The Mighty and Their Fall by Ivy Compton-Burnett

Author:Ivy Compton-Burnett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VIII

“Ransom!” said Selina. “Ransom, my son! You are with your mother. You are in your home. Other things are nothing. My life is not at its end. The best of it is to come.”

There appeared a large, dark man, who would have borne a likeness to Selina, but for a heaviness that cumbered his features and his frame, and somehow told of failing health. He had stood by the door with Miss Starkie, seeking enlightenment as he needed it. The former had dismissed her pupils, and herself retained her place. He stood with his arm about his mother and spoke to anyone who heard him.

“The girl can come with me. My house is near. Home is not the place at such a time. It has no help for the young who have stumbled by the way. I can recognise the real wrong-doer. A wanderer has his use. Miss Starkie will see she is ready. We shall be going in an hour.”

Lavinia obeyed Miss Starkie’s sign and followed her. She did not question the decision. It spelt escape.

“I have come back to have my way. I am the man I was. And no one will care what I do. In outstaying my welcome I have outstayed everything else. But I have come to be near my home, and to leave what I have to support it. Money comes to the just and unjust. It has come in a measure to me. I have resisted temptation and yielded to it. There is not much in many lives. I can rescue the niece who has met it. She will be with me and order my house. And at the same time I serve myself. Yes, your thought is true and clear. And now I will be with my mother. She and I have the shortest future, and have shared the least of the past.”

“You know I have married a wife,” said Ninian. “You will be a friend to her?”

“Yes, I know. And I have seen and heard. And I am her friend.”

Ransom sat down by Selina, and she heard him and understood. Her son had returned to her to leave her. He had numbered his days.

Ninian waited for a time and then came up to them.

“Ransom, we rejoice that you are with us. We wish we could rejoice more. It is your health that brings you to us? You would not be here, if you were well?”

“It is true. I bring my doomed self to those who have not seen my prime. I return to my mother less as a joy than a grief. But from you I should have a welcome. Her loss will be your gain. My death will ensure your future. It is you who will have what is mine. The place that calls for it is yours.”

“The welcome is from all of us,” said Ninian, passing over the last words. “And indeed you have it. And you must not give up hope.”

“I have done what I could, asked and followed what I could.

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