous man and he could show her a different part of the world. “

Hal came at her now, saying, “What are you talkin’ about? You never said anything like that to me.”

“Oh, didn’t I? I must have forgotten.”

“Forgotten? Don’t be aggravating, woman, and startin’ me worryin’, ‘cos once she went

away on a trip

like that she wouldn’t come back, would she? This life would be very tame after seeing France, Paris,

and places like that.” Then his voice dropping and his face becoming very serious, he

said, “She

wouldn’t, would she? I mean, go off with him?”

“I couldn’t say what she would do if he made the offer.”

“Gabriel. No ... you John and Tom, go and make yourself known to him and bring them

into tea.”

“You’ll do nothing of the sort. They’ll come when they’re ready. Now sit yourselves

down, all of you,

and show a little patience and good manners.” Then, her lips slightly trembling, Mary

Ellen said, “I ... I

want him to see the bunch I’m proud of....”

Back in the sitting-room Kate and her father were seated now opposite to each other, and he, leaning

towards her, was repeating the invitation that Hal was dreading.

“It would be an experience,” he said.

“You could just come for a month and I can assure you that you would enjoy it. The only thing is you

wouldn’t have a moment’s peace:!... I have a number of friends who would want to paint you.”

“Paint me?”

“Yes, yes.”

She rose to her feet now, saying quietly, “And what would they see in me to paint?”

He did not get to his feet but, lifting his head, he let his gaze travel over her before he said, “So much.”

“It certainly wouldn’t be my beauty.”

His mouth opened then closed: her frankness seemed to have nonplussed him for a

moment. Then he

said, “From an artist’s point of view, they would find something more than beauty. Pretty faces and

pretty figures you can engage for a few francs. Then... then there is your voice.

You have an unusual voice. You must know that. And besides everything else in our

short

acquaintance, I realize you’ve got a mind of your own. Oh, our friends would certainly enjoy you, artists

or no artists.

What do you say? “

“How would your wife take this?”

Now he did rise to his feet and he walked from her and put his hand on the high

mantelpiece and looked

down into the empty grate where the half-burnt logs were arranged tidily across the bars, and he said,

“As an artist she would welcome you.”

“But as a stepmother?”

He turned and looked at her, saying quietly now, “You have your mother’s mind and her

frankness.

Perhaps you are right. But I had to ask you.”

Thank you. Now may I ask you a question? “

“Certainly.”

“Why has it taken all these years for you to come and see me?”

He looked down into the grate again, placing his other hand also on the mantelpiece, and as she watched

him droop his head forward she had the desire to go to him and say. It’s all right, it doesn’t matter. I

don’t want an answer. But he gave her the answer, saying, “I ... was afraid.”

“Afraid to come and see me?”

Slowly he turned round towards her, his hands hanging limply by his side now.

“No. This is between you and me.... Afraid to see your mother.”

“Oh.”

“Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes, I understand.”

“We all make mistakes, even the strongest of us, and

I’ve got to admit I’m not a strong-willed person. So when a different way of life was

offered me I

grabbed at it with both hands. Your namesake, old Kate, whom I’m sure your mother has

told you of

many times, she used always to say, everything in life must be paid for, and there was never a truer

saying. And I have paid for it, and I’m still paying for it in an over-fed pampered body, hundreds of

acquaintances but hardly one true friend, and a way of life that is ordered from the time I get up in the

morning till I go to bed at night. It did not take me over long to realize where my real life lay, but as I

say, I’m a weak-minded man. “ He now spread out his hands.

“I

must admit though I was surprised to see you as my daughter, so different from what I

expected, but so

much better. And undoubtedly you are surprised to find that the great man you’ve heard about, billed

and feted, is just a shallow manoeuvred individual. “

She looked at him. Yes, he was all he was saying. But what he wasn’t, saying was, he

was clever in his

own interests, for in a way he was playing on her sympathy, hoping that now she would

succumb and say

she would accept his offer of a holiday in France. For a moment a touch of bitterness

entered her

thinking as she imagined how he would present her. His daughter undoubtedly, but how

would she be

named by his many acquaintances? Oh, she knew how she’d be named: Greenbank’s

bastard.

