The English Tutor (17 page)

But Mark remained on the terrace long after she had gone, watching the light fade and the pale stars come out one by one. Then, feeling unaccountably depressed, he went in and up the tower stairs to bed.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE summer slipped away almost imperceptibly. There were more picnics at Kinross Sands, there were days at the races and days at the fair, and the unpredictable Irish weather alternated between rain and shine. Kevin seemed to have forgotten his promise of a few days in Dublin for Mark and the children, and was, instead, away a good deal himself, leaving Mark in charge. Clodagh came on several flying visits and Conn had an offer for his farm.

They had all walked down to the south pasture to look at his yearlings when he told them, and Mark saw Clancy go a little white.

“
But you won
’
t sell, will you, Conn?
”
she asked.
“
You wouldn
’
t sell your father
’
s farm?
”

“
It
’
s my farm now,
”
he said carelessly.
“
I don
’
t know what I
’
ll do.
”

Clodagh sat on the grass making a buttercup chain.
“
Only the other day you were talking of selling,
”
she said.

“
Well, can
’
t a man change his mind? I tell you I
’
ve not decided.
”

“
You won
’
t get another offer like that in a hurry.
”

“
That
’
s true. What would you do, Mark?
”

“
That, I think, is a decision that only you can make,
”
replied Mark carefully.
“
If it
’
s a question of buying another farm and shifting your stock to more profitable ground, then it might be the best thing to do. But if you sell up and start something quite different, that
’
s another matter.
”

“
You think it
’
s a mistake to change one
’
s trade?
”

“
I don
’
t know. Really, I
’
m faced with much the same problem myself, only in my case it
’
s more chancy as I
’
m a good deal older.
”

“
Change is a good thing,
”
said Clodagh.

“
Yes, up to a point it is, but there are other things that enter into it.
”

“
Such as?
”

“
Well, whether it
’
s a good thing ultimately to deny one
’
s calling. Conn is a horse-breeder—by inclination as well as a living to get. I
’
m a schoolmaster and I suppose teaching is really in my blood. Changing one
’
s whole bent, so to speak, is a very personal decision, and I don
’
t think anyone can make it for one.
”

“
Yes, that
’
s right, Conn,
”
said Clancy gravely.
“
I hadn
’
t seen it that way. None of us should influence you.
”

Clodagh had finished her buttercup chain, and had placed it on her head.

“
It
’
s a strong man who isn
’
t influenced by anyone,
”
she said.

“
You talk a lot of nonsense, as you always did. For the love of heaven, take that thing off your head, the colour doesn
’
t suit your hair.
”
Conn snatched the buttercup chain off her head and placed it carefully on Clancy
’
s.
“
There! That
’
s the effect you want. Yellow flowers on pitch-black hair. It turns you into a fairy princess, Clancy.
”

She sat in the grass looking up at him, and wore her crown with a proud innocence which Mark found very touching.

“
You
’
ll not forget us all, Conn, even if you do leave Slievaun?
”
she said.

He pulled her to her feet and placed a careless
ki
ss upon
her tilted nose.

“
Of course not,
”
he said,
“
and I
’
ll not be leaving anyhow,
I expect.
”

T
hey wandered back to the house. Conn and Clodagh ahead, sparring amicably together.

Clancy slipped a hand through Mark
’
s arm and he glanced down at her in surprise. It was the first consciously friendly gesture she had ever made towards Mm.

“
I don
’
t t
hi
nk he
’
ll sell, do you?
”
she said.

“
Perhaps not,
”
he replied gently,
“
but even if he does, Clancy, it
’
s
his
life, and he will have to lead it. We can
’
t hold people, you know. It
’
s one of the hardest lessons we all have to learn.
”

Her face beneath its golden crown was soft and aware.

“
I would never want to hold Conn,
”
she said.
“
It
’
s only that we
’
ve been together all our lives, Conn, Clodagh and me. I haven
’
t had any other friends.
”

Clodagh went back to Dublin the next morning, and they did not see Conn for some days. Kevin was back from one of his business trips and seemed a little morose, largely due to his sister, who had suddenly turned the house upside down in an orgy of cleaning. Only the tower room was spared since it had been turned out so recently for Mark
’
s arrival, and Kevin took to wandering up there in the afternoon and smoking a pipe with Mark.

“
You know,
”
he said on one occasion,
“
if I
’
d saved my money on all these governesses and had you from the start, things would have been very different.
”

“
In what way?
”
asked Mark, amused.

“
In every way. You fit in here—someone for me to talk to—and Brian would have been more of a proper boy. I see now that we kept him too much with women. The boy
’
s improved enormously since you had him.
”

“
There wasn
’
t really much wrong with him, except undue coddling,
”
Mark said.

