‘That may be my misfortune, Nellie,’ said Justin with a broad smile.
‘Is that a proposal, Justin?’ asked Kitty shrewdly.
‘Scarcely, Kitty,’ said Justin. ‘You’re not what I might call a good jury.’
‘Better be careful or you’ll have her dropping in on your mother, Justin,’ Kitty said maliciously.
‘Thanks, Kitty,’ Rita said with a flash of cold fury.
‘I hope my mother would have sufficient sense to realize it was an honour, Kitty,’ Justin said severely.
When he rose to go, Rita accompanied him to the hall.
‘Thanks for the moral support, Justin,’ she said in a low voice, and then threw her overcoat over her shoulders to go as far as the gate with him. When he opened the door they both stood and gazed about them. It was a moonlit night; the garden, patterned in black and silver, sloped to the quiet roadway, where the gas lamps burned with a dim green light, and in the farther walls gateways shaded by black trees led to flights of steps or to steep-sloping avenues which led to moonlit houses on the river’s edge.
‘God, isn’t it lovely?’ Rita said in a hushed voice.
‘Oh, by the way, Rita,’ he said, slipping his arm through hers, ‘that was a proposal.’
‘Janey Mack, they’re falling,’ she said, giving his arm a squeeze.
‘What are falling?’
‘Proposals.’
‘Why? Had you others?’
‘I had one anyway.’
‘And did you accept it?’
‘No,’ Rita said doubtfully. ‘Not quite. At least, I don’t think I did.’
‘You might consider this one,’ Justin said with unusual humility. ‘You know, of course, that I was very fond of Nellie. At one time I was very fond of her indeed. You don’t mind that, I hope. It’s all over and done with now, and there are no regrets on either side.’
‘No, Justin, of course I don’t mind. If I felt like marrying you I wouldn’t give it a second thought. But I was very much in love with Tony too, and that’s not all over and done with yet.’
‘I know that, Rita,’ he said gently. ‘I know exactly what you feel. We’ve all been through it.’ If he had left it at that everything might have been all right, but Justin was a lawyer, which meant that he liked to keep things absolutely shipshape. ‘But that won’t last forever. In a month or two you’ll be over it, and then you’ll wonder what you saw in that fellow.’
‘I don’t think so, Justin,’ she said with a crooked little smile, not altogether displeased to be able to enlighten him on the utter hopelessness of her position. ‘I think it will take a great deal longer than that.’
‘Well, say six months, even,’ Justin went on, prepared to yield a point to the defence. ‘All I ask is that in one month or six, whenever you’ve got over your regrets for this – this amiable young man’ (momentarily his voice took on its familiar ironic ring), ‘you’ll give me a thought. I’m old enough not to make any more mistakes. I know I’m fond of you, and I feel pretty sure I could make a success of my end of it.’
‘What you really mean,’ said Rita, keeping her temper with the greatest difficulty, ‘is that I wasn’t in love with Tony at all. Isn’t that it?’
‘Not quite,’ Justin said judiciously. Even if he’d had a serenade as well as the moonlight and the girl, it couldn’t have kept him from correcting what he considered to be a false deduction. ‘I’ve no doubt you were very much attracted by this – this clerical Adonis; this Mr Whatever-his-name-is, or that at any rate you thought you were, which in practice comes to the same thing, but I also know that that sort of thing, though it’s painful enough while it lasts, doesn’t last very long.’
‘You mean yours didn’t, Justin,’ Rita said tartly.
‘I mean mine or anybody else’s,’ Justin said pompously. ‘Because love – the only sort of thing you can really call love – is something that comes with experience. You’re probably too young yet to know what the real thing is.’
As Rita had only recently told Ned that he didn’t yet know what the real thing was, she found this rather hard to stomach.
‘How old would you say you’d have to be?’ she asked viciously. ‘Thirty-five?’
‘You’ll know soon enough – when it hits you,’ said Justin.
‘Honest to God, Justin,’ she said, withdrawing her arm and looking at him with suppressed fury, ‘I think you’re the thickest man I ever met.’
‘Good night, my dear,’ said Justin with perfect good humour, and he raised his cap and took the few steps to the gate at a run.
