had gone, she lifted her lids and two tears dropped out and made tracks down her face to her chin. She picked up the cat and wiped her wet face on his fur, then she gathered up the photographs and crammed them back into the mother-o’-pearl-inlaid box.
Not long after, just as Mrs Brimmer at the Hand and Flowers was saying: ‘Well, we choked her off, gentlemen,’ Miss Despenser entered the bar. ‘So sorry I am late. Some visitors called,’ she said cheerily.
‘A pleasure, I’m sure,’ Mrs Brimmer replied. ‘And now last orders, if you please.’
At the school, Hester was enveloped by tact – Muriel, relieved at her re-appearance, seemed unconcerned and talked of trivial things, though lapsing sometimes into sad preoccupation. Robert’s lack of allusion was almost imbecilic. Hugh, suddenly masterful, had arranged with him that nowords should pass and they did not, although sometimes Hester felt swollen with the rehearsed explanations she was not allowed to make.
As day after day went by, poor little Mooney began at last to wonder if he had escaped expulsion; but Robert’s abstracted ways prolonged the boys’ uneasiness. Dissociation became the policy under this cloud – the copy of
Lady Chatterley’s Lover
, or Latin cribs, lost their value; the shrubbery, or Hell’s Kitchen, where the older ones smoked, was deserted.
One day, after lunch, when Robert had said Grace he still stood there, as if he had more to say. They paused and turned their faces towards him, candid, innocent. Only Mooney looked down desperately at his plate – the five prune-stones at its edge:
this
year.
The announcement of Hugh’s and Hester’s engagement was a tremendous relief. Robert’s attempt at joviality brought forth sycophantic cheers and smiles. They were all in a good humour, especially as one wedding present would do for both. ‘It is better for them not to marry “outside” people,’ the head boy explained. ‘Now what we want is for Matron to marry Mr Wigmore!’
Hugh’s first biology class of the afternoon was in a mood of refreshment and good humour.
‘Congratulations, sir.’
‘Thank you, Palmer,’
‘Congratulations, sir.’
‘I will take Palmer as spokesman for all of you,’ Hugh said firmly. ‘Page fifty-one.’ They opened their books.
‘So that’s the solution,’ Beatrice said. ‘You were quite right to be patient and let things work their own way out.’
‘I don’t know that I did that,’ Muriel said. ‘And it has taken a long time and she hasn’t gone yet.’
‘She seems too moony, too dull a girl to fall in love, be fallen in love with.’
‘Is love the prerogative of the bright ones? He is very dull himself, you know, and it is a good thing if two uninteresting people marry and keep their dullness to themselves. Though she has changed a little for the better – looks less
driven
, and doesn’t knock things over quite as much as she used; can sometimes drink a glass of water without spilling it.’
‘Well, if marriage stops her being clumsy it will be something.’ Then Beatrice asked slyly: ‘How has Robert taken it?’
‘Nobly. He arranged Hugh’s new job for him and still has nobody to take his place.’
‘I meant – about Hester.’
‘Oh, Hester!’ Muriel’s voice was light with annoyance. ‘I think Iimagined a great deal of that.’ If Hester were going, her own agitation would sink; then she wanted her old life again, her picture of serene marriage, of Robert’s devotion to her. She regretted having confided in Beatrice, who made past miseries more real by her knowledge of them. To turn the conversation she said: ‘I will give her a lovely wedding … I suppose that she has some friends she can invite – school-friends if nothing better. I have chosen the dress-material. Just think, Beatrice, when we were married we wore those hideous short frocks. It would be our luck to strike that fashion. I wouldn’t let anyone see my wedding photographs for all the
Not long after, just as Mrs Brimmer at the Hand and Flowers was saying: ‘Well, we choked her off, gentlemen,’ Miss Despenser entered the bar. ‘So sorry I am late. Some visitors called,’ she said cheerily.
‘A pleasure, I’m sure,’ Mrs Brimmer replied. ‘And now last orders, if you please.’
At the school, Hester was enveloped by tact – Muriel, relieved at her re-appearance, seemed unconcerned and talked of trivial things, though lapsing sometimes into sad preoccupation. Robert’s lack of allusion was almost imbecilic. Hugh, suddenly masterful, had arranged with him that nowords should pass and they did not, although sometimes Hester felt swollen with the rehearsed explanations she was not allowed to make.
As day after day went by, poor little Mooney began at last to wonder if he had escaped expulsion; but Robert’s abstracted ways prolonged the boys’ uneasiness. Dissociation became the policy under this cloud – the copy of
Lady Chatterley’s Lover
, or Latin cribs, lost their value; the shrubbery, or Hell’s Kitchen, where the older ones smoked, was deserted.
One day, after lunch, when Robert had said Grace he still stood there, as if he had more to say. They paused and turned their faces towards him, candid, innocent. Only Mooney looked down desperately at his plate – the five prune-stones at its edge:
this
year.
The announcement of Hugh’s and Hester’s engagement was a tremendous relief. Robert’s attempt at joviality brought forth sycophantic cheers and smiles. They were all in a good humour, especially as one wedding present would do for both. ‘It is better for them not to marry “outside” people,’ the head boy explained. ‘Now what we want is for Matron to marry Mr Wigmore!’
Hugh’s first biology class of the afternoon was in a mood of refreshment and good humour.
‘Congratulations, sir.’
‘Thank you, Palmer,’
‘Congratulations, sir.’
‘I will take Palmer as spokesman for all of you,’ Hugh said firmly. ‘Page fifty-one.’ They opened their books.
‘So that’s the solution,’ Beatrice said. ‘You were quite right to be patient and let things work their own way out.’
‘I don’t know that I did that,’ Muriel said. ‘And it has taken a long time and she hasn’t gone yet.’
‘She seems too moony, too dull a girl to fall in love, be fallen in love with.’
‘Is love the prerogative of the bright ones? He is very dull himself, you know, and it is a good thing if two uninteresting people marry and keep their dullness to themselves. Though she has changed a little for the better – looks less
driven
, and doesn’t knock things over quite as much as she used; can sometimes drink a glass of water without spilling it.’
‘Well, if marriage stops her being clumsy it will be something.’ Then Beatrice asked slyly: ‘How has Robert taken it?’
‘Nobly. He arranged Hugh’s new job for him and still has nobody to take his place.’
‘I meant – about Hester.’
‘Oh, Hester!’ Muriel’s voice was light with annoyance. ‘I think Iimagined a great deal of that.’ If Hester were going, her own agitation would sink; then she wanted her old life again, her picture of serene marriage, of Robert’s devotion to her. She regretted having confided in Beatrice, who made past miseries more real by her knowledge of them. To turn the conversation she said: ‘I will give her a lovely wedding … I suppose that she has some friends she can invite – school-friends if nothing better. I have chosen the dress-material. Just think, Beatrice, when we were married we wore those hideous short frocks. It would be our luck to strike that fashion. I wouldn’t let anyone see my wedding photographs for all the
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