He said now, “It’s been a strange meeting, don’t you think? I never intended to say any of this. It’s the

atmosphere of this place, not only the house’ he wagged his hand towards the ceiling

—’the whole area.”

He walked from her now towards the window.

“It’s in the very air. Every body speaks their mind, no reticence. If you had used tact, diplomacy, or

polish, you would have been known as a nowt, an upstart.

Even the upper class here washed their linen in public. Now that’s funny. “ He swung

round and

looked at her. His manner had changed entirely now. It was as if he recognized his

pleading had failed

and was using one of his many fronts.

“You know, the Hall and the many big houses around here, well at one time, I wouldn’t

have even been

allowed into their stables, whereas now, believe it or not, I’ve had two invitations to dine, and with the

best of them.”

“Are you going to accept?”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. We are only here for a week. There may be no time, there’s a lot of functions

to be got through in Newcastle.”

He stopped a few feet from her and again they surveyed each other, and it was she who

spoke next,

saying, “Well, I think all that has had to be said has been said. Don’t you? Shall we go into tea?”

He now gave a soft chuckling laugh; then with exaggerated courtesy, he held out his

crooked arm and

she placed the tips of her fingers on it, and like this they left the room and entered the dining-room, to the

surprise, and not to say amazement, of all the members of her family.

The reaction of the family to Kate’s almost forgotten father was varied. Gabriel’s version of him when

with his brothers was: “He talked too much.” And both John and Tom rounded on him

and said, “Well,

you gave him plenty of leads, it was you who asked the questions,” for Gabriel to come back with, “Yes,

well, if I hadn’t, the meal would have been dead, because you all sat there like stocks.”

“I must say, though, I found him interesting.”

John looked at Tom scornfully.

“Only because he mentioned all the places he had been to in Paris.”

“Aye, perhaps. Anyway, he made me feel I’d like to take a trip over there. And perhaps I will.”

At this he received a none too gentle dig in the back from John who said, “Well, it won’t be the Opera

House you’ll find yourself in, but that place called the Conciergerie or the House of

Justice or some

such.”

“Anyway, he’s given me an invite over and I might take it.”

“What you’ll take,” said John, ‘is a journey to the byres. You can go by horseback,

coach, mail van, or

pack horse

or just carrier cart . or on the tip of me boot. “

As they were about to disperse laughing, Gabriel said, “I can’t understand our Kate, she wasn’t a bit

ruffled, was she? You would have thought she met her father every week. She’s changing is Kate, isn’t

she?”

His two brothers looked at him, and it was John who said quietly, “Yes, she’s

changing....”

“That’s what Maggie said to Florrie. As cool as the dairy slab she said she was. And I could have

fallen through the floor when they came in arm in arm. I didn’t like him. I felt he was acting all the time,

and bragging.”

“He was only telling us about his home and the way they live over there.”

“Did you see how he looked at Mam when he left her? For a moment, I thought he was

going to kiss

her. Dad was glad to see the back of him, I know that, one-time friend or not.... No, I didn’t like’ him

And Kate’s been funny enough of late, and now she’ll be funnier still after this.”

During this conversation in the kitchen Annie had been standing at the table shredding up a cabbage, and

for the first time she spoke, quietly saying, “And she’s had plenty to make her funny, if you ask me. And

whether you like him or you dislike him, I’d keep your tongues quiet about it when you are within earshot

of her. You hear?”

“Yes, Annie,” was the quick concerted reply, They did not think it strange that they never retaliated

when Annie chastised them, whereas, had it been their mother, Maggie at least might

have put up a show

of defiance. But in Annie’s case it was different. She was family, yet not family, and in a sort of

dependant position, so you did not take advantage. Moreover, she had been like a second mother to

Kate. Moreover still, their father thought a great deal of Annie. Their father at this moment was

discussing the very same subject. He was in the office reckoning up his outlay and