“You’ll admit that I’m a good cook?”
“Y-yes.”
“Why so doubtful?”
“Any fool can cook, dearest, and, as I said before, I consider it rather a waste of your talents.”
“Ken doesn’t,” smiled Susan. “I made him an omelette last night, and he said that even his mother had never made a better one.”
“I’ve always heard that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” said Caroline dryly. “It’s evidently true. Now I suppose you’ve got to wash up, darling. Let me help you. I think if I had to get meals ready and clear away and wash up I’d come to loathe the business of eating so much that I’d die of starvation.”
“Oh no, you wouldn’t,” laughed Susan, “and I’m not going to wash up, anyway. You can just help me clear away. We’ll leave everything on the kitchen table. . . . Thanks so much. . . . Now do come upstairs and look at the bedroom. I’ve got the bed-spreads at last, and I’ve finished staining the surround. It really does look rather nice.”
“I wonder you haven’t broken your neck a dozen times over these stairs,” said Caroline, as she followed Susan up the steep narrow staircase.
“Oh, I know them so well I could come down them in my sleep.”
She threw open the bedroom door.
“There! Don’t they look nice? They just match the curtains.”
Caroline looked at the twin beds placed side by side, covered by the new spreads of deep-blue silk, and as she looked a sudden hatred of Kenneth seemed to catch her by the throat, choking her. . . . leaving her breathless.
“Yes, they’re charming,” she said, speaking, with an effort, in her usual level voice.
Susan was opening the wardrobe.
“I’ve had one of those expanding rods put up, so that I can get nearly all my things in here now.”
“That’s splendid,” said Caroline. She held out the sleeves of a coat that hung in the wardrobe. “You do need a new coat, though, my dear.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” said Susan. “I told Ken I shouldn’t need any new clothes this summer.”
“What on earth has it got to do with Kenneth? You have a dress allowance, haven’t you? You surely don’t allow Kenneth to dictate to you what clothes you need.”
“Well—he is going to give me a dress allowance as soon as he possibly can, but, honestly, Caroline, he’s going through an awfully bad patch just now. Melsham’s is doing terribly badly. You’d be surprised how little is left when he’s paid out the wages on Saturday. And he’s got to help his mother, too. He’s worried to death sometimes.”
Caroline’s mouth had taken on a hard tight line. Her eyes were very blue.
“My dear, he’s married you, and he must keep you properly. You must insist on it. He shouldn’t have married you if he couldn’t provide for you.”
“He is awfully hard up, Caroline.”
“Nonsense! Men always talk like that. He doesn’t stint himself, I’ve no doubt. He still belongs to the badminton club, doesn’t he?”
“Yes . . . he needs the exercise.”
“And he got a new wireless this year.”
“His old one was absolutely useless. He got it before things were so bad.”
“He can have anything he needs himself, of course. It’s only you who have to go without things. Oh Susan, I’ve seen it happen so often. It’s fatal for you to give in to it.”
“The coat’s all right, Caroline. It was a very good one. It looks almost new.”
“It looks dreadfully shabby.”
“All right . . . I’ll talk to Kenneth about it tonight.”
They went slowly downstairs. Susan’s shoulders drooped dispiritedly. Perhaps Caroline was right. Perhaps Ken really had more money than he made out. Some men did keep their wives short of money on principle. And, of course, it was rather a pokey little place, though she was so fond of it, and having no maid did mean a lot of work.
“I’ll get the coffee, Caroline. Go into the lounge. I won’t be a minute.”
She went into the kitchen and soon came back with two cups of coffee. Caroline drank hers in silence.
“Darling,” she said at last, “I want to talk to you. We must get this straight.”
She spoke in the grave tender voice that always seemed to make Susan a little girl again. Responding to it almost automatically, she sank down onto the hearthrug and rested her head on Caroline’s knee. She remembered how she used to sit like that in the evenings in her childhood, while Caroline read aloud. Sometimes Robert would be there, sitting on the arm of Caroline’s chair, and sometimes Fay would be there, on Caroline’s knee, but Robert was five years older than Susan, and Fay six years younger, and there had never been very much comradeship between the three, though each had been devoted to Caroline.
