‘Prepared and willing to Right the Wrong?’
‘I very much doubt whether wrong has been done, in this particular instance.’
‘What makes you think that?’
‘Because, although Bernardo, by nature and by training, has learnt to keep his own counsel, Binnie has not, and one breath of premarital experiment in the ears of old Mr van Zestien, and…’
‘Bang goes Bernardo’s chance of keeping his present place in the old man’s will? Oh, yes, I quite see that. Reformed Dutch Church, and so forth. Highly moral, and easily shocked.’
‘Well, unless my observations have led me sadly astray, Bernardo is not the man to risk losing a fortune for the passing, ephemeral joy…’
‘Of going to bed with Binnie? How right you are. Of course, she might have gone out for a walk this morning. I must confess, though, that, although I didn’t particularly want to see her, I was a bit dashed to find she wasn’t there.’
‘You will see her again soon enough.’
‘Where? In Norfolk?’
‘I think so. Bernardo, I feel certain, will leap back to his grandfather’s bedside as soon as his business in London is concluded, and Binnie will be there to greet him.’
‘And make sure of the old man’s special blessing, I suppose!’
‘Really, my dear Laura! Your cynicism unnerves me!’ protested Dame Beatrice, with an eldritch scream of laughter which gave the lie to her words. ‘Reverting to a former subject of conversation, though,’ she went on, with apparent inconsequence, ‘what would you now say was the feeling of Florian for his aunts Opal and Ruby?’
‘That’s an easy one. Ruby was scared of him, Opal doted on him, and he loathed both of them equally.’
‘Yes, it did appear to be like that. He seemed fated to sit next to Opal at table, I noticed. That might have been pre-arranged by the givers of the feasts; but I also noticed that he slid into a chair beside Opal at breakfast on the morning following old Mr van Zestien’s dinner-party, and I take it that there was no particular need for him to do that, since several people breakfasted in their rooms, which meant that there were other vacant seats at table apart from the one he chose.’
‘Sometimes the repugnant has its own attraction,’ said Laura. ‘Nothing could be more repugnant to me than Hamish, yet I not only put up with him, but secretly I have an old hen with one chick attitude towards him. Come to think of it’ — she sighed deeply — ‘I suppose that’s just what I am. Of course, Florian may put up with his aunts because they’re paying for the bust. I wonder who’ll have it when it’s finished?’
‘Well, Binnen, and not the aunts, is paying for it. Ah, here we are, and I have no doubt that, in spite of your advanced years and cynical outlook, you are ready for your dinner.’
‘And how! And I can’t wait for tomorrow, to see you and Opal go to the mat together and bite pieces out of one another’s ears!’
‘Dear me! It sounds like your own line of country rather than mine. Conflict is abhorrent to me.’
Laura laughed.
‘Most unfortunate!’ she said. ‘My trouble is that I can fight but I can’t argue. Argument, I find, badly cramps my style. Left to myself, I prefer to step high, wide and plentiful, but Gavin, as you know, is the soul of tact, responsibility and decorum, and can argue the hind leg off a donkey. I tell him he lacks enterprise.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Surely it was enterprising (and certainly rather bold) of him to talk you into marrying him?’
‘There is that, I suppose. I still don’t know why I caved in. I was perfectly happy as I was. I don’t understand this female urge to be married. It was different when one stayed house-bound with aged, crotchety parents or had to go governessing like those people in Compton Burnett.’
‘You and I are the mothers of sons. England should be proud of us,’ commented Dame Beatrice, with a leer.
‘Scotland, in my case. And I don’t see much to be proud of in having manufactured Hamish. I’ve often thought of getting him adopted.’
‘May I be offered first refusal?’
Laura laughed. ’
‘He likes you much better than he does me, anyway,’ she said.
‘That is because he looks upon me as his great-grandmother. I am so many people’s great-grandmother, in any case, that the part has become my own and I play it rather well.’
‘If thoroughly spoiling all your great-grandchildren is the criterion, you certainly do. Anyway, what part do you wish me to play in the forthcoming sorting of Florian’s relatives?’
‘I have no idea at the moment. We shall need to wait upon events.’
‘Events being what you can chisel out of the assembled company about Florian’s disappearance? Yes, of course. Beginning, I suppose, with his last visit to the Colwyn-Welch place in Amsterdam. Why are we staying the night in Harrogate? We could easily have pushed on into North Norfolk before bed-time.’
‘We have been asked to lunch tomorrow, not to supper tonight.’
They arrived at Leyden Hall at half-past twelve on the following day and were taken into the drawing-room by Sweyn, who informed them that Derde was with his father in the State Bedroom, (so-called because Charles II was reputed have seduced a daughter of the house there), and that the other members of the family had gone shopping in Norwich, but would be back in time for lunch.
‘And how is Mr van Zestien?’ Dame Beatrice enquired.
