‘Do you ever see Jeremy Chaddesley Corbett at Oxford?’ she asked. ‘He is one of my favourite babies.’
Presently she came in empty-handed and rather pink, almost, if such a thing were possible with her, rattled, and announced that Lady Montdore was downstairs. I felt that, whereas she would have bundled any of us into our coffins with perfect calm, the advent of Lady Montdore had affected even her nerves of iron. Polly, too, was thrown off her balance for a moment and said faintly,
‘Oh! Is Mr – I mean my – I really mean, is Boy there?’
‘Yes, he’s with her now. He sent word to say will you see her – if you don’t want to, Lady Polly, I can say quite truthfully that you may not have another visitor today. You really ought not to, the first day, in any case.’
‘I’ll go,’ I said, getting up.
‘No, no, no, Fanny, you mustn’t, darling. I’m not sure I will see her but I couldn’t possibly be left alone with her, sit down again at once, please.’
There were voices in the garden outside.
‘Do go to the window,’ said Polly, ‘is it them?’
‘Yes, and Cedric is there too,’ I said, ‘and they’re all three walking round the garden together.’
‘No! But I must, I must see Cedric – Sister, do be a darling, go down and tell them to come up at once.’
‘Now, Lady Polly, no. And please don’t work yourself up, you must avoid any excitement. It’s absolutely out of the question for you to see a stranger today – close relations was what Dr Simpson said, and one at a time. I suppose your mother must be allowed up for a few minutes if you want her, but nobody else and certainly not a strange young man.’
‘I’d better see Mummy,’ Polly said to me, ‘or else this silly feud will go on for ever, besides, I really can’t wait to see her hair and her legs. Oh, dear, though, the one I long for is Cedric.’
‘She seems to be in a very friendly mood,’ I said, still looking at them out of the window, ‘laughing and chatting away. Very smart in navy blue with a sailor hat. Boy is being wonderful. I thought he might be knocked groggy by her appearance, but he’s pretending not to notice, he’s looking at Cedric all the time. They are getting on like mad.’
Most astute of him, I thought privately. If he hit it off with Cedric he would, very soon, be back in Lady Montdore’s good graces, and then perhaps there could be a little modification of Lord Montdore’s will.
‘I die for the sailor hat, come on, let’s get it over. All right then, Sister, ask her to come up – wait – give me a comb and a glass first, will you? Go on with the running commentary, Fanny.’
‘Well, Cedric and Boy are chatting away like mad, I think Boy is admiring Cedric’s suit, a sort of coarse blue tweed, very pretty, piped with scarlet. Lady Montdore is all smiles, having a good look round. You know the way she does.’
‘I can just see it,’ said Polly, combing her hair.
I did not quite like to say that Lady Montdore at this very moment was peering over the churchyard wall at her sister-in-law’s grave. Boy and Cedric had left her there and were wandering off together towards the wrought-iron gates which led to the kitchen garden, laughing, talking, and gesticulating.
‘Go on,’ said Polly, ‘keep it up, Fanny.’
‘There’s Sister, she is floating up to your mother, who is simply beaming – they both are – I never saw such smiles, goodness, how Sister is enjoying it! Here they come. Your mother looks so happy, I feel quite sentimental, you can see how she must have been missing you, really, at the bottom of her heart, all this time.’
‘Nonsense,’ said Polly, but she looked rather pleased.
‘Darling, I do so feel I shall be in the way. Let me escape now through Boy’s dressing-room.’
‘Oh, on no account whatever, Fanny. Fanny, you’ll upset me if you do that – I absolutely insist on you staying here – I can’t face her alone, beams or no beams.’
Perhaps it had occurred to her, as it now did to me, that Lady Montdore’s beam would very likely fade at the sight of Polly in Lady Patricia’s room, unchanged in almost every respect, in the very bed where Lady Patricia had breathed her last, and that her repugnance for what Polly had done would be given a new reality. Even I had found it rather unattractive until I had got used to the idea. But over-sensibility had never been one of Lady Montdore’s failings, and besides, the great flame of happiness that Cedric had lit in her heart had long since burnt up all emotions which did not directly relate to him. He was the only person in the world now who had any substance for her.
So the beam did not flicker, she positively radiated good humour as she kissed Polly first and then me. She looked round the room and said,
‘You’ve moved the dressing-table, it’s much better like that, more light. Lovely flowers, dear, these camellias – can I have one for Cedric’s button-hole? Oh, from Paddington, are they? Poor Geoffrey, I fear he’s a bit of a megalomaniac, I haven’t been over there once since he succeeded. His father now was very different, a charming man, great friend