“Susan,” Caroline was saying, “I do want you to think very seriously about this. It’s all right now, perhaps, for you to have all the work of the house on your hands, though I don’t really think that it’s right even now. But just think of its going on day after day, week after week, year after year, till you’re nothing but a household drudge. That’s what does happen, you know. I’ve seen it over and over again. A man’s apt to think that if you’ve once done it you might as well go on doing it. It isn’t fair to yourself or to him to put up with it.”
“But, Caroline, if he hasn’t the money. . . .”
“I’m sure he has the money. There’s a mean streak in him. I’ve noticed it from the beginning. If he hasn’t, then it’s up to him to make it. Melsham’s was a good business when his father was alive, and it can only be Kenneth’s slackness that’s let it down. Honestly, Susan darling, it isn’t any real kindness to him to put up with things as you’re doing. It’s sweet of you, but it’s wrong. You ought to insist on adequate help in the house and a proper personal allowance. I see nothing but unhappiness before you if you don’t. I think I’ve earned the right to have a little say in your life, haven’t I? And this isn’t the sort of life I dreamed of for you. I’ve got an idea, darling. It came into my mind when we were upstairs. I think it may be the solution of the whole problem.”
“What is it, Caroline?”
“If Kenneth really hasn’t the money to keep you properly, why shouldn’t you take a post?”
“But, Caroline——”
“Listen, darling. I couldn’t get you to St. Monica’s again, because their staff’s full now, though I hope to get Fay your old post there when she’s graduated. But I know that Miss Bruce wants an extra modern language mistress at Merton Park School. I met her the other day, and she was asking me if I knew of anyone. If you got that post you’d be able to have a really good maid to run the house, and you could give yourself to the work you’ve been trained for. You could have lunch at the school, and Kenneth could have it in the town, and then you’d both come home to a properly cooked meal in the evening. You could, of course, give it up as soon as Kenneth’s making enough to keep you properly.”
“Y-yes,” said Susan doubtfully.
“Don’t make up your mind all at once,” said Caroline. “Think it over and talk it over with Kenneth. Or rather tell him that, if he can’t get a proper maid or maids and give you a proper allowance, you must take a post yourself. Darling, I think you’d be much happier teaching than cleaning and scrubbing and cooking like this. After all, you’re an educated woman, not a charwoman. Now don’t worry any more, my pet. I’m sure that everything will come right if only you’ll be firm with Kenneth.” She glanced at the clock. “And now I must fly. I promised Evelyn to call there, and I must be back home in time to have tea with Fay and Sybil.”
“Oh, but, Caroline, do stay a little longer. You——”
There was the sound of quick footsteps on the garden path, then the door burst open and Kenneth entered. He was tall and thin and boyish-looking, with unruly hair and clean-cut features. There was something ingenuous and honest about the grey eyes and wide mouth, something, too, suggestive of impulsiveness
and the quick temper that matched Susan’s own.
The eagerness fell from his face when he caught sight of Caroline, and he pulled himself up in his impetuous entrance.
“Hello!” he said. “I didn’t——” He stopped.
“Didn’t expect to find me here?” supplied Caroline quietly. “Surely Susan told you I was coming.”
“Yes, but I had an idea that you’d have gone.” He grinned at her in an awkward deprecating fashion rather like a dog that wants to be on friendly terms but is unsure of its reception. “I’m very glad to find you haven’t, of course.”
“I didn’t know you’d be coming home this afternoon, Ken,” said Susan.
He turned to her and his face lit up.
“Darling, things were so slack that I felt I must rush home and see you just for five minutes. I can only kiss you and tell you I love you and then rush back. I haven’t seen you since breakfast, and I felt I had to see you again or die.”
“Things probably will be slack, Kenneth,” said Caroline in her level voice, “if this is the way you attend to business.”