Rita stood gazing after him with folded arms. At the age of eighteen to be told that there is anything you don’t know about love is like a knife in your heart.
Kitty and Nellie grew so tired of her moodiness that they persuaded her mother that the best way of distracting her mind was to find her another job. A new environment was also supposed to be good for her complaint, so Mrs Lomasney wrote to her sister who was a nun in England, and the sister found her work in a convent there. Rita let on to pay no attention, though she let Ned see something of her resentment.
‘But why England?’ he asked wonderingly.
‘Why not?’ replied Rita challengingly.
‘Wouldn’t any place nearer do you?’
‘I suppose I wouldn’t be far enough away from them.’
‘But why not make up your own mind?’
‘I’ll probably do that too,’ she said with a short laugh. ‘I’d like to see what’s in theirs first though.’
On Friday she was to leave for England, and on Wednesday the girls gave a farewell party. This, too, Rita affected to take no great interest in. Wednesday was the half-holiday, and it rained steadily all day. The girls’ friends all turned up. Most were men: Bill O’Donnell of the bank, who was engaged to Kitty; Fahy, the solicitor, who was Justin’s successful rival for Nellie; Justin himself, who simply could not be kept out of the house by anything short of an injunction; Ned Lowry, and a few others. Hasty soon retired with his wife to the dining-room to read the evening paper. He said all his daughters’ young men looked exactly alike and he never knew which of them he was talking to.
Bill O’Donnell was acting as barman. He was a big man, bigger even than Justin, with a battered boxer’s face and a Negro smile, which seemed to well up from depths of good humour with life rather than from any immediate contact with others. He carried on loud conversations with everyone he poured out drink for, and his voice overrode every intervening tête-à-tête, and challenged even the piano, on which Nellie was vamping music-hall songs.
‘Who’s this one for, Rita?’ he asked. ‘A bottle of Bass for Paddy. Ah, the stout man! Remember the New Year’s Day in Bandon, Paddy? Remember how you had to carry me up to the bank in evening dress and jack me up between the two wings of the desk? Kitty, did I ever tell you about that night in Bandon?’
‘Once a week for the past five years, Bill,’ said Kitty philosophically.
‘Nellie,’ said Rita, ‘I think it’s time for Bill to sing his song. “Let Me like a Soldier Fall”, Bill!’
‘My one little song!’ Bill said with a roar of laughter. ‘My one and only song, but I sing it grand. Don’t I, Nellie? Don’t I sing it fine?’
‘Fine!’ agreed Nellie, looking up at his big, beaming moonface shining at her over the piano. ‘As the man said to my mother, “Finest bloody soprano I ever heard.” ’
‘He did not, Nellie,’ Bill said sadly. ‘You’re making that up.… Silence please!’ he shouted joyously, clapping his hands. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I must apologize. I ought to sing something like Tosti’s “Good-bye”, but the fact is, ladies and gentlemen, that I don’t know Tosti’s “Good-bye”.’
‘Recite it, Bill,’ said Justin amiably.
‘I don’t know the words of it either, Justin,’ said Bill. ‘In fact, I’m not sure if there’s any such song, but if there is, I ought to sing it.’
‘Why, Bill?’ Rita asked innocently. She was we
aring a long black dress that threw up the unusual brightness of her dark, bony face. She looked happier than she had looked for months. All the evening it was as though she were laughing to herself.
‘Because ’twould be only right, Rita,’ said Bill with great melancholy, putting his arm about her and drawing her closer to him. ‘You know I’m very fond of you, don’t you, Rita?’
‘And I’m mad about you, Bill,’ said Rita candidly.
‘I know that, Rita,’ he said mournfully, pulling at his collar as though to give himself air. ‘I only wish you weren’t going, Rita. This place isn’t the same without you. Kitty won’t mind my saying that,’ he added with a nervous glance at Kitty, who was flirting with Justin on the sofa.
‘Are you going to sing your blooming old song or not?’ Nellie asked impatiently, running her fingers over the keys.
‘I’m going to sing now in one minute, Nellie,’ Bill said ecstatically, stroking Rita fondly under the chin. ‘I only want Rita to know the way we’ll miss her.’
‘Damn it, Bill,’ Rita said, snuggling up to him with her dark head on his chest, ‘if you go on like that I won’t go at all. Tell me, would you really prefer me not to go?’
