Part 32 (2/2)

She dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief and nodded to Anne, a nod that said plainly enough, ”It's them--the Jervaises.”

And then we were all startled by the sound of the rude and unnecessary violence of their knock at the front door. No doubt, Frank was still ”in a pad.”

Yet no one moved until the old man at the head of the table looked up with a deep sigh, and said,--

”They'd better come in and be done with it, Nancy.”

His glance was slowly travelling round the room as if he were bidding those familiar things a reluctant farewell. All his life had been lived in that house.

XIV

MRS. BANKS

The insulting attack upon the front door was made again with even greater violence while we still waited, united, as I believe, in one sympathetic resolve to s.h.i.+eld the head of the house from any unnecessary distress. He alone was called upon to make sacrifice; it was our single duty and privilege to encircle and protect him. And if my own feelings were representative, we fairly bristled with resentment when this vulgar demand for admittance was repeated. These domineering, comfortable, respectability-loving Jervaises were the offenders; the sole cause of our present anxiety. We had a bitter grievance against them and they came swaggering and bullying, as if the threat to their silly prestige were the important thing.

”You'd better go, dear,” Mrs. Banks said with a nod to Anne. The little woman's eyes were bright with the eagerness for battle, but she continued to talk automatically on absurdly immaterial subjects to relieve the strain of even those few seconds of waiting.

”Our maid is out, you see, Mr. Melhuish,” she explained quickly, and turning to Brenda, continued without a pause, ”So Anne has even had to lend you a dress. You're about of a height, but you're so much slighter.

Still, with very little alteration, her things would fit you very well. If we should be obliged ...” She broke off abruptly as Anne returned, followed by Mr. Jervaise and the glowering, vindictive figure of his son.

Anne's manner of entrance alone would have been sufficient to demonstrate her att.i.tude to the intruders, but she elected to make it still more unmistakable by her announcement of them.

”The Jervaises, mother,” she said, with a supercilious lift of her head.

She might have been saying that the men had called for the rent.

Little Mrs. Banks looked every inch an aristocrat as she received them.

The gesture of her plump little white hands as she indicated chairs was almost regal in its authority.

Old Jervaise, obviously nervous, accepted the invitation, but Frank, after closing the door, stood leaning with his back against it. The position gave him command of the whole room, and at the same time conveyed a general effect of threat. His att.i.tude said, ”Now we've got you, and none of you shall leave the room until you've paid in full for your impertinence.” I had guessed from his knock that he had finally put his weakness for Anne away from him. He was clever enough to realise just how and why she had fooled him. His single object, now, was revenge.

Banks brooded, rather neglected and overlooked in a corner by the window.

He appeared to have accepted his doom as a.s.sured, and being plunged into the final gulf of despair, he had, now, no heart even to be apologetic.

The solid earth of his native country was slipping away from him; nothing else mattered.

There was one brief, tense interval of silence before old Jervaise began to speak. We all waited for him to state the case; Frank because he meant to reserve himself for the dramatic moment; we others because we preferred to throw the onus of statement upon him. (I do believe that throughout that interview it is fair to speak of ”we others,” of the whole six of us, almost as of a single mind with a single intention. We played our individual parts in our own manners, but we were subject to a single will which was, I firmly believe, the will of Mrs. Banks. Even her husband followed her lead, if he did it with reluctance, while the rest of us obeyed her with delight.)

Old Jervaise fumbled his opening. He looked pale and tired, as if he would be glad to be out of it.

”We have called,” he began, striving for an effect of magisterial gravity; ”we have come here, Mrs. Banks, to fetch my daughter. I understand that you've been away from home--you and your husband--and you're probably not aware of what has taken--has been going on in your absence.”

”Oh! yes, we know,” Mrs. Banks put in disconcertingly. She was sitting erect and contemptuous in her chair at the foot of the table. For one moment something in her pose reminded me of Queen Victoria.

”Indeed? You have heard; since your return?” faltered old Jervaise. ”But I cannot suppose for one moment that either you or your husband approve of--of your son's gross misbehaviour.” He got out the accusation with an effort; he had to justify himself before his son. But the slight stoop of his shoulders, and his hesitating glances at Mrs. Banks were propitiatory, almost apologetic. It seemed to me that he pleaded with her to realise that he could say and do no less than what he was saying and doing; to understand and to spare him.

”But that is new to me,” Mrs. Banks replied. ”I have heard nothing of any gross misbehaviour.”

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