He stopped and Hannah opened her mouth to say something but Marcus slid his hand under the table and grasped her knee hard, and she closed her mouth again, grateful to him.
‘I suppose it was natural she’d get bored. I mean, the settlement work’s great for me, but … she’s a girl. Different. And it’s mucky sometimes. People smell, you know? They can’t always help it any anyway, what does it matter? But it bothered Marie and she said she’d go out with her friends, that she couldn’t bore me having to see them because she knew I loathed ‘em an she couldn’t inflict them on me, but that they were her friends and, well, it was a matter of … of justice and equality, wasn’t it? You can’t believe things that matter about how people should be treated and not treat the people you love that way, I mean, equality and freedom isn’t just for the masses, it’s for individuals. Me and you, and Marie. So she wanted to see her friends and I didn’t, so I said fine, and she started to go out in the evenings with them while I was working and she said it was great but not to be stuffy and tell you because you’d taken a hate to Rupert and would stop her seeing him just because of some stupid family feud. and I - ‘ He looked up at Marcus miserably. ‘- I believed her.’
Marcus lifted his eyebrows as Charles, clearly asking permission to speak, and Charles nodded. ‘No feud,’ Marcus said,’ but I can’t deny I'm not - I don’t think he’s a good friend for Marie.’
‘Not did I. I said so, and she said I was stuffy too and we argued … and then we made it up.’ He bent his head and his neck began to redden as a tide of colour rose and Hannah felt another wave of acute embarrassment. I shouldn’t be told this. It’s not right I should know. It was something between them.
‘After that - I - what could I do? I’d behaved dreadfully, taking advantage of her. She said I hadn’t, though.’ He looked at Marcus and it clearly took some courage to do so. ‘I she said that, Marcus. Said it was more her than me, and that it was only sex and to stop being so stuffy and stupid and old and anyway I - anyway I wasn’t the only one who … But I didn’t know what to do. It was the first time for me, you see, and - ‘ He shook his head and then with a curiously childlike gesture rubbed his mouth.
‘Well, after that, it was impossible. I couldn’t say, don’t do this, don’t do that, could I? And I couldn’t come and talk to you, though I wanted to. Not after what I’d done. I felt filthy. Wicked. Like an oppressor.’
‘No,’ Hannah said. She could not help it. He couldn’t be allowed to go on like that, hating himself. If she had been there with them, seen what had happened, she couldn’t have been more certain that he was in no way the instigator in whatever had been between them. ‘No.’
He looked at her and for one brief moment managed to smile.
‘That’s how I felt, anyway. Which is why she’d been going around with him these past three months, parties and all, and you thought she was with me. So there it is.’
There was a long silence and then Marcus said carefully. ‘And now what? You say she’s gone?’
‘There’s nothing you can do,’ he said drearily. ‘She married him, you see. In France at Christmas. I didn’t know myself till last night. I knew something had happened, because she stopped - I mean, stopped caring whether I said anything to you or not. It helped a bit that. I mean, I’d felt before I was keeping quiet to please her. At least since Christmas, it’s been to please you. I didn’t want to upset you, you see. And I couldn’t see what difference it’d make if you did know she was going around with Rupert. Making you unhappy wouldn’t make my any happier. I think I’ve know for weeks she wasn’t going to marry me. But when she told me last night she’d married him, well, that was different.’
‘Married,’ Hannah said. ‘Married. Rupert. Married.’
‘In France?’ Marcus said sharply. ‘Are you sure about that? It was legal?’
‘Oh, I think so. I'm sure it was. Daphne helped them, I gather. She’s got an apartment there somewhere near the Rue St Denis, hasn’t she? Oh, let them say they lived there and that made it legal. Anyway, it’s a proper marriage. They stayed together all through Christmas at the apartment and then ever since - she hasn’t slept at home, you see. It used to drive me wild!’ He slammed his elbows on the table so that the dishes rattled and put is face in his hands. ‘I knew she was up to something but it never occurred to me that - ‘ He took a deep breath and sat up again. ‘Anyway last night, she got a message from Rupert, it seems, and ran off, and I got worried and went after he because Florrie told me she’d heard Marie tell the cab driver an address and I went there to have it out with her. I thought it was rotten of her to leave last night, you see, what with your party and all and I was going to tell her so. But that bastard Rupert was there, and that was how it all came out.’