“I’ve been working frightfully hard lately, haven’t I, Susie?” Kenneth justified himself. “I’ve had to get rid of another clerk, and I’m doing half the office work myself.”
Caroline was standing by the window.
“If you are in the habit of taking afternoons off like this,” she said, “you might put an occasional one in on the garden.”
He made an obvious effort to control himself.
“I’m not in the habit of taking afternoons off,” he said shortly. “I’ve been getting back too late at night to do anything to the garden.” He looked at Susan and smiled suddenly. “Darling, I do adore you in that dress.”
Caroline turned from the window.
“I’ve just been telling Susan that she needs a new coat,” she said.
He looked at her with a boyish scowl, wary, on his guard.
“She said she could manage quite well with the one she has.”
“She can’t possibly.”
“But, Caroline——” began Susan.
“It’s all right, dear,” interrupted Caroline. “Don’t worry. I’ll buy you one.”
Kenneth’s face flamed.
“Thanks very much, Caroline,” he said, “but I can provide for my wife myself.”
Caroline shrugged.
“That’s apparently just what you can’t do,” she said.
He squared his shoulders aggressively.
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
“What I say. If you can’t earn enough to keep Susan in decent comfort, she can easily go back to her own work. I’ve just been suggesting to her that she should do that. She could easily get a post in the neighbourhood, and then she could engage a trained maid and run the house properly.”
His face darkened.
“Oh, so that’s your idea, is it?” he said. “Well, I’ve had enough of your damned interference——”
Susan was suddenly as angry as he.
“How dare you speak to Caroline like that!” she flamed.
Throughout the interview Caroline had been cool and detached, showing no sign of emotion whatsoever.
“It’s all right, Susan,” she said quietly. “I’ll go now.”
“You shan’t go,” said Susan hysterically. “I won’t have you driven away like this after all you’ve done for me.”
Kenneth laid his hand imploringly on her arm, but she shook it off.
“Go away, I hate you.”
His anger rose again at the rebuff.
“All right,” he said, “I’ll go.” He threw a narrowed glance at Caroline. “There certainly doesn’t seem to be room in this house for both of us.”
With that he flung himself out, slamming the front door violently behind him.
Susan stared after him for a few moments in silence and then dropped sobbing into a chair.
“Oh Caroline . . . I’m so ashamed.”
Caroline went over to her and placed an arm tenderly about her shoulders.
“It’s all right, darling. Of course I don’t mind. He didn’t know what he was saying. You mustn’t blame him.”
“I do blame him. I hate him. I never want to see him again.”
“Now, look here, Susan, you’ve had a hard time lately, and today has been the finishing touch. You must have a rest from it all. Come home with me for a few days. Just leave a note for Kenneth.”
Susan raised tearful eyes.
“Oh Caroline,” she gasped, “I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Ken . . . he’d be furious.” Caroline smiled.
“I bear him no malice at all, dear, as you know, but don’t you think he deserves a little punishment?”
Susan shook her head again.
“I couldn’t, Caroline.”
“Just as you like, darling,” said Caroline lightly. “It was selfish of me, of course. I was thinking how I’d love to have you to myself for a few days. It would be like old times. And I could look after you and spoil you. You must be tired with all this housework.”
“I’d love to come, Caroline, but—oh, I mustn’t.”
Caroline rose.
“I’d better go now, dear.”
“Must you really?”
“Yes, darling. Evelyn will be expecting me. . . .”
“I can’t bear to let you go.”
“Darling . . . come with me.”
“Don’t tempt me. I should hate myself if I did.”
“You mustn’t, then. But, Susan——”
“Yes.”
“I don’t bear the shadow of a grudge against Kenneth. You know that. But—he was very rude to both of us. . . . I shouldn’t forgive him too easily if I were you. He ought to be made to realise how badly he’s behaved.”
“Yes, Caroline,” said Susan miserably.
“And—don’t worry, sweetheart. Meet me tomorrow in the town, and we’ll have coffee and buy the coat——”
“You mustn’t do that, Caroline.”