“
Ah, well, that
’
s Agnes, and my sister, and the boy was delicate for so long that I was always afraid we
’
d lose him.
”
Kevin looked at Mark with the eagerness of a child.
“
You like him, eh? A fine little chap, and, when he
’
s stronger, a son I can be proud of.
”

“
Mr. O
’
Shane
—”
Mark began, but Kevin interrupted:

“
Ah, call me Kilmallin like the rest of them.
”

“
Well, Kilmallin—I was going to say couldn
’
t you find an equal counterpart in your daughter? She
’
s far more akin to you, you know, and she has the greatest admiration for you.
”

Kevin looked surprised.

“
Ah, Clancy
’
s all right as far as she goes,
”
he said carelessly.
“
She has pluck, mind you, and she doesn
’
t fill her head with silly notions like most girls. It
’
s a pity she wasn
’
t a boy.
”

“
I think, if I may say so,
”
said Mark,
“
it
’
s a pity you don
’
t accept her sex and let her become a companion to you.
”

Kevin looked at him with unexpected shrewdness.

“
For all that you nearly walked out on me when you found you were expected to take charge of a girl, you prefer her of the two, don
’
t you, Cromwell?
”
he said.

Mark made a polite gesture of evasion.

“
I wouldn
’
t say that,
”
he replied.
“
She
’
s older, of course, so perhaps I naturally find her more interesting, and frankly, she has the better brain.
”

“
Och, you schoolmasters! What you
’
re so politely trying to tell me, my dear fellow, is that you think I
’
m not fair to Clancy.
”

“
Well,
”
said Mark quietly,
“
since you put it like that, I don
’
t.
”

Kevin got to his feet, and, not for the first time, Mark did not think he looked well. There were pouches under his eyes and drink had started to blur the outlines of his neck and jaw.

“
It
’
s no use, Cromwell,
”
he said in a tired voice,
“
when
I
see her looking at me with her mother
’
s eyes, and moving her head in the way she did, God forgive me, I resent her. It should have been Kitty here, bearing me the sons I always wanted.
”

“
You have one son,
”
Mark said gently.

“
One son, when I wanted five or six! And a boy that
’
s afraid of me into the bargain. I love Brian as I
’
ve never loved in my life, and now you know why I squirm when my daughter stands up to me with all the guts he should have had.
”

It was difficult to counter such frankness as this and Mark did not try. He felt sorry for Kevin, but he could not help him, and his compassion went out to Clancy, that unwanted child, so pitifully aware of her failure in her father
’
s eyes.

“
The rain
’
s stopped,
”
said Kevin in his usual voice.
“
Come and take a stroll round the place.
”

Long before they reached the hall they could hear the outcry. Agnes
’
s shrill voice storming at somebody, and the sound of crying.

“
Now, what!
”
exclaimed Kevin, and hurried forward.

Brian was sobbing in Agnes
’
s arms, while Michael John, the garden boy, hovered anxiously in the background, and Clancy stood stiff and straight and rather white just inside the door. Both brother and sister were wet and muddy and the sleeve of Clancy
’
s sweater was ripped up to the shoulder.

“
For the love of heaven, what
’
s happened?
”
shouted Kevin.
“
Is the boy hurt?
”

Brian had stopped crying at sight of his father, but he whimpered:

“
She ran into me on her bicycle. I think she did it on purpose!
”

Mark knelt down and felt the boy
’
s bones.
“
Where are you hurt, Brian?
”
he said.

“
I don
’
t know,
”
he sniffed.
“
I couldn
’
t breathe.
”

“
He was winded for the instant,
”
said Michael John.
“
It gave him a fright.
”

“
I think that
’
s
all that was wrong,
”
Mark said, getting to his feet.
“
There
’
s not a scratch on him. He
’
ll be all right in a moment, won
’
t you, Brian?
”

“
Yes,
”
said Brian with surprise,
“
all right now.
”

“
Then you are not, my poor child,
”
snapped Agnes.
“
‘
Tis a shock you
’
ve had, an
’
it
’
s to bed you
’
ll go this instant minute, an
’
if it
’
s not in a fever you
’
ll be tonight, and a chill, like as not from the rain, it won
’
t be your sister we have to thank. Come along now, my doty. Agnes will put you to bed and bring you some hot milk.
”

She led him up the stairs, and Kevin, relief turning to anger, rounded on Clancy.

“
Have you no sense at all?
”
he shouted,
“
—taking the boy out on a day like this, and then knocking him over because you were neither of you fit to be riding bicycles at all?
”

“
I didn
’
t do it on purpose,
”
Clancy said.
‘
We just collided and fell off.
”

“
So you just collided and fell off! And it would have been all the same if you
’
d fallen off under a car and killed your brother.
”