Mother and Son (12 page)

“I will go and see about the coffee,” said Miss Burke. “It will soon be ready.”

Rosebery, who had paused for her to precede him, smiled at her and passed on.

“Miss Burke seems to suit you very well, Miss Greatheart,” said Miranda.

“Yes, she does indeed. And I suit her as well as I can. No one can really suit a person who serves her.”

“I am sure she has nothing to complain of.”

“Well, only her life. And she does not complain of that. I have heard her complain about Plautus.”

“Does Plautus complain about her?” said Hester, with a touch of anxiety.

“No, not now he has accepted things. He knows he is dependent on her.”

“How can a cat complain?” said Miranda.

“Oh, Plautus knows how,” said Hester, “and we both of us understand him.”

“He is coming in with the coffee,” said Rosebery.

“There is no need to pander to us, Mr. Hume,” said Emma.

“I mean at the same time as the coffee,” said Rosebery, smiling. “I do not credit him with human capacities, though it seems to be the favoured course.”

“Oh, I see you are not pandering to us.”

“Miss Greatheart, no criticism was intended,” said Rosebery, rising and taking the tray from Miss Burke in time to set it on the table.

“This is excellent coffee,” said Miranda. “I must congratulate Miss Burke again. Does she have much practice in making it?”

“We have it after luncheon,” said Emma, answering the thought; “but not after dinner, now Hester is not at home.”

“Do you miss it after dinner, when you are with us, Miss Wolsey?”

“I did at first, but it is better not to be dependent on such things.”

“Not on those extra things. There are many on which we are dependent, of course,” said Miranda, suggesting the scope of the provision.

“Everything we have, makes work for someone,” said
Emma. “People ought to be like Adam and Eve, who for a long time did not even put on aprons.”

Rosebery laughed, controlled himself and looked at his mother.

“Have I done something without trying?” said Emma.

“You have betrayed a confused knowledge of the scriptures, Miss Greatheart.”

“Oh, I remember now about it. But I know they had to work after they had them.”

“I think you were trying that time, Miss Greatheart,” said Miranda.

“What I really feel about these Biblical jests,” said Rosebery, keeping his eyes from the company, “is that we ought to be chary of indulging in them, as the Bible lends itself so readily to their success.”

“So that we gain easy credit,” said Emma, “which is trying for other people.”

“Miss Greatheart, you do not misunderstand my bearing witness? You would think less of me, if I had failed to do so. Nothing was further from my thoughts than to belittle your performance.”

“A performance is belittling enough in itself.”

“You used the wrong word, my son,” said Miranda.

“Well, Mother, provide me with the right one.”

“I think you mean ‘achievement'.”

“Then I substitute it willingly.”

“These things must depend on our beliefs,” said Hester.

“We will not pursue that line,” said Miranda, with a note of authority. “We either have the same ones, or we owe respect to other people's.”

“Ought we to respect what we feel to be untrue?” said Emma. “Yes, of course we ought, when it is believed by other people and not by us.”

“It is surely paying it the truest respect to try to refute it,” said Hester. “Nothing else is taking it seriously.”

“Miss Wolsey, it sounds very plausible,” said Rosebery just shaking his head.

“You are confusing personal opinions with the truth,” said Miranda.

“But our own opinions are the truth to us. Well, Plautus, what do you say about it?”

Rosebery looked incredulous and shocked.

“I feel that animals are as much involved in these matters as we are,” said Hester. “They will have their share in any future life there is.”

“Miss Wolsey, it has not been so revealed to us.”

“I cannot conceive of a future life,” said Emma, “in the sense in which we mean it.”

“Miss Greatheart, I am grieved for you,” said Rosebery, speaking as though this verdict was the last she had expected.

“Let us leave these subjects,” said Miranda. “It is not the occasion for them.”

“Mother, it is always the occasion to be the defenders of our faith.”

“Well, you have been so,” said Miranda, whose share in her son's beliefs did not give her his feeling for them. “I was admiring your garden, Miss Greatheart. It makes me ashamed of my own. Do you do much in it yourself?”

“As much as will escape the gardener's notice,” said Emma, once more answering her thought.

“Well, my son and I will walk round it, and give you and Miss Wolsey an hour to yourselves. You must have a good deal to say to each other.”

“How open she is, when she knows what it must be!” said Emma. “Can she be as much worse than she seems, as the rest of us are?”

“Perhaps not. She does not edit herself. She sees no reasons.”

“But she lets other people see them. I have not met another case of it. No, pray do not leave us, dear. You are helping us through our first hour of constraint. And we have no secrets from you. Not even that I dislike Mrs. Hume's son. And that would be a secret from anyone else.”

“There is nothing against him,” said Hester. “And he is always considerate.”

“What a sign of being employed! Grateful for consideration! I was waiting for it.”

“Well, all things come to those who wait.”

“To think what three weeks can do!”

“They have seen me become a self-supporting woman.”

“That ought to be a contradiction in terms.”

“I wish it was,” said Miss Burke.

“Oh, don't threaten me, dear. I have much to contend against.”

“Mr. Hume and the children are all I would ask,” said Hester. “The son is a creature apart. Even his father does not know what to make of him.”

“What do you call him? You call the father ‘Mr. Hume'.”

“I call him ‘Mr. Rosebery', as the tutor does.”

“Hester, do you stop nowhere? Copying the tutor! What sort of man is he?”

“An odd little man, precise and conscious and of another kind.”

“Then why do you copy him?”

“In this case he offered me an example.”

“I am glad I am not in Miss Wolsey's place,” said Miss Burke.

“Think of that, Hester, when she would naturally wish to be in anyone else's! Do not listen to me, dear. I am overwrought.”

“Mrs. Hume is enjoying her day,” said Hester. “I can see she is impressed by your prosperity.”

“Well, of course she is, when my friend is her companion. Companions are solitary and penniless. Have you no knowledge of life or literature?”

“There is not much about companions in literature.”

“So you have no knowledge of it. And now you will never get any. Or do you have to read aloud? The thought has just struck me.”

“It was suggested, but the son was jealous of the privilege. That is what he called it.”

“I never understand why she wants a companion. What can she think of my position?”

“She thinks very well of it, except that you are a spinster.”

“I never understand why women are proud of being married,” said Miss Burke.

“I do,” said Emma. “Someone has wanted to spend his life with them. That is surely a cause for pride. And they have the proof of it, that Mrs. Hume would require. You see I have begun to quote her. It is a good thing I am not a companion. I think I have almost become one. What will you do when she dies, Hester?”

“I do not believe in talking about people's death.”

“You have to pretend she is immortal, or you would be failing in your trust. But you must know she is not. I believe even she knows it.”

“What do I know?” said Miranda, entering with her son, and assuming the subject to be herself.

“That we are not immortal,” said Emma. “Some people do not know it.”

“They need not do so until they are old. I think it is better that they should not. I have had to face it, and take thought for those who will outlive me.”

“I wish I could talk in a broad and selfless way.”

Miranda gave her a smile.

“We have had a pleasant hour. We greatly admired the garden. It is planted with an eye to the present and future, which is both wise and rare. I am sorry Miss Wolsey will miss it this year.”

“I hope you will come with me to see it sometimes,” said Hester.

“Mother,” said Rosebery, “I trust we can give Miss Wolsey opportunity to visit her friend and her garden, without the obligation to include us in the enterprise. This occasion will suffice for a happy understanding of her.”

“I must not come too often,” said Hester. “It is not wise to live two lives.”

“Miss Wolsey, may I hope there was not an undernote in that simple speech?”

“Will you have tea in the dining-room?” said Miss Burke. “You will be more comfortable there.”