“I’m going to, so it’s no use arguing. And I shall be free all tomorrow because they’re having a rehearsal for Midsummer-Night’s Dream at St. Monica’s, so we can have all the day together. And now I must go. Come and help me put on my hat.”
Before Caroline went she held Susan closely to her and kissed her.
“Darling,” she said, “you know you’ve got me behind you whatever happens, don’t you?”
Susan clung to her tightly.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she said.
Chapter Five
CAROLINE walked away from the little house with a heavy heart.
This marriage of Susan’s was turning out disastrously, as indeed she had foreseen it would. She had felt an instinctive dislike of Kenneth from her first meeting with him, and (again she assured herself on that point) she had done her very best to prevent the marriage. There was, of course, a strain of weakness in Susan. She needed someone at hand to support her, to stiffen her resolution, to help her form and keep her decisions. Alone, she’d have let Kenneth ride roughshod over her.
Again Caroline was conscious of a deep thankfulness at the thought that she was there to comfort and reassure, to see that Susan’s life was not completely spoilt by the marriage. Everything considered, it really would be best for her to take a teaching post again. She’d be independent of Kenneth then, have outside friends and interests, not be completely absorbed by household drudgery, as she was now in danger of becoming.
Kenneth’s attitude to the plan was ridiculous. If he persisted in it, they must just ignore him. It might, of course, be necessary for Susan to come and live at home again. Her heart lightened at the thought. It would be lovely. . . . The three of them together as they had been before Susan married.
She slackened her pace as she neared Robert’s house. It was a solid Victorian house on the outskirts of the town. Caroline looked with approval at the fresh net curtains t
hat hung at the windows and the gleaming whiteness of the old-fashioned front doorsteps. Odd how a house could proclaim from afar, not by any particular feature, but by some elusive intangible suggestion, whether it was well or badly kept. This house had fairly shrieked neglect and incompetence when Effie was in charge of it. Nothing in it had ever been actually dirty. It had just been—Effie. She certainly hadn’t neglected the house in order to go out and enjoy herself. She’d struggled along with it in her muddling ineffectual way—her fluffy hair tumbling about her face, her shoes down at heel, her apron torn and stained, cooking uneatable dishes, dropping brushes and dusters wherever she went (Robert generally found one or both in his chair when he sat down in the evening), always tidying and cleaning, yet somehow leaving everything as chaotic as it was before she started. She couldn’t keep maids, she couldn’t cook a decent meal or “turn out” a room properly, she couldn’t manage the children. . . . She’d made Robert acutely uncomfortable and had received all Caroline’s offers of help with insolence and defiance. Poor Effie! She’d been little more than a child when Robert married her—a silly, pretty, spoilt child of seventeen. There again Caroline had foreseen trouble from the beginning. It wasn’t only her inefficient housekeeping. It was the fact that there was no possibility of intellectual comradeship between them. Robert, though somewhat slow and heavy, was an intellectual man, and Effie had the mentality of a child of twelve. She had seemed sunny-tempered and good-humoured before marriage, but even that had not lasted long. She had soon turned sulky and resentful, blaming Caroline, illogically enough, for Robert’s disappointment in her. It was about a year ago that Caroline had suggested to Robert that he should engage a mother’s help to run the house properly. Effie had made one of her usual scenes over the proposition. It turned out that her chief objection was to Caroline’s interviewing the applicants and engaging a suitable one, and Caroline had good-humouredly offered to stand aside and let Effie do it herself, but Robert had insisted on Caroline’s doing it, and in the end Effie had sulkily given way.
It had been a kind providence that sent Evelyn Marston to them. Caroline had taken to her from the first. She was a well-bred cultured woman, with an excellent practical knowledge of housekeeping and an amazing fund of tact. She had lived abroad for many years, and Caroline had been afraid that she would find Bartenham too dull, but she had settled down at once and got on so well with them all that it was difficult to realise she had only been there a year.
Caroline Page 6