‘Hannah, I'll look into this,’ Marcus said and leaned over and took her hand in his. ‘Please, darling, try not to panic. She’d under age and - ’
‘But what’s the point?’ she said drearily. ‘You heard what Charles said. They went through some sort of legal ceremony in France. And anyway, if it’s what she wants, what can we do? What should we do? Charles. I'm truly sorry. She’s treated you appallingly and I'm sick with shame.’
‘No. Aunt Hannah, please don’t cry. It isn’t your fault! She’s just - it’s not even Marie’s fault.’ He said crouching beside her now. ‘Please Aunt Hannah, don’t cry or I shall too. It’s all … let it be. It’s happened. Let it be.’
‘What are they going to do?’ Marcus asked, and Charles squeezed Hannah’s hand and stood up.
‘I don’t know - well, not for sure. Last night she told me I could - she said she was going to stay with Rupert and I could do what I liked. Tell you or not. She’s a married woman now and I can’t do anything. So I came away. I walked around for hours. I couldn’t come and interrupt your party, could I?’
‘Bloody party,’ Hannah said violently. ‘Of course you could. You're more important than any party.’
‘Well, I couldn’t. And when I did get in you’d gone to bed and your light was off and I thought, why wake you? News like this keeps, doesn’t it?’
‘Charles I … thank you, Charles.’ Marcus said. He put is arms around the boy’s shoulders and held him close, hugging him, and after a rigid moment Charles bent his head and began to cry on Marcus’s shoulder, silently and helplessly, his shoulders moving clumsily with the savageness of his tears.
Outside the snow began again. Hannah sat and stared out at it and thought of nothing at all but the falling flakes and the way they looped and danced and thudded silently against the glass of the window, and the weight of the grey sky looking over the eerie whiteness of the ground beneath.
‘We'll have to go and see them, Hannah,’ Marcus said, after Charles had agreed to go up to bed. He’s sat up all night apparently, just sitting and staring out into the square, and now he was exhausted. Hannah had told Florrie, of course; she had to anyway Florrie had always been part of Marie’s life. She had as much right to know as anyone else. She had primmed her mouth an said sharply, ‘Well, there was no way she was ever going to do anything to to please anyone but herself, mum, and there’s an end to it, so don’t you go blaming yourself, for no one never had a better upbringing.’
‘I suppose so,’ Hannah said and then closed her eyes. ‘I feel so unnatural, Marcus! She’s my daughter and I love her but all I feel is fury at the way she treated Charles. How could she be so cruel? How could she? And why don’t I care more about what she’d done, and about her happiness? It’s not right.’
‘It’s right and it’s natural,’ Marcus said firmly. ‘And it’s sensible. There’s nothing you can do to change Marie. She is what she’s always been and I suspect it was to be. A totally self-centered person, beautiful and vivacious and charming and wholly selfish. It’s just one of those things. But Charles is different. And never forget he’s as much your child as she is. You may not have borne him, but he is your son.’
‘Yes,’ she said drearily. ‘Yes. And I’
ve got to go and see Marie and remember she’s my daughter. Whatever she’s done, she’s still my little girl.’
‘You won’t forget,’ he said. ‘Come on, love. I'll have to go via Lammeck Alley I'm afraid. There are some early appointments I'll have to sort out.’
‘And I'll have to call Artillery Lane too,’ she said, and rubbed her face distractedly. ’damn, there are three big deliveries I wanted do be there to see on their way.’
‘Then we'll stop there too,’ Marcus said calmly. ‘Work has to go on, and I doubt she'll be out of bed anyway, much before eleven. She never was here so why should she be in her own home?’
‘Her own home,’ Hannah said and shook her head wonderingly. ‘I can’t imagine it.’
When the car drew up in front of the building Hannah sat very still for a moment and then, a Marcus took her gloved hand and squeezed it hard, took a deep breath and smiled at him, albeit a little tremulously, and got out. It was in Sloane Street, a block of modern flats, and a uniformed commissionaire led them through a heavily carpeted lobby towards the ornate lift.
‘Expensive,’ murmured Marcus, as the lift purred upwards. ‘Very expensive. I can’t imagine these flats cost much under three hundred a year.’
‘Three hundred - are you sure?’ Her forehead creased. