The Last and the First (12 page)

“Well, sir, I am endowed with it. It enables me to grasp the position. And not to be blind to its mortifications,” said Mrs. Duff, as she withdrew.

“She ought to be blind to them,” said Roberta. “Or anyhow to shut her eyes to them. Her imagination did not go far.”

“They are so much on the defensive,” said Eliza. “Always up in arms for each other.”

“Well, it is natural,” said Madeline. “We should not like them so well if they were not.”

“I should like them better. I seldom like what is natural; it is usually so unlikeable. People should be civilised. Mrs. Duff has a good home and every consideration. What more can she want?”

“Put yourself in her place, Mater, and answer the question.”

“I should not think of it. It would not be fitting. The place is hers, not mine. We don't move people about, even in thought.”

“Not other people,” said Roberta. “But think of the positions into which we have moved ourselves. Though it is true that Mrs. Duff's is not one of them.”

“There is a word to remember through all the easy talk,” said Madeline. “The people we depend on have the same feelings as we have ourselves.”

“How can we remember it when they have quite different ones?” said Eliza. “You heard the talk with Mrs. Duff. And you will have to suffer some more. She seems to be here again.”

“You will excuse me, my lady. Some news has emerged that you may wish to be apprised of. And I felt it would come better from my lips.”

“Why, what is it, Mrs. Duff? I hope it is not bad news. Is it something we should know?”

“It can be put in a word, my lady. And I will express it in one. Mr. Hamilton Grimstone has passed on.”

“Passed on? Gone away? Left his mother and her family?”

“Well, my lady, he will not again be with them.”

“You mean he has died? Tell us what you know. We have heard nothing.”

“There is no more for us to know, my lady. Anything further is out of our sphere. Whether or no there is anything, which is a case for divergent opinion.”

“But how did it happen? Try to tell us all you can.”

“It was a week ago, my lady. Too sudden for the family to be prepared. He was in health, when illness supervened and the result ensued.”

“What very sad news! I am troubled indeed to hear it. You are quite right to tell us.”

“I felt you would wish it, my lady. And my instinct being a true one I have learned to rely on it. And many people have thanked me.”

“As we do, Mrs. Duff,” said Madeline. “It must be a sad time in the other house.”

“I hear the cloud is a dark one, miss. The news reached me after I left you, and led me to retrace my steps.”

“It seems a time of misfortune. But our trouble is nothing compared to this.”

“Few troubles are nothing in all eyes, miss. And it may not be the case with this one.”

“It is not,” said Eliza. “I am glad to meet someone who understands it.”

“Understanding has never been my weak point, my lady. It has always thrown light for me, speaking of course of a human standard.”

‘Oh, surely superhuman in your case,” said Angus.

“No, sir. I do not accept it. There is much I am conscious of,” said Mrs. Duff, quietly, as she went to the door.

“What a trouble for the Grimstones!” said Madeline. “It does put our own into the shade.”

“It does not affect it,” said Eliza. “Any more than it is affected by it. Each is as it is. And we had better deal with the problems arising from our own. There are things to be settled in the other house. The rooms are to be assigned, and there is one that is simply a dressing-room adjoining another. One of you will have to manage in it. You must decide among yourselves.”

“I will have it, Mater,” said Madeline. “So the decision is made. It is a trivial disadvantage enough in the face of our friends' misfortune.”

“It will remain when the misfortune has fallen into the past. The dwarfing effect can't continue.”

“I am the man,” said Angus, “and should take no thought for what I shall put on. I will oust Madeline from her pedestal and occupy it myself.”

“We all know who should occupy it,” said Eliza. “But I am not going to say it. I can't always do the awkward thing. I will leave it to someone else this time.”

“I will do it,” said Sir Robert. “It is true that it is time I did. And in this case it is not so very awkward. Hermia will have the room. She is here too seldom for its size to matter. She would say so herself. We can regard it as her decision.”

“There is the greater question,” said Angus. “What is to happen to this house and all that is in it?”

