A Heritage and its History by Ivy Compton-Burnett

Author:Ivy Compton-Burnett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“My Fanny, my sister!” said Rhoda. “My little sister and her large family! How they are welcome! Ah, how dear they are! Our empty table will be full. Some of them have had their places there. They are to feel at home.”

“Yes, my mother had your place for many years,” said Simon. “Even after it was yours.”

“She taught me to fill it. How I watched her there! It was a lesson I do not forget.”

“I always think of my father in this house.”

“As is natural,” said Sir Edwin. “He was here until you were a man.”

“Ah, the other Hamish!” said Rhoda. “How he is with us! How he is in our lives! How he will live to the end of them! My Hamish knows there is an example for him in our hearts.”

“Your Hamish is more like Simon,” said Julia. “They always remind me of each other. Especially when they are tired or ill. Not that they are often either.”

“Hamish does seem rather sick at heart,” said Graham to his sister. “And for that matter so does Father.”

“What did you say?” said Simon.

“Oh, nothing, sir. It was nothing that mattered.”

“I throw no doubt on it. But you will not mutter at this table. What was your reason for doing so?”

“I thought perhaps my voice should not be heard.”

“Then let it not be. You know the way to avoid it.”

“I wish no guest to be silent at my table,” said Sir Edwin. “I am grateful to those who celebrate my living another year beyond my span. It is kind to appear to be glad of it.”

“And how easy that is!” said his wife. “How good a thing it is to us! In itself how good a thing!”

“So what did you say, Graham?” said Sir Edwin.

“It is not worth repeating, Uncle.”

“We will still ask to hear it.”

“I said that Hamish and my father both seemed rather sick at heart.”

“They seem to you so? But I wonder you voiced the thought.”

“As my father said, I hardly did so. I have been forced to it. I feel some wonder on my side.”

“Pray let someone else utter his thoughts,” said Simon. “We have heard Graham’s.”

“Perhaps I am a little sick at heart,” said Hamish to Naomi. “More than you are, though you may feel you have more reason. Something is wanting in my life, that is not in yours.”

“Do you feel the verdict is true of you, Simon?” said Julia.

“Well, I am often a tired and harassed man.”

“Tired you can hardly be,” said Sir Edwin. “Your work for me does not warrant it.”

“I have other demands on me, Uncle. Some of them are here.”

“I refuse to be a demand,” said Julia.

“So do I,” said Fanny, “though it may be what I am.

“I wonder if I can refuse,” said Naomi.

“You can all three do so,” said Simon. “A woman has her own rights and makes her own return.”

“And neither can be said of us,” said Ralph to Graham. “And neither is said.”

“Who put you two together?” said his father.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.