The Present and the Past (7 page)

‘And do you expect me to answer it?' said Ainger, leaning back.

‘Yes,' said Mrs Frost.

‘Well, I will not disappoint you. I will specify the shape, as Kate expresses it. It is to be that of the former mistress.'

‘So she is to be allowed access?' said Kate.

‘That is the word,' said Ainger, in sympathy with it.

‘And what a word!' said the general man, finding himself less so. ‘So this is what education does for you.'

‘It might have done more for us,' said Kate's assistant. ‘We might be in houses of our own.'

‘The damp and cramp would be your own too,' said Halliday. ‘They wouldn't be anyone else's. Look at Mrs Frost, presiding at her table as if she were under her own roof.'

‘Must you look at me?' said the latter, with her eyes down.

Mrs Frost was a short woman of fifty-eight, with a figure that expanded from shoulders to hips, a flat-featured, ruddy face, and large, shallow-set, hazel eyes, that seemed to fall before they revealed their expression. Thomas Halliday was a lean, wiry man
over sixty, with a long, scraggy neck, cheeks at once leathery and pendulous, indignant, greenish eyes and a habit of throwing back his head in token of disgust. He had been in the household for nearly fifty years, and had advanced from page-boy to general man and advanced no further. There was something about him that disqualified him for personal attendance on the family. Mrs Frost had been asked if she knew what it was, and had replied simply that she did.

‘Your place was given you out of esteem for your parents,' he said to the under-housemaid. ‘You were fortunate to get it.'

‘But was it a mark of esteem for me?' said Madge.

‘Esteem may come,' said Ainger. ‘Personally I have no complaint.'

‘And the family did not know you apart from any other lad.'

‘They did not, Halliday. But they know me now. I think they would say so.' Ainger leant back in his chair and threw one leg over the other in the manner of his master.

‘I am content to be what I am,' said Halliday. Would not you say the same, Mrs Frost?'

‘No,' said the latter.

‘And a contented mind is a continual feast.'

‘And the only feast you will get,' said Madge. ‘So it is as well to be satisfied with it.'

‘A continual feast,' murmured Mrs Frost, glancing at the stove behind her. ‘I should have a contented mind.'

‘What more do I want?' said Halliday.

‘You don't want anything more,' said Madge. ‘That may be why you don't have it.'

‘What better work is there than ours? What kind is more respectable or accorded more respect?'

‘Most kinds,' said Mrs Frost.

‘What kind accords more respect to other people?' said Madge.

‘I do not grudge it,' said Ainger. ‘If you think I do, you mistake my attitude.'

Madge gave a laugh that seemed to be meant to be heard, and turned her eyes about her. Her large, blue eyes and full-coloured face seemed more insistent than herself, and she was more aware
of them. Her figure was short and ungainly, but of this she did not allow herself to be aware. Her superior had a tall, trim form, small, in consistent features, small, round, dark eyes and an air of general acceptance of things. Madge was thirty and Kate forty-six, and both looked about their age. They were companions rather than friends, and would have parted without distress.

‘Well, has the master one wife or two?' said Madge. ‘It seems that the higher you are, the more you can have. Solomon had hundreds.'

‘And was said to be the wisest man,' said Kate, in a serious tone. ‘But I doubt if the master is wise in transcending the number.'

‘The higher you are, the more you can have of a good many things,' said Ainger.

‘Always wanting more, more, more!' said Halliday.

‘I cannot imagine you a wife, Mrs Frost,' said Kate.

‘Neither can I.'

‘Haven't you ever been one?'

‘You can see what I have been.'

‘Are you ashamed of not being one?' said Madge, laughing.

‘Yes,' said Mrs Frost.

‘Mr Halliday ought to propose to you.'

‘Are you sure he has not done so, Mrs Frost?' said Ainger. ‘Your secret would be safe with me.'

A boy of fourteen entered the room, came to his seat and began at once to eat, as though to cover some consciousness.

‘Well, Simon,' said Halliday, without expression.

‘Well, my lad,' said Ainger, with one of authority and threat.

‘He has put on his page's suit,' said Madge, in a tone of mild excitement.

