“Won’t spoil it at all. I enjoy a fight. Where’s my grandson?”
“I’ll fetch him in a moment,” Gavin said, “but before you see him, there’s something you must understand. Peter’s had a very bad time recently and he’s withdrawn into himself. He doesn’t speak.”
“Doesn’t speak? What d’you mean? You mean he
“He can, but he doesn’t. He’s happier in his own world. He’ll come out of it when he’s ready.”
“Stuff and nonsense! It does no good to humor tantrums.”
“I don’t consider it a tantrum,” Gavin said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. “I don’t push him about this, and I won’t allow you to push him. If I don’t have your word not to try to bully him, I’ll keep him away from you.”
“Bully him.
“Your promise?”
“Yes, yes. Get on with it.”
Peter was fetched and introduced to his grandfather. To Gavin’s pleasure he showed no shrinking, stepping forward calmly to shake hands, but he remained silent when William spoke to him. In a sense the old man kept his word and let the matter go without comment, but his restraint had a quality of disgust that Gavin recognized from his own childhood. He felt a remembering shiver go through him.
Mrs. Stone announced that William’s room was ready, and the nurse took him to it. They saw no more of him until the evening meal, by which time William was fully rested and raring to go. Gavin faced the evening with dread.
Throughout the meal William studiously ignored Peter. He did more than ignore him. He showed no awareness of his presence, talking rudely across him as though he were an empty space. Gavin felt his soul shrivel with sympathy for his son. He would have liked to remonstrate with the old man, but could think of nothing he could do that wouldn’t make matters worse. He glanced at Peter and saw that his son was regarding William with curiosity. He didn’t seem hurt, merely interested. Then he saw Gavin’s encouraging look, glanced back at William, and lifted his shoulders a fraction. There was a slight smile on his face as if he were saying, “Don’t worry. This doesn’t trouble me.”
With astonishment Gavin realized that Peter had got William’s measure. He’d seen right through the old man to the petty spite that lay behind his behavior. Having assessed it, he could deal with it. For a boy of ten it was a sophisticated response, Gavin realized, and one that suggested an inner security. In fact, it was more sophisticated and secure than Gavin’s own reaction to his father.
But, then, he had a history of being at a disadvantage with William. His heart sank at the thought of having his father here for a long visit, upsetting everything, just when things were going so well.
And then he wondered at himself. His firm was still in a mess. He was no nearer recovering either Peter or Strand House. So why did he feel things were going well?
He saw Norah looking across at him, a gentle, quizzical smile on her face, and he was swept by a feeling that as long as she smiled at him nothing could possibly go badly. He looked away, suddenly self-conscious.
Afterward, when Peter had gone to bed, Gavin, Norah and William shared a drink in the living room. William kept glaring at Norah, evidently considering her an interloper, until at last she took pity on Gavin and announced her intention of taking a last look at the sanctuary.
“Do you allow her to come in here?” William demanded when she had gone.
“Father, don’t you understand? This is her house, too. She goes where she wants.”
“Then do something about it. Did I raise a spineless milksop?”
“Probably,” Gavin was goaded to retort. “I certainly haven’t the nerve to tell Norah where she can and can’t go in her own house.”
“Then it’s time you-what the devil is that noise?” A mad rapping sound was coming from the door. Gavin went across impatiently and opened it. At once Osbert waddled in, honking with irritation at being kept waiting. “Get that creature out of here,” William yelled.
“It’s only Osbert,” Gavin said.
“It has a
“They all have names. It sounds a little odd at first, but you soon get used to it.”
“I have no intention of getting used to it. Not here. Do you know what Strand House used to be?”
“Of course, I do. You’ve told me often enough.”
“A place of beauty and gracious living. You’ve let them turn it into a zoo.”
“It’s not a zoo, it’s a sanctuary-a place of healing and peace.”
“Sentimental poppycock! Get that bird away from me.”
“Don’t wave your stick at him like that,” Gavin said sharply. “You’ll scare him.”
The warning came too late. William swung his stick wildly at Osbert, missing the bird’s beak by half an inch. Osbert danced with rage and gathered himself for an attack. Quickly Gavin intervened, grabbing the furious bird around the body, but Osbert twisted his neck back far enough to bite him. He yelled and strode to the door, pushing Osbert out and slamming it shut behind him.
“That creature ought to be put down,” William shouted. “He’s vicious.”
“He’s not vicious,” Gavin growled, rubbing his arm. “He just doesn’t like being attacked. It’ll be all right as long as you don’t do it again.”
Gavin sighed. “This is Osbert’s home,” he declared, knowing how he must sound to the man who had raised him to believe only in the tangible signs of success.
“They’ve addled your brains,” William snapped. “You’d never have said such a daft thing at one time.”
“No,” Gavin said, in wonder at himself. “I wouldn’t, would I?”
“So you admit it? It’s a relief that you can see the truth.”
“Just what truth do you have in mind, Father? I’m beginning to wonder if your truth and mine are the same. Maybe they haven’t been for a long time.”
William ignored this. “You admit that this place and the people in it are rotting your brains. Think what they’re doing to your son. You must get him away from here while there’s time to save him.”
“I don’t think he needs saving from anyone or anything here,” Gavin said deliberately. “I’m perfectly happy with what he’s learning.”
“Stuff and nonsense. He’s growing up. He’s got to learn to be a man, and it’s your duty to move him out of here and see that he does.”
“It’s not that simple. I explained in my letter that he’s legally under the care of the Local Authority and I can’t move him without their permission.”
“Local Authority be damned! I’ve been dealing with them all my life, and I’ve never let them get the better of me yet.”
“Yes, I’m familiar with your ways with planning departments. This is a little different.”
“Determination and a refusal to be bullied will work with any department. I taught you that long ago, and until now I thought you’d learned the lesson. I was proud of you. Now I’m beginning to think there’s a weakness in you. Stop pussyfooting around and take possession of your own son.”
“I don’t like the expression ‘take possession of,’” Gavin said firmly. “My son isn’t a possession. He’s a person with ideas of his own.”
“Nonsense,” William snapped. “Children are what you make them. Look what I made of you.”
Gavin swung around on him. “Yes, look what you made of me,” he said bitterly. “A man whom nobody loves.”
He strode from the room, feeling he couldn’t bear any more. In the hall he found Norah, and from her face he knew at once that she’d overheard the whole exchange. “You were right,” he said. “A man nobody loves.”
“No,” she whispered. “I was wrong. I was so wrong.”
There was a new light on her face. Before he knew what she meant to do she had reached up and laid her lips gently against his. The next moment they heard William banging on the door with his stick, shouting, ready to continue the argument. Norah sighed and hurried away. Gavin turned to confront his father. And neither of them saw Peter peering through the banisters.
He was back in the misery and despair that had haunted his nights for weeks, plunged into a darkness in which
