Chapter 8
Speculations and Near Certainties
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‘So now we know,’ said Bluebell, when she was back in her own home. ‘So much for Fiona. She has preferred the birthright to the mess of pottage.’
‘She has no birthright, my dear,’ said Parsifal, ‘and you may have paid the penalty, I’m afraid, for having taken her to your bosom.’
‘She is saying “ha ha among the trumpets,” ’ said Gamaliel. ‘I am glad she is gone. Now we can be ourselves again.’
‘You seemed fond enough of her when she was here,’ said Garnet.
‘Oh, yes, but absence does not make the heart grow fonder. It is better now she is not with us.’
‘I wonder who tipped Ruby off that there was another dinner party with something in the wind?’ said Parsifal.
‘Oh, don’t you think it was merely coincidence that she turned up when she did?’ asked Garnet.
‘No. I have a sixth sense about these things.’
‘It would have been Mattie who told her,’ said Bluebell. ‘They went to school together.’
‘I went to school with a boy named Bracknell,’ said Parsifal, ‘and if I met him again I’d murder him.’
‘Would you know him if you met him again?’
‘Possibly not.’
‘Was he cruel to you?’
‘He used to twist my arm.’
‘You point him out if ever you see him,’ said Gamaliel, ‘and I will twist his neck.’
‘I don’t care for all this talk of murdering and twisting necks,’ said Bluebell. ‘Let us have done with it. Gamaliel, it is high time you were in bed. Who would like a cup of cocoa before we all turn in?’
‘The Will is only a draft, I think,’ said Parsifal to Bluebell, when they were in bed, ‘and, in any case, she did not tell us anything definite.’
‘It seems that Garnet and I may hope to benefit, but I thought she made more threats than promises. Of course Gamaliel will not adhere to this ridiculous idea of becoming a professional boxer, so there is no fear of his losing any small share she may have allotted to him.’
‘If he loses it, then you may also lose yours, which seems to me very unfair. She expects us to nullify his plans.’
‘You don’t think he will really go his own way, do you? He is headstrong and very sure of himself, you know.’
‘He envisages glittering prizes and I have a feeling that he may prove obstinate. He told us boastfully that your grandmother’s fortune, whatever it may turn out to be, is chickenfeed (his word) to what he will make in the ring.’
‘Yes, I know he did. He said it to the whole company. He added, I am sure sincerely, that
‘Then we must exert all our influence to make certain that you get it. What of Diana and Rupert? A divorce would be Rupert’s undoing.’
‘Where could grandmother have heard such a rumour?’
‘Oh, from Ruby of course. What Ruby does not know she invents and in this case I am not so sure that invention comes into it. I don’t know how much Garnet makes from his books, but no doubt it is sufficient for him to be able to provide for a wife and the liaison with Diana has gone on for a good long time.’
‘I suppose if he married he would want this house for himself and his wife.’
‘And turn us out? But that is unthinkable! Besides, he would never part from Gamaliel, and where our adopted son is, there must we be also.’
‘A biblical sentiment! Gamaliel is turned sixteen. In two years’ time he will be of age.’
‘Oh, well, she will hardly die before that.’
‘It might be better, from everybody’s point of view, if she did, of course, but one baulks at that kind of wishful thinking.’
‘Yes, indeed. It may do for one of Garnet’s plots, but it will hardly do for people of our moral stature.’
‘So now you realise what the consequences would be if you divorced me or I you,’ said Rupert, handing Diana a weak mixture of whisky and water. ‘I am surprised that I am mentioned in the Will at all, considering what she thought about my father.’
‘Oh, blood is thicker than water. Does her money mean more to you than happiness?’
‘How can I be sure I would be happy with Fiona?—or make her happy, come to that? Besides, she is under the same ban as I. If she married me she would be cut off automatically from her share of my grandmother’s fortune.