‘How long is it since you discarded it, Mr Ainger?' said Kate. ‘The very same suit, if I remember.'

‘You do remember,' said Mrs Frost.

‘Twenty-four years,' said Ainger. ‘Ten years before the boy was born.'

‘So the world was prepared for his entry,' said Kate, sighing.

‘He has polished the buttons!' said Madge.

‘The only improvement he could make,' said Ainger. ‘And 1 never thought it was one. It drew attention to the garb.'

‘It is comical,' said Kate, in acquiescence. ‘But it suits Simon better than it did you. He looks more at home in it.'

‘That is what he is. He is born and bred for what it indicates.'

‘And what were you born and bred for?' said Halliday.

‘I was bred for that, Halliday. I make no secret of it. I was born for something else, and I can feel I have attained it.'

‘Put into words what you have attained.'

‘Ah, it is difficult to do that for you, Halliday,' said Ainger, leaning back with an appraising eye on his colleague.

‘Simon left school yesterday,' said Madge.

‘It is not very difficult to leave something off,' said Kate.

‘Did he find that knowledge was power?' said Mrs Frost.

‘Money is power,' said Simon. ‘And you get money by working.'

‘Not much for your kind of work,' said Ainger.

‘It is the same kind as yours.'

‘Now remember this,' said Ainger, leaning towards him. ‘You know nothing about my kind of work, and will always know nothing. It is hidden from your eyes.'

‘And from a good many people's,' said Halliday.

‘When Mr Ainger rises further,' said Madge, ‘we shall remember that we sat at the same table with him in his humble days.'

‘And he will remember your doing so, Madge,' said Ainger.

‘Will he return to claim one of us?' said Mrs Frost.

Madge looked towards the window with wide eyes.

‘Whomever I married,' said Kate, ‘I should not forget my early associates.'

‘You would be too weighed down and worried to remember anything,' said Halliday. ‘You are better as you are.'

‘Talking of marriages,' said Kate, ‘the master's situation invites inquiry.'

‘I can meet it,' said Ainger. ‘I have his confidence. He feels that a mother's feelings command respect. I am a confidential servant.'

‘For what that is worth,' said Halliday.

‘It is worth something to the rest of us,' said Madge, ‘as we are the other kind.'

‘Everyone is a servant in his way,' said Halliday. ‘There is no essential difference.'

‘Only an actual one,' said Mrs Frost.

‘It is hard to see how anyone in Mr Ainger's situation can rise higher,' said Kate. ‘If there was any method, we might all resort to it.'

A bell sounded in the passage and Simon became alert.

‘Answer it, my boy,' said Halliday. ‘Your moment has come.'

‘Yes, answer it,' said Ainger. ‘I don't want to insist on the prerogative.'

Simon did so and returned flushed and satisfied.

‘I did what they wanted. They said they hoped I would do well.'

‘Well, it is to their advantage,' said Kate. ‘But they confront their own demands.'

‘And fulfil them,' said Ainger. ‘You see it when you are in contact.'

‘Will the two Mrs Clares become acquainted?' said Kate. ‘That is the question I have been asking myself.'

‘And what answer did you give yourself?' said Ainger.

‘It seems there is bound to be encounter.'

‘What is it to do with us?' said Halliday.

‘As much as anyone's affairs are to do with anyone else,' said Ainger. ‘That is, nearly as much to do with us as our own.'

‘And a cat may look at a king,' said Kate, with a sigh.

‘I do not see myself in that light,' said Halliday, ‘and I have reason to think other people do not. Talking of being a cat, Ainger, we might as well say a laughing hyaena.'

Ainger leant back and did his best to establish the comparison, and Halliday opened his mouth and did no more. The bell rang again and was answered by Simon, who returned and crossed the kitchen with a withdrawn expression.

‘The ash-trays forgotten,' said Ainger, idly.

‘By whom?' said Halliday.

‘By me. I have other things to think of.'

‘The master's affairs,' said Kate. ‘It is true we are dependent on you for them.'

‘Yes, he and I often indulge in a masculine talk. I am asked for my opinion. But I sometimes know better than to give it.' Ainger shook his head.