‘I would prefer you not to go, Rita,’ he replied, stroking her cheeks and eyes. ‘You’re too good for the fellows over there.’
‘Oh, go on doing that,’ she said hastily, as he dropped his hand. ‘It’s gorgeous, and you’re making Kitty mad jealous.’
‘Kitty isn’t jealous,’ Bill said fondly. ‘Kitty is a lovely girl and you’re a lovely girl. I hate to see you go, Rita.’
‘That settles it, Bill,’ she said, pulling herself free of him with a determined air. ‘I simply couldn’t cause you all that suffering. As you put it that way, I won’t go.’
‘Won’t you, just?’ said Kitty with a grin.
‘Now, don’t worry your head about it any more, Bill,’ said Rita briskly. ‘It’s all off.’
Justin, who had been quietly consuming large whiskeys, looked round lazily.
‘Perhaps I ought to have mentioned,’ he boomed, ‘that the young lady has just done me the honour of proposing to me and I’ve accepted her.’
Ned Lowry, who had been enjoying the scene between Bill and Rita, looked at him for a moment in surprise.
‘Bravo! Bravo!’ cried Bill, clapping his hands with childish delight. ‘A marriage has been arranged and all the rest of it – what? I must give you a kiss, Rita. Justin, you don’t mind if I give Rita a kiss?’
‘Not at all, not at all,’ replied Justin with a lordly wave of his hand. ‘Anything that’s mine is yours, old man.’
‘You’re not serious, Justin, are you?’ Kitty asked incredulously.
‘Oh, I’m serious all right,’ said Justin. ‘I’m not quite certain whether your sister is. Are you, Rita?’
‘What?’ Rita asked as though she hadn’t heard.
‘Serious,’ repeated Justin.
‘Why?’ asked Rita. ‘Trying to give me the push already?’
‘We’re much obliged for the information,’ Nellie said ironically as she rose from the piano. ‘Now, maybe you’d oblige us further and tell us does Father know.’
‘Hardly,’ said Rita coolly. ‘It was only settled this evening.’
‘Well, maybe ’twill do with some more settling by the time Father is done with you,’ Nellie said furiously. ‘The impudence of you! How dare you! Go in at once and tell him.’
‘Keep your hair on, girl,’ Rita advised with cool malice and then went jauntily out of the room. Kitty and Nellie began to squabble viciously with Justin. They were convinced that the whole scene had been arranged by Rita to make them look ridiculous, and in this they weren’t very far out. Justin sat back and began to enjoy the sport. Then Ned Lowry struck a match and lit another cigarette, and something about the slow, careful way in which he did it drew everyone’s attention. Just because he was not the sort to make a fuss, people realized from his strained look that his mind was very far away. The squabble stopped as quickly as it had begun and a feeling of awkwardness ensued. Ned was too old a friend of the family for the girls not to feel that way about him.
Rita returned, laughing.
‘Well?’ asked Nellie.
‘Consent refused,’ growled Rita, bowing her head and pulling the wrong side of an imaginary moustache.
‘What did I say?’ exclaimed Nellie, but without rancour.
‘You don’t think it makes any difference?’ Rita asked dryly.
‘I wouldn’t be too sure of that,’ said Nellie. ‘What else did he say?’
‘Oh, he hadn’t a notion who I was talking about,’ Rita said lightly. ‘ “Justin who?” ’ she mimicked. ‘ “How the hell do you think I can remember all the young scuts ye bring to the house?” ’
‘Was he mad?’ asked Kitty with amusement.
‘Hopping.’
‘He didn’t call us scuts?’ asked Bill in a wounded tone.
‘Oh, begor, that was the very word he used, Bill,’ said Rita.
‘Did you tell him he was very fond of me the day I gave him the tip for Golden Boy at the Park Races?’ asked Justin.
‘I did,’ said Rita. ‘I said you were the stout block of a fellow with the brown hair that he said had the fine intelligence, and he said he never gave a damn about intelligence. He wanted me to marry the thin fellow with the specs. “Only bloody gentleman that comes to the house.” ’
‘Is it Ned?’ cried Nellie.