“The house will be let,” said his father. “Not sold, as the future is uncertain. Then after the other house is furnished, the rest of the things must go. We shall be able to keep the best ones.”

“And those that are nearest to our hearts,” said Madeline. “Some that have no intrinsic value may have another and deeper one.”

“They will need space, whatever their value,” said Eliza. “And there will not be too much of it.”

“Well, space is not everything, Mater. I am sure we shall be equally happy in the other house.”

“Why are you sure? I should think there is anyhow doubt of it.”

“Happiness does not depend on the size of the rooms.”

“It depends on many things. Your father is the one who will suffer. And I shall feel what he does.”

“Yes, I fear it is so,” said Sir Robert, almost to himself. “This house is a living thing to me. It seems to carry the other lives, whose legacy is in my own. I thought to breathe my last within it. I feel I leave it something of myself. It may be false and foolish and untrue. It is my own truth. I will not hide it as I should betray myself.”

“Well, it is something to feel in that way, Father. It is in a sense fulfilment. You can hardly regret it.”

“He regrets what it involves,” said Eliza. “You heard what he said. And I think so did someone else. There are steps at the door.”

“You will excuse me, my lady,” said Mrs. Duff. “It seems the case of the bad penny. But there is an item that I felt should be conveyed, as it might be fraught with consequence. Mr. Grimstone has left all he had to a strange young lady.”

“A strange young lady? Someone they did not know? Left her all he had! Is it certain? How did you hear?”

“It passed from mouth to mouth, my lady, as it passes from mine now. It was unforeseen and fell on them like a blow.”

“To someone who was a stranger to them? What a very unlikely thing! Is there any idea who it is?”

“Rumours are current, my lady. I will say no more.”

“Indeed you will,” said Angus. “Say some more at once.”

“No, sir. Too much has already passed my lips.”

“But more has passed other people's,” said Sir Robert. “You can tell us what it is. There can be no harm in that.”

“It might ensue, Sir Robert. I will not be the one to occasion it. It has never been my tendency.”

“You can repeat a rumour, if you say that is what it is.”

“Rumour has its name, Sir Robert. I feel my lips should be sealed.”

“But they have not been sealed,” said Angus. “And you should not deal in half measures. It is an unworthy course.”

“The word is yours, sir. My standard is my own.”

“It is; that is my complaint.”

“You would have known nothing, sir, if I had not been the informant.”

“That is true. It is another complaint. I should rather have known nothing.”

“I doubt it, sir. It is not the usual preference. Half a loaf is better than no bread. And I am not yet provided with a whole one.”

As she withdrew, her hearers met each other's eyes, with uncertain smiles on their lips.

“Well, who dares to say it?” said Sir Robert. “I do not dare.”

“Neither do I,” said Roberta. “And it was clear that Mrs. Duff did not. It takes more than human courage.”

“It may be better not to dare,” said Madeline. “When a thing is once out, it can't be unsaid.”

“We should not want it to be,” said Angus. “What good would it be to anyone?”

“I have the courage to say it,” said Eliza. “My courage does not often fail. Life would be different for all of you if it did. I hope you all have the courage to hear it. The name of the young woman in question is Hermia Heriot.”

“You can't just say it is Hermia,” said Angus. “Your courage does partly fail.”

“Do you mean she inherits the money, Mater?” said Madeline.

“I mean it is left to her. What will come of it is another thing.”

“Let us all begin to decide,” said Angus.

“No, it is better not,” said Madeline. “But what a change it may bring!”

“What a change it has brought!” said Sir Robert, looking at the faces round him. “But we must not depend on it. It is only a surmise. There are other young women in the world.”

“Not many in Hamilton Grimstone's world,” said Eliza. “It is a plausible assumption. It can be accepted.”

“It was Hermia he wanted to marry,” said Angus. “Not the other young women, or I suppose not.”

“Something tells me it is Hermia,” said Madeline. “I hear the still, small voice that is seldom wrong.”

“Other voices have told you so,” said Eliza. “They are often wrong, but in this case there is not much doubt.”

