A Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd

but Uncle Bertie attacked Steven about it. He said that he would never ‘make a man’ of Dominic if he allowed him to run away from every place he did not like. Young men were naturally rough. Steven replied:
    â€˜A large part of the human race is disgusting. I intend to keep my sons in the civilized part if possible.’
    â€˜They’ll do no good if you pamper them,’ said Uncle Bertie, and added that Dominic should learn to take it, or whatever was the equivalent of ‘take it’ in those days. But one of Steven’s convictions was that no one should ‘take’ what was brutal or unjust. He would have thought ‘we can take it’ a contemptible slogan, especially if invented by those who were not taking it for those who were. Uncle Bertie was disgusted by his attitude, and went about saying that Steven would ruinhis sons, because he had none of the mushy sentimentality of the bully, and the only thing he ‘took’ was an added weight of responsibility towards Dominic. It is hard to say whether his attempt to relate his treatment of us to standards of humanity and justice has been as disastrous as Uncle Bertie prophesied.
    Bertie and Baba were the centre of the opposition to Dominic, those who thought something should be done about him. Bertie, although he was far above Baba in thought and deed, was friendly with her because he thought she had that common sense so lacking in the family. They were like patches of strong tweed on a piece of beautiful but tarnished brocade, and when they gave a tug at it, expecting it to fulfil their tweedy notions of the function of all fabric, the old silk tore and came apart. So strong was the weakness of the Langtons that when they married into a robust bourgeois stock, the children were all Langtons in their quick intelligence, their shallow wit, and their tenderness of heart, which meant that there was trouble in store for Uncle Bertie.
    For the time being Dominic stayed up at Westhill, where Sarah also had been sent, as she was tired from the strain of having to run Beaumanoir during Alice’s death and funeral, and also she was very irritable at the present confusion, when the place was no longer under her control, and she quarrelled with the aunts, who were now laying their covetous hands on those treasures, for touching which she had smacked themas children.
    The lawyer’s clerk, writing to inform Diana of the amount of her future income, had left a nought off the end, so that just as she expected to be released from her poverty, she thought she would henceforth have to live on a sixth of her former allowance, which would have been impossible. This gave her such a shock that she became prostrate for two days, and sent all her children off to stay with relatives. She sent Daisy, a nice sentimental little girl of fourteen, to Westhill, where Dominic was alone with Sarah. When she found that the clerk had made a mistake and she would after all have the income she had expected, she left her there as it was convenient.
    The family were too obsessed with loot to worry much whether this was a suitable arrangement. In their indignation that Baba had managed to secure ‘Mama’s writing desk’ they did not give much thought to Dominic. On Alice’s death Baba showed her claws. She treated Diana and Mildy as if they were dismissed servants and had no right to anything. When she tricked them out of the writing desk which, although a fine piece of furniture, they valued for its associations, she justified herself by saying it would be unsuitable in their humble homes. Steven had the largest share, and George twice as much as his sisters, though as the money came from Alice, if the usual practice had been followed, it would have all gone to the girls. However, Baba thought a doubled income gave her perfectauthority to be rude. In the new rich society which she cultivated her attitude was respected, as rapacity and blatant push