Part 10 (1/2)
E FOLLOWING DAY, SHORTLY AFTER LUNCH, CAS DORAN WAS IN THE LIBRARY, HAVING A FINE TIME MARKING different-sized circles on a map of Founderston, when he heard raised voices in the hallway. His wife's voice, and his daughter's. He opened the door and put his head out to hear.
”You're not doing anything, Mother! I'm sorry I lost my temper at breakfast, but as far as I can tell the day's just humming along as usual.”
”Be quiet and go back upstairs, Mamie.”
Doran went out to investigate.
As soon as she saw him, Mamie hurled herself at him, though stopping short of actual contact. ”Father, Rose is going to go home!”
”What on earth is going on?” Doran demanded.
”Ru a.s.saulted Rose!” Mamie said.
There was a moment of blank, burning silence.
Doran looked at his wife. She appeared pained and put out. ”Mamie,” she said, coldly, and pointed at the stairs. ”Please go, before you do any more damage.”
Mamie looked at her father and clasped her hands together to make a gesture of pleading. ”I don't see why Mother must believe Ru!” she said.
Doran held up his hand. ”I don't see any point in you offering your opinion, Mamie. I'll wait to hear from your friend.”
Mamie started to cry. ”Don't do that,” she said. ”Don't do that thing where you start talking about someone not using their name but only their relation to some other person or thing-”
”Mamie, you're being oddly abstract,” said her father. He wasn't used to seeing her cry-in fact, he hadn't seen her shed a tear since she was quite small.
”She's Rose, not 'your friend,' ” Mamie said. She turned around and stomped back upstairs, wiping her eyes on her sleeve-mottled, stout, ugly, angry.
Doran asked his wife to step into the library. He held the door open for her and closed it firmly after them.
Mrs. Doran told him that Mamie had been in her room since breakfast, after tipping a plate of black pudding and grilled tomato into her brother's lap.
”What did Ru have to say?”
Mrs. Doran folded her hands into one of the pleats at the front of her lace tea gown and looked trustingly and calmly at her husband. She waited for him to take charge.
”Yes, I suppose I should ask him myself,” said Doran. ”Will you fetch him for me? And I'll want to speak to Rose too. Perhaps you should dispatch Mamie to find her.”
Mrs. Doran said, ”It's my opinion that, since making friends with Rose, Mamie is showing signs of becoming a rather pa.s.sionate and dramatic girl.”
”So you think Mamie is exaggerating?”
”Yes, I do.”
Doran said, ”Please send Ru to me.”
Ru looked astonished when his father asked him what he'd done to upset Rose.
”Sometime last night?” said Doran, prompting.
”Oh.” Ru touched his forehead, tapped himself several times between the eyebrows. His father knew this gesture-Ru was organizing his thoughts. ”I thought Mother had this all under control. Very well. Last night I couldn't go to sleep,” he said. ”So I went out onto the terrace to have a cigarette. I'm sorry, Father, I know you don't like me to smoke.” He looked contrite. ”While I was there, I noticed a light on the avenue. A lamp of some sort. I was about to go and see what it was when I saw Rose hurrying back up the lawn. I guessed that she'd been meeting someone-perhaps her cousin-since the light was just about where the border is.” Ru looked earnestly at his father. ”Whatever she was up to, I caught her at it.”
Doran nodded.
”When she saw me, she wasn't pleased. She tried to push past me. I grabbed her wrist and asked what she was doing. Then she stepped on my foot-I can show you the bruise if you like. She rushed off inside, and the lamp went out a few moments later.”
”And that's all there was to it?”
”Yes, Father. Rose was startled because I caught her up to something. It's my fault if she's upset. But I was only having a bit of fun with her, pretending to want to interrogate her.”
Doran nodded. ”Thank you, Ru. You may go now.”
Ru gave his father a tight little smile and left.
Rose had her dress back on over her wet bathing suit. Her hair was dull and full-bodied with salt. She was walking back along the railway when Mamie met her. ”Good G.o.d, Mamie! Have you been crying?” Rose asked. She reached out for her friend, then thought better of it and only gave Mamie her shoes to carry. They fell into step, Rose still occasionally mounting a rail, her toes curled to grip, swaying as she balanced along it. She told Mamie she'd gone out to get away from everyone. ”You were so upset when I said I'd be leaving. I thought I should cool down and think about it. Anyway, I've given it some more thought, and I think the sensible thing is to cut my visit short.” Rose gave her friend a careful look.
There wasn't much Mamie could say to Rose's plans. She did say, ”Father wants to speak to you.”
”Did you tell him?”
”No, I-” Mamie's mouth worked, then she smiled. ”I tipped Ru's breakfast on him. I mean, on Ru, not on Father. Then I had to explain to Mother. Then Mother spoke to Ru. Then she spoke to Father. I've spent most of the day shut in my room.”
”Oh, h.e.l.l,” said Rose. She came to a stop, and her foot slipped off the rail. She tumbled and barely caught herself, then stood rubbing the knee of the leg she'd landed on awkwardly.
Mamie said, ”I'm supposed to deliver you to Father in the library.” Then, ”For goodness' sake, Rose, can't you walk and think at the same time?”
Rose started walking again. She said, ”I may have to go home, but you should come stay at Summerfort. Make a return visit. Do you think your parents will let you?”
”One minute you're upset, the next you're arranging your social calendar.”
”So?”
”You don't nurse grudges, do you?”
”Mamie, I'm not going to let my feelings about Ru contaminate our friends.h.i.+p. I'd like you to come to Sisters Beach in the new year. We can visit a dressmaker together. We can pick patterns for our Presentation Ball gowns.”
”Oh, I can see that happening-after your father has chastised my brother.”
”My father doesn't need to know a thing-if your father knows his business.” With that Rose strode off toward the house holding her head high.
Mrs. Doran came into the library. ”I have Rose Tiebold,” she said.
”I asked Mamie to fetch her,” said Doran.
”And Mamie did so. Then she went back to her room. I can't have her creating scenes at the breakfast table, even in defense of her friend's honor.”
”Very well,” said Doran. ”Mamie can remain in her room. But only until this evening.”
”That Tiebold girl likes attention,” Mrs. Doran said, in a warning tone. She opened the door, ushered Rose into the library, and left, closing the door after her.
Doran got up and gestured the girl to a seat near the window. She sat, and he remained standing, his back to the bright sunlight. ”Well, Rose,” he began, ”you want to leave us early?”