“Miss Greatheart,” said Rosebery, addressing his response to his hostess, “I think our dearest and earliest memories are evoked by the words.”

“I hope Miss Wolsey will return to this house one day,” said Miranda, as they crossed the hall, “much as I sympathise with her desire for independence.”

“I do not sympathise with it,” said Emma. “I see no cause for pride in earning one's bread. The very word puts it in its place; there could not be a barer term.”

“You and I are fortunate in being above the need to do so.”

“You see what you are really proud of. Look at your word, ‘above'.”

“We should see it as a cause for thankfulness.”

“Well, thankfulness and pride are not very different. We should not be thankful for anything we were ashamed of. When we belittle our success, it is because we dare not let our pride have its way. And if you are thankful to something for singling you out, of course you are proud; and surely you ought to be.”

“We have done nothing to earn our independence.”

“And so we are proud indeed.”

“Who is to pour out the tea?” said Miss Burke.

“Whose duty is it?” said Miranda, with a smile.

“Hester's, when she is at home,” said Emma. “Otherwise it is Miss Burke's.”

“I will pour it out,” said Hester. “I know the tastes of everyone here.”

She showed this knowledge too openly.

“My son takes sugar, Miss Wolsey. I know you would want me to say so.”

“I think I will have a change on this occasion, Mother.”

“No, have it as you like it, my son. Miss Wolsey would prefer that. She is pouring out the tea to ensure it.”

“Mother, I will make a variation in my habits to-day. I am getting beyond the stage of wanting everything sweetened. I remember an enjoyable cup of tea I had on Miss Wolsey's arrival, when it fell to me to welcome her. She gave it to me sugarless, doubtless judging by my age and appearance; and I realised that my tastes were changing, indeed had changed.”

“Then why have you not said so?”

“My reasons have been several. The force of habit is strong, and the sight and sound of the sugar dropping into the cup had become dear. Even now I look for the moment when my senses will be struck by it. But my mature palate no longer craves the sweetness that was acceptable to my youth.”

“Well, you cannot have sugar put into the tea without its affecting it.”

“That is so, Mother. And therefore I have had to make my choice. And I have made it as I have said.”

“But how did Miss Wolsey know?”

“I can only think she remembered the occasion I spoke of. She has the memory of the good hostess.”

“She was not a hostess then. It is kind of her to think of it. So you have been drinking tea as you dislike it, for all these weeks?”

“Well, let us say as I once liked it.”

“I did not know you were so childish.”

“They say we are all children to our mothers. So perhaps this is an illustration of it.”

“Why did you not tell me, Miss Wolsey?”

“I did not think of it,” said Hester, who had done so and thought better of it.

“You need your mother to care for you, my son. I should not have let you drink distasteful tea, if I had known.”

“Well, I will depend on you in future, Mother, and feel I am wise to do so.”

Plautus jumped on to Rosebery's knee, causing him to start and exclaim.

“My son is not used to animals,” said Miranda.

“Hardly to an animal who joins the family at table,” said Rosebery, keeping his tone light, and caressing Plautus.

The latter put his face over the edge of the table and regarded the fare without emotion.

“There is nothing he likes but the milk,” said Hester.

Plautus reached her side, waited for his supply of this, and gave his being up to it.

“Now does a human creature yield himself so wholeheartedly to anything?” said Emma.

“Hardly to anything to eat, in public,” said Rosebery.

“He ought to have his meals in the kitchen,” said Miss Burke.

She took up the saucer, and it appeared to lift Plautus's head up with it and draw him in its wake.

“When you have supplied his needs, Miss Burke,” said Rosebery, on her return, “what reward does he make you?”

“He relies on me to go on supplying them.”

“And that is a reward surely,” said Hester. “I am always grateful for it.

“I am not so easily grateful,” said Miss Burke.

“I trust that does not imply that you have met small cause for gratitude?” said Rosebery.

“Why should it do so?” said his mother.