'Yes. And I think that worried him a little bit. He did his best to get it looked after for me.'
'By Uncle Andrew and by Mr. Stanford Lloyd. A lawyer and a banker.'
'Yes. I suppose he didn't think I could look after it very well by myself. The odd thing is that he let me come into it at the age of twenty-one. He didn't keep it in trust till I was twenty-five, as lots of people do. I expect that was because I was a girl.'
'That's odd,' I said, 'it would seem to me that it ought to be the other way round?'
Ellie shook her head. 'No,' she said, 'I think my grandfather thought that young males were always wild and hit things up and that blondes with evil designs got hold of them. I think he thought it would be a good thing if they had plenty of time to sow their wild oats. That's your English saying, isn't it? But he said once to me, 'If a girl is going to have any sense at all, she'll have it at twenty-one. It won't make any difference making her wait four years longer. If she's going to be a fool she'll be a fool then just as much.' He said, too,' Ellie looked at me and smiled, 'that he didn't think I was a fool. He said 'You mayn't know very much about life, but you've got good sense, Ellie. Especially about people. I think you always will have'.'
'I don't suppose he would have liked me,' I said thoughtfully.
Ellie has a lot of honesty. She didn't try and reassure me by saying anything but what was undoubtedly the truth.
'No,' she said, 'I think he'd have been rather horrified. To begin with, that is. He'd have had to get round to you.'
'Poor Ellie,' I said suddenly.
'Why do you say that?'
'I said it to you once before, do you remember?'
'Yea. You said poor little rich girl. You were quite right too.'
'I didn't mean it the same way this time,' I said. 'I didn't mean that you were poor because you were rich. I think I meant -' I hesitated.
'You've too many people,' I said, 'at you. All round you. Too many people who want things from you but who don't really care for you. That's true, isn't it?'
'I think Uncle Andrew really cares for me,' said Ellie, a little doubtfully. 'He's always been nice to me, sympathetic. The others – no, you're quite right. They only want things.'
'They come and cadge off you, don't they? Borrow money off you, want favours. Want you to get them out of jams, that sort of thing. They're at you, at you, at you!'
'I suppose it's quite natural,' said Ellie calmly, 'but I've done with them all now. I'm coming to live here in England. I shan't see much of them.'
She was wrong there, of course, but she hadn't grasped that fact yet. Stanford Lloyd came over later by himself. He brought a great many documents and papers and things for Ellie to sign and wanted her agreement on investments. He talked to her about investments and shares and property that she owned, and the disposal of trust funds. It was all Double Dutch to me. I couldn't have helped her or advised her. I couldn't have stopped Stanford Lloyd from cheating her, either. I hoped he wasn't, but how could anyone ignorant like myself be sure?
There was something about Stanford Lloyd that was almost too good to be true. He was a banker, and he looked like a banker. He was rather a handsome man though not young. He was very polite to me and thought dirt of me though he tried not to show it.
'Well,' I said when he had finally taken his departure, 'that's the last of the bunch.'
'You didn't think much of any of them, did you?'
'I think your stepmother, Cora, is a double-faced bitch if I ever knew one. Sorry, Ellie, perhaps I oughtn't to say that.'
'Why not, if that's what you think? I expect you're not far wrong.'
'You must have been lonely, Ellie,' I said.
'Yes, I was lonely. I knew girls of my own age. I went to a fashionable school but I was never really free. If I made friends with people, somehow or other they'd get me separated, push another girl at me instead. You know? Everything was governed by the social register. If I'd cared enough about anybody to make a fuss about I never got far enough. There was never anybody I really cared for. Not until Greta came, and then everything was different. For the first time someone was really fond of me. It was wonderful.'
Her face softened.
'I wish,' I said, as I turned away towards the window.
'What do you wish?'
'Oh I don't know… I wish perhaps that you weren't – weren't quite so dependent on Greta. It's a bad thing to be as dependent as that on anyone.'
'You don't like her, Mike,' said Ellie.
'I do,' I protested hurriedly. 'Indeed I do. But you must realise, Ellie, that she is – well, she's quite a stranger to me. I suppose, let's face it, I'm a bit jealous of her. Jealous because she and you, well, I didn't understand before – how linked together you were.'
'Don't be jealous. She's the only person who was good to me, who cared about me – till I met you.'
'But you have met me,' I said, 'and you've married me.' Then I said again what I'd said before. 'And we're going to live together happily ever afterwards.'
Chapter 13
I'm trying as best I can, though that isn't saying much, to paint a picture of the people who came into our lives, that is to say: who came into my life because, of course, they were in Ellie's life already. Our mistake was that we thought they'd go out of Ellie's life. But they didn't. They'd no intention of doing so. However, we didn't know that then.
The English side of our life was the next thing that happened. Our house was finished, we had a telegram from Santonix. He'd asked us to keep away for about a week, then the telegram came. It said: 'Come tomorrow.'
We drove down there, and we arrived at sunset. Santonix heard the car and came out to meet us, standing in front of the home. When I saw our home, finished, something inside me leaped up, leaped up as though to burst out of my skin! It was my house – and I'd got it at last! I held Ellie's arm very tight.
'Like it?' said Santonix.
'It's the tops,' I said. A silly thing to say but he knew what I meant.
'Yes,' he said, 'it's the best thing I've done… It's cost you a mint of money and it's worth every penny of it. I've exceeded my estimates all round. Come on, Mike,' he said, 'pick her up and carry her over the threshold. That's the thing to do when you enter into possession with your bride!'
I flushed and then I picked up Ellie – she was quite a light weight – and carried her as Santonix had suggested, over the threshold. As I did so, I stumbled just a little and I saw Santonix frown.
'There you are,' said Santonix, 'be good to her, Mike. Take care of her. Don't let any harm happen to her. She can't take care of herself. She thinks she can.'
'Why should any harm happen to me?' said Ellie.
'Because it's a bad world and there are bad people in it,' said Santonix, 'and there are some bad people round you, my girl. I know. I've seen one or two of them. Seen them down here. They come nosing around, sniffing around like the rats they are. Excuse my French but somebody's got to say it.'
'They won't bother us,' said Ellie, 'they've all gone back to the States.'
'Maybe,' said Santonix, 'but it's only a few hours by plane, you know.'
He put his hands on her shoulders. They were very thin now, very white looking. He looked terribly ill.
'I'd look after you myself, child, if I could,' he said, 'but I can't. It won't be long now. You'll have to fend for yourself.'
'Cut out the gipsy's warning, Santonix,' I said, 'and take us round the house. Every inch of it.'
So we went round the house. Some of the rooms were still empty but most of the things we'd bought, pictures and the furniture and the curtains were there.
