Mingled With Venom

‘Sometimes, and this is one of them, I don’t like you at all. I suppose you want to talk about last night,’ said Fiona, regretfully resigned to abandoning her contemplation of cliffs, island, sea and sky.

‘Well, you and I are in the same boat, you know,’ said Ruby placatingly.

‘I am rather particular about my shipmates.’

‘Until the boat begins to founder. People are glad enough of them then, if only as companions in distress, which I reckon we are.’

‘I don’t envisage any distress.’

‘Then there’s something wrong with your eyesight. Madame talked nothing but family last night and has obviously taken a fancy to that black boy, into the bargain.’

‘Well, he is family, I suppose. It’s a legal adoption and he counts as Bluebell’s son.’

‘The little beast was sucking up to Madame the whole evening.’

‘No, I don’t believe it was that. I think they simply got on well together. I was watching them.’

‘You know how easily she’s flattered.’

‘I have no doubt you do.’

‘You won’t gain anything by quarrelling with me. We’ve got to get together and protect our interests.’

‘Look, Ruby, I am not quarrelling, neither am I a gold-digger. This question of gain is as unimportant to me as it seems to be obsessive with you.’

‘You’ll find it important enough when Headlands is sold up and whichever one of them has been left the property slings us out on our ear. Wake up! We’ve got to do something about it,’ said Ruby.

At the house itself another colloquy had taken place the night before.

‘So we are all on probation, mother,’ said Maria. ‘Do you think that’s quite fair?’

‘I fail to understand you. Am I being taken to task?’

‘No, of course not. I meant only that you may have raised false hopes in several breasts.’

‘Why false hopes?’

‘Well, you will hardly intend to divide up your property equally. In fact, you as good as said that you would not.’

‘As good as saying is not precisely saying.’

‘That is what I consider unfair. It was a time to say everything or to say nothing. You spoke of my marriage when the others had left, and referred obliquely to Garnet and Blue, my children. You spoke of Garnet’s bachelorhood and mentioned your obligation to maintain Fiona and Ruby. Then you insulted Rupert by your very unkind remarks about his father—as though it is Rupert’s fault that he was born out of wedlock—and finished up by claiming in the most derogatory way that I was completely dependent upon you.’

‘Well, so you are,’ said Romula. ‘I no longer hold it against you that you made a foolish marriage, but the fact remains that you did and, as a result, are left penniless on my hands.’

‘I work hard enough here for my keep and so does Fiona. How would you like it if we both walked out on you?’

‘I should not like that at all. Fortunately for all three of us, there is npt the slightest chance of it.’

‘I would not be too sure of that if I were you. Everybody has a breaking point and I have nearly reached mine.’

‘Don’t talk so foolishly. Where could you go if you left me?’

‘To my son and daughter, of course.’

‘You would impose yourself upon Blue and Parsifal? I think they would scarcely thank you for that. They can hardly make ends meet as it is. Parsifal begs from me, as you must be aware.’

‘Garnet is there, too, and I believe his books assure him of more than a competence. He is my son, not Parsifal.’

‘Oh, well, if being here does not satisfy you, you must do as you please, but don’t think you can return here later on.’

‘That is a threat, is it?’

‘Yes, it is,’ said Romula with spirit. ‘If you dare to walk out of my house for no better reason than that I do not disclose to you the terms of my Will, you need never enter it again, whether I am alive or dead.’

‘I said nothing about the terms of your Will with reference to myself. I was speaking of the general confusion and discontentment you have caused by saying so much and yet so little to us all. It was ignoble of you and very embarrassing for your family.’

‘Oh, well,’ said Romula, seating herself in her favourite armchair and contriving to look old and frail, ‘perhaps my sense of fun has led me astray. Later on—in the autumn, perhaps—we will have another dinner party and my lawyer shall come and put an end to all uncertainty. Perhaps people would prefer to know that they have been left out, rather than go on hoping that they are still in.’

‘Left out? Still in? Is that another threat?’

‘Oh, a nod is as good as a wink if you think along those lines,’ said Romula, closing her eyes as a signal that the interview was over.