‘Are you not allowed to disagree?' said Madge.

‘It tends to be complex, Madge. As must arise from contact.'

‘The trays were not polished,' said Simon, as he returned.

‘They will be in future,' said Ainger. ‘And by you. Say “Yes, sir”.'

‘Yes, sir,' said Simon, without reluctance.

‘He promises,' said Kate, resting her eyes on Simon.

‘If I were the mistress,' said Madge, ‘I would not consent to meet the first Mrs Clare.'

‘You would do what your place required of you,' said Ainger. ‘You betray your unfitness.'

‘Well, fitness for it would not be much good to me.'

‘It would not help her,' said Kate.

‘I can imagine Mrs Frost in any place,' said Halliday.

‘So can I,' said Mrs Frost. ‘I have done so.'

‘Not that we should like your present place to be filled by anyone else.'

‘A sentiment I endorse,' said Ainger.

‘I hardly expected this,' said Mrs Frost, looking down.

Simon laughed, and Ainger looked at him sternly.

‘The boy may listen to the talk,' said Kate.

‘But not suggest commentary on it.'

The bell rang once more, and Simon returned from answering it and addressed Ainger.

‘You are to answer the bell yourself, and not always send me.'

‘Not always send you!' said Ainger, rising and leaning towards him. ‘Answer the bell myself! Answer it myself, did you say? Tell me what they really said.'

‘They said what I told you. It is not my fault.'

‘Answer the bell myself!' said Ainger, his feet moving rapidly. ‘That is what you say to me! Say it again, and let me see what they meant by it.'

‘I see,' said Mrs Frost.

‘So do I,' said Halliday.

The bell rang again with some force, and Ainger sped from the room as if he also saw it.

‘A confidential servant seems much the same as any other,' said Halliday.

‘They may want to make some confidence,' said Madge.

‘I suppose they always do,' said Mrs Frost.

‘There is nothing incompatible,' said Kate.

‘Serving other people can't take us so far,' said Halliday.

‘It must take them further,' said Kate. ‘It is to be accepted.'

Ainger returned with a flushed face, humming to himself, and sat down idly in his place.

‘Fetch me that parcel on the pantry table,' he said to Simon presently.

Simon brought it to him.

‘Unpack it,' said Ainger sharply, as if the direction should have been superfluous.

Simon disclosed a box of cigars, and Ainger took it and strolled to the door.

‘So the cigars spend a time with Mr Ainger before they go to the master,' said Madge.

‘There is no need to form pictures,' said Kate.

Ainger returned with some cigars in his hand, sat down and felt for matches.

‘A mark of the master's regard,' he said as he lighted one. ‘I thought it was wise to answer the bell.'

‘So did I,' said Mrs Frost.

‘Ah, people can't always take your place,' said Halliday, with his eyes on the cigars.

Ainger handed him one, as if in response to a request, and he began to smoke.

‘You haven't reached this stage yet, Simon.'

‘No, and I never shall. It is a waste of money.'

‘Not when you don't pay for the cigars,' said Madge.

‘Well, that is on some occasions,' said Ainger, ‘when the master feels in a comradely mood.'

‘The parcel was addressed to the master. Why wasn't it taken to him?'

‘Was he to unpack it himself?'

‘It wasn't sugar or tea.'

‘And if it had been, you might have had designs on it yourself,' said Ainger, producing mirth and ignoring it.

‘In all the years I have been in this house,' said Halliday, ‘I have never had a cigar offered me.'

‘Neither have 1,' said Mrs Frost.

‘Well, it happens to me sometimes,' said Ainger, watching the smoke rise from his.

‘I wonder the master likes to ring for you,' said Madge.

‘I don't know that he does. I sometimes catch a hint that it goes a little against the grain. He is in the grip of circumstances.'

‘He has a peremptory hand on the bell,' said Kate. ‘Not that it is an indication.'

‘It is generally the mistress who rings. And with regard to her I have no claim.'

‘I have a respect for the mistress.'

‘And she would expect it¿ Kate, and is entitled. But my bond is with the master. And it would not be with both. There are reasons.'