“None that matters,” said Angus. “It is a good enough foundation. I am ready to build on it.”

“We will not do that,” said his father. “In any case, the matter is not our concern. No one here has inherited anything.”

“It would be in the family,” said Eliza. “And we can hardly stand apart from each other. We have shared risk
and failure. It would be natural for a debt to be paid.”

“Mrs. Duff was right,” said Sir Robert, “to say her lips were sealed. She set a good example.”

“I don't see why ours should be,” said Angus. “Anyhow I am glad they are not.”

“So am I,” said Roberta. “It would be hard to discern any purpose for them.”

“I wonder if Hermia has heard,” said Madeline. “She would surely have let us know.”

“Heard what?” said Sir Robert, smiling. “What is there to hear or know? There may not be anything. We should assume there is not. But I agree it is a moment of suspense. I wish with you that it was over.”

“I think it may be,” said Roberta, looking at the door. “I believe it is.”

It was. Mrs. Duff entered with a light in her eyes.

“The bad penny again, my lady. But it hardly earns the name. It is good news of which I am the bearer. I have carried it before and felt it, as if it was my own. That is what good news for others is to me.”

“But what is this to us?” said Angus. “I fear we are more ordinary.”

“The term has not often been applied to me, sir. My dealings bear my stamp. And in this case I can be true and terse. Mr. Grimstone's money passes to our eldest young lady.”

“To Hermia,” said Eliza, almost to herself.

“To Miss Hermia, my lady, who went out into the world and left her sphere. Her reward has come, and no one would grudge it to her.”

“Well, I suppose the Grimstones,” said Angus. “It must be the word for their feeling.”

“You can use your own words for your own, sir. The occasion warrants it.”

“We are glad to know, Mrs. Duff,” said Eliza. “It is most unexpected news. How did you hear?”

“The usual channel, my lady. Those that wait upon their house and this. It is a current source.”

“I suppose we can depend on it?” said Sir Robert.

“I am told you would do so, Sir Robert, if you had been present in the other house. I put the question and it led to the rejoinder.”

“Our thought does go to the family there,” said Madeline. “And it meets a sad enough picture.”

“Well, miss, if his thought did not go to them, there is no call on anyone else's.”

“They may feel they have a moral claim to what he left.”

“Well, miss, the other sort of claim is the one that is followed, in my experience. And experience is not a a thing I am without,” said Mrs. Duff, as she withdrew.

“What power money has!” said Madeline, with a sigh. “You would hardly expect it to loom so large to Mrs. Duff.”

“Why not?” said Angus. “The results of having it or not are before her eyes.”

“She is such a useful and respected person. It seems that would be enough.”

“Usefulness benefits other people,” said Roberta. “And earning respect does much the same. It is when we serve ourselves that we tend to lose it. I hope Hermia will not want too much.”

“We know little as yet,” said Sir Robert. “Further light may come. It is a strange position. We hardly know if we are glad of it. We will control our thoughts. It is not the time to give rein to them.”

“I felt it was,” said Roberta. “I have given rein to mine. And I am being carried away by them. We must
render to Hermia the things that are Hermia's, and I am rendering them.”

“She has a right to what she inherits,” said Eliza. “What is the good of a will if it is not to be carried out? It might as well not be made.”

“She has a legal right,” said Sir Robert. “It could be said that there are others. We must wait to hear her view.”

“Which will be her own, and unaffected by yours or mine. We may as well not take one.”

“Well, I hardly feel sure of mine.”

“What a dubious mood we are in!” said Angus. “One of us inherits great riches and we take it like this. And we were brave over losing our ancestral home. We seem only to be attuned to misfortune.”

“We are in doubt about the moral issue,” said Madeline. “It deprives the matter of zest.”

“Well, the problem is Hermia's,” said Eliza. “That is how she will see it. She has always been a person apart. And she is old enough to deal with it herself. Of course she is behind with family events. She does not know we are to leave the house. There has been no time for the news to reach her.”