‘Who else?’ said Rita. ‘I asked him why he didn’t tell me that before and he nearly ate the head off me. “Jesus Christ, girl, don’t I feed ye and clothe ye? Isn’t that enough without having to coort for ye as well? Next thing, ye’ll be asking me to have a few babies for ye.” Anyway, Ned,’ she added with a crooked, almost malicious smile, ‘you can always say you were Pa’s favourite.’
Once more the attention was directed to Ned. He put his cigarette down with care and sprang up with a broad smile, holding out his hand.
‘I wish you all the luck in the world, Justin,’ he said.
‘I know that well, Ned,’ boomed Justin, catching Ned’s hand in his own two. ‘And I’d feel the same if it was you.’
‘And you too, Miss Lomasney,’ Ned said gaily.
‘Thanks, Mr Lowry,’ she replied with the same crooked smile.
Justin and Rita got married, and Ned, like all the Hayfield Hourigans, behaved in a decorous and sensible manner. He didn’t take to drink or break the crockery or do any of the things people are expected to do under the circumstances. He gave them a very expensive clock as a wedding present, went once or twice to visit them and permitted Justin to try and convert him, and took Rita to the pictures when Justin was away from home. At the same time he began to walk out with an assistant in Halpin’s; a gentle, humorous girl with a great mass of jet-black hair, a snub nose, and a long, pointed melancholy face. You saw them everywhere together.
He also went regularly to Sunday’s Well to see the old couple and Nellie, who wasn’t yet married. One evening when he called, Mr and Mrs Lomasney were at the chapel, but Rita was there, Justin being again away. It was months since she and Ned had met; she was having a baby and very near her time; and it made her self-conscious and rude. She said it made her feel like a yacht that had been turned into a cargo boat. Three or four times she said things to Ned which would have maddened anyone else, but he took them in his usual way, without resentment.
‘And how’s little Miss Bitch?’ she asked insolently.
‘Little Miss who?’ he asked mildly.
‘Miss – how the hell can I remember the names of all your dolls? The Spanish-looking one who sells the knickers at Halpin’s.’
‘Oh, she’s very well, thanks,’ Ned said primly.
‘What you might call a prudent marriage,’ Rita went on, all on edge.
‘How’s that, Rita?’
‘You’ll have the ring and the trousseau at cost price.’
‘How interested you are
in her!’ Nellie said suspiciously.
‘I don’t give a damn about her,’ said Rita with a shrug. ‘Would Señorita What’s-her-name ever let you stand godfather to my footballer, Ned?’
‘Why not?’ Ned asked mildly. ‘I’d be delighted, of course.’
‘You have the devil’s own neck to ask him after the way you treated him,’ said Nellie. Nellie was interested; she knew Rita and knew that she was in one of her emotional states, and was determined on finding out what it meant. Ordinarily Rita, who also knew her sister, would have delighted in thwarting her, but now it was as though she wanted an audience.
‘How did I treat him?’ she asked with amusement.
‘Codding him along like that for years, and then marrying a man that was twice your age.’
‘Well, how did he expect me to know?’
Ned rose and took out a packet of cigarettes. Like Nellie he knew that Rita had deliberately staged the scene and was on the point of telling him something. She was leaning very far back in her chair and laughed up at him while she took a cigarette and waited for him to light it.
‘Come on, Rita,’ he said encouragingly. ‘As you’ve said so much you might as well tell us the rest.’
‘What else is there to tell?’
‘What you had against me.’
‘Who said I had anything against you? Didn’t I distinctly tell you when you asked me to marry you that I didn’t love you? Maybe you thought I didn’t mean it.’
He paused for a moment and then raised his brows.
‘I did,’ he said quietly.
She laughed.
‘The conceit of that fellow!’ she said to Nellie, and then with a change of tone: ‘I had nothing against you, Ned. This was the one I had the needle in. Herself and Kitty were forcing me into it.’
‘Well, the impudence of you!’ cried Nellie.
‘Isn’t it true for me?’ Rita said sharply. ‘Weren’t you both trying to get me out of the house?’
‘We weren’t,’ Nellie replied hotly, ‘and anyway that has nothing to do with it. It was no reason why you couldn’t have married Ned if you wanted to.’
‘I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to marry anyone.’
The Best of Frank O'Connor Page 53
