Merciless Reason (30 page)

XXXI

A CROSSFIRE OF OBSERVATION

THE MATTER OF WHO WAS TO SIT
at the head of the table at dinner was resolved by Brutus, much to Nate's surprise. He had not expected Gerald to relinquish that position to his deputy, despite Brutus's obvious claim to seniority. Elvira took her position at the other end, leaving Nate and Gerald sitting across from each other, either side of Edgar.

Elizabeth sat next to Gerald, with Leopold on her other side. Daisy sat next to Nate, with Tatty beside her. Gerald hardly took his eyes off Nate as they waited for the first course to be brought in. Nate watched Leopold, though his eyes strayed to Brutus sometimes, and the engimal claw that had been used to replace the giant's missing right hand. Elizabeth watched Gerald watching Nate. Leopold made a canoe for his tin soldier out of a bread roll, and watched for any sign of the approaching food. Daisy and Tatty exchanged the occasional disgruntled glance, but otherwise watched Gerald and Nate. Brutus's gaze bored straight through this crossfire of observation, his stare traveling down the table to Elvira, though whether she was the focus of his attention or not it was difficult to say, the table being long enough to comfortably seat twenty-four people. This dinner had promised to be such a dramatic affair that all the available relatives had gathered in the dining room, requiring another table to be laid.

Everyone was on edge. It was often at pivotal moments like this in the family's existence that upheavals occurred; conflict, changes of allegiance and betrayal. They waited for cues from the two young men sitting by the top of the table, looking for signs of dominance, or weakness, or any other hint of which way things might go. So far, there was nothing.

Nate lifted one of the three forks in his place setting, feeling its weight. It had been a long time since he had eaten with silver cutlery. The elaborate array in front of him would have paid for a half decent horse. Its worth could feed a family for a month. He gazed at his hands, calloused from years of manual work, his skin weathered by the sun and wind. This place held so many bad memories, but now it didn't even feel like anywhere he knew. It was another world, one he did not recognize.

He pulled at the cuffs of his suit jacket. His new suit had been so wet when he and Daisy came down from the roof that he had been forced to change. Fortunately, Daisy had anticipated his lack of suitable attire, and several of his old suits had been hurriedly laundered the day before and made ready for him. The trousers hugged his thighs too snugly and the jacket was a little too tight around the shoulders and upper arms. But the cut allowed the revolver in his waistband to stay hidden, and fell straight down at the back so that no one could see the bulge of the large hunting knife he had concealed in a sheath in the small of his back.

The servants started bringing bowls of soup, cold cuts and more bread to the tables. The clink of cutlery on china was tentative, nervous, as people began to eat. No one had much of an appetite. Nate watched Leopold playing for a little longer, and then turned to the enormous, ancient man sitting at the head of the table.

“So, Brutus, how are you settling in to life in this new world? I expect a lot has changed since you last walked the Earth.”

“As a matter of fact, surprisingly little has changed,” Brutus responded, the turn of his head reminding Nate of one of those new-fangled gun turrets they had started installing on battleships. “I have awoken to find the family as mired in conspiracy and back-stabbing as it always was. The same features that defined it then are equally present now. We have the warring factions …”

“I'd say it's been quite a while since we had any need for an all-out war, wouldn't you, Nate?” Gerald observed.

Leopold did not care for soup. He aimed his tin soldier's rifle at Nate and made shooting sounds. Then he smiled at his long-absent father, but Nate had his eyes fixed on Gerald.

“… we have people keeping secrets, even from those closest to them …” Brutus continued.

Failing to get Nate's attention, Leopold stood up on his raised chair and pushed his bread roll canoe as far as he could across the table to Daisy. She did not notice, her attention focused on Nate.

“Yes, it's remarkable what people keep from you,” Tatty said acidly, casting a sidelong look at Daisy. “Sometimes, people aren't the friends you think they are at all.”

“And sometimes they hide a whole other side of their character,” Daisy sniped back, “which surely is the peak of dishonesty.”

Leopold looked up hopefully at his mother. She never failed to give him attention. But now she was watching Brutus through narrowed eyes. Leopold tugged on her sleeve and she absent-mindedly summoned the servant with the violin, gesturing at him to play something to calm her restless son. As the musician approached, Nate lifted a hand to point at him.

“If you come near this table with that violin, I'll shoot you where you stand. And that goes for any other instruments you have stashed back there.”

Gerald smirked. Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Leopold's mouth opened in an ‘O' at the unfairness of it all.

“We have those whose lives are ruled by ruthless ambition,” Brutus said, paying no heed to the other goings-on at the table as he took a sip of his soup, the spoon held in his left hand.

“Why, Brutus, you almost make it sound like a negative quality,” Elizabeth remarked in a disconcerted tone. “I would expect no less from Leopold, when he comes of age.”

“… and those who are blinded by insatiable greed,” Brutus continued.

“Blithering fools indeed!” Gideon barked, leaning over his bulging stomach to rap on the tabletop in agreement, with the knuckles of a hand laden with gold and jeweled rings. “A man should control his appetites!”

Afflicted by a terrible boredom, Leopold climbed down off his chair and ducked under the table, where he proceeded to crawl around among the forest of legs, pretending his soldier was off having adventures in the Congo—whatever a Congo was—like his mysterious father.

“And finally, you have the slaves to tradition,” Brutus declared, “and those who put the reputation of the family above all other considerations.”

“And what other considerations should be given greater priority?” Elvira demanded, aiming her listening horn down the table, having picked up on the booming voice from the other end and finding its declarations objectionable. “Family is everything!”

