A Family and a Fortune by Ivy Compton-Burnett

Author:Ivy Compton-Burnett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

‘Uncle is walking with Miss Sloane on the terrace,’ said Aubrey to his sister.

‘Well, that is a normal thing to do, little boy. I notice that Uncle is often with Miss Sloane of late. It may be that it gives Aunt Matty a chance to talk to Father.’

‘He has been helping her up the steps. She goes up them by herself when she is alone.’

‘Well, when you are older you will learn that men often do things for women which they can do for themselves. Uncle is a finished and gallant person, and there has been a late development in him along that line. He seems to be more aware of himself since he had this money. I hope it does not mean that we took him too much for granted in the old days. But the dear old days! I can’t help regretting them in a way, the days when he gave us more of himself, somehow, though he had less of other things to give. I could find it in me to wish them back. I don’t take as much pleasure in my new scope as I did in the old Uncle Dudley, who seems to have taken some course away from us of late. Well, I have taken what I can get, and I am content and grateful. And I hardly know how to put what I mean into words.’

Blanche looked up at her daughter as if struck by something in her speech, and rose and went to the window with her work dropping from her hand.

‘Mother, what is it? Come back to the fire. Your cough will get worse.’

Blanche began automatically to cough, holding her hand to her chest and looking at her daughter over it.

‘It is true,’ she said. ‘They are walking arm-in-arm. It is true.’

‘What is true? What do you mean?’ said Justine, coming to her side. ‘What is it? What are we to think?’

‘We are spying upon them,’ said Aubrey, his tone seeming too light for the others’ mood.

‘Yes, we are,’ said his sister, drawing back. ‘No, we are not. I see how it is. Uncle is choosing this method of making known to us the truth. We are to see it and grasp it. Well, we do. We will let it stand revealed. So that is what it has meant, this strange insight I have had into something that was upon us, something new. Well, we accept it in its bearing upon Uncle and ourselves.’

‘Dear Dudley!’ said Blanche, picking up her work.

‘Dear Uncle indeed, Mother! And the more he does and has for himself, the dearer. And now go back to the fire. You have grown quite pale. It cannot but be a shock. Aubrey will stay and take care of you, and I will go and do as Uncle wishes and carry the news. For we must take it that that is what his unspoken message meant.’

‘We must beware how we walk arm-in-arm,’ said Aubrey.

Blanche extended a hand to her

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