“Speaking of family,” Elizabeth spoke up, and pausing long enough to be sure she had the entire family's attention, “Gerald and I have wonderful news … we're going to have a baby!”

Silence descended across the dining room.

“What?” Nate and Daisy said together.

“What?” Gerald managed a moment later. “What the bloody hell are you talking about?”

“And I thought you had a great understanding of biology,” Nate quipped. “Looks like she's nailed you too, old chum.”

“This family gets more complicated all the time,” Tatty exclaimed. “Will this mean you'll be getting married?”

Gerald let out a low growl, the kind of noise no one had ever heard him utter before. Nate dropped his hand under the table to the butt of his gun. All across the room, frayed nerves sparked and muscles tensed. Under the table, Leopold, trying to find a way through a wall of legs, had his soldier jab one of them with his rifle. Gideon felt a sharp point stick into his shin. Letting out a yelp, he shoved back his chair and jumped to his feet, pulling a pistol-sized, double-barreled shotgun from under his jacket. The sudden movement caused frantic reactions up and down the table. In an instant, all of the men and a few of the women were standing, aiming firearms across the table. Hammers were cocked, warnings were shouted. At any moment, someone might fire a shot and the result would be nothing short of a bloodbath. Leopold started shrieking, calling for his mother. In the confusion of shouts, swearing and swinging of barrels, only Brutus, Nate and Gerald remained seated, though all three now had hands on weapons. Nate watched as the two points of Brutus's claws clicked together like a telegraph—the only sign that the ogre was in any way agitated. It was a gesture Nate recognized.

“
No guns at the dinner table
!” Elvira bellowed. “Good God, have you no sense of propriety!”

“Am I cursed to be surrounded by small-minded fools and buffoons all of my life?” Gerald hissed, an apoplectic expression on his face. “Why must you all waste your lives with petty squabbles and … and superstitions and … and selfish, clutching greed? Where is your ability to
reason
? Are you human beings or animals? Sometimes I think you're worse than both! I'm trying to change the world and you lot can't have a bowl of soup without shooting each other! It's absurd!” He took a deep breath and visibly calmed himself. “Now … will you all just SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!”

Frozen in place by his voice, the Wildensterns looked at him, then at each other, and slowly, carefully lowered their weapons. Having done that, they then took their seats, awkwardly pulling their chairs in under them as the servants who normally helped them, and who had been serving the food, had run for their lives when the guns came out. Gerald put a hand to his head, struggling to control the seething rage he felt. Daisy regarded him with cold eyes, checked the small pocket-watch she kept tucked away in her dress, and decided that the time had come.

“You tell us you're trying to change the world, but you never tell us
how
, Gerald,” she said. “Perhaps we'll find out … now that the police and the army are on their way to clear out the criminals who've occupied the Glendalough mines.”

Gerald's face settled into an icy calm, his gaze fixed on her face.

“You're lying,” he said hoarsely. “The army wouldn't make a move on our property without informing me first.”

“You never paid enough attention to the business,” Daisy told him. “And I confess I've been a bit slow at bringing Brutus up to date on everything. Didn't you know? We sold that property last week.”

Gerald ground his teeth, staring at her with a murderous intensity, examining her face and body language for any sign that she was bluffing. Daisy, with studied indifference, looked at her pocket-watch. Brutus pushed back his chair and drew himself up to his full height. Nate resisted the urge to look up, as did Daisy. Tatty could not help but stare. Brutus was breathing slowly and deeply, gazing down at Daisy with a frown.

“I believe she's telling the truth,” he rumbled.

Gerald swore through his teeth, leaped from his chair and sprinted for the door. Everyone else stood up too. Some followed him half-heartedly out of the dining room, others joined Nate and Daisy at the windows overlooking the back of the house. A couple of minutes later, they saw Gerald on the back of his velocycle, racing away towards the mountains as fast as his mount could carry him.

“I daresay, what's down that mine that's so important?” someone asked. “You don't suppose they've found
gold
down there, do you?”

“Do you think he might have discovered gold and not told us?” another voice piped up. “God knows, the swine's capable of anything!”

Nate and Daisy left them to their back-biting conjecture and hurried out of the dining room. Tatty was not with them, and they didn't have time to wonder where she had gone.

“How long do you think we have before he makes it back here?” Daisy asked as they walked towards the elevators.

“That depends on how unhinged he has become,” Nate replied. “If he thinks he can save his operation by taking on the army, and is mad enough to try, then we could have the rest of the night. But if he can afford to cut loose from whatever is down that mine, then he could decide to turn round and come back at any moment.”

There was a boy in smart livery who operated the lift. As the doors opened, Nate and Daisy stepped inside and Daisy asked for the ground floor. When the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened, Nate took a few shillings from his pocket and pressed them into the boy's hand.

“We'll take it from here, lad,” he told the boy. “Get yourself home. And tell any of the staff that you see on the way out to do the same. Spread the word; all hell is about to break loose, and there's no need for any of you to be a part of it. Now, go … Go!”

The boy started walking down the hallway towards the staff stairwell, clutching the coins in his fist with a bewildered expression on his face. Nate closed the doors over and shifted the lever, taking the lift down to the basement. This corridor was tiled, not carpeted, and the walls were not adorned by paintings. They made their way to the end of the long hallway, where a heavy, locked door led to the outside. Daisy had given Nate a large bunch of keys to carry in his pocket, and he handed it to her.

“I knew you'd betray the family someday, boy,” a deep voice snarled from behind them. “You have too much of your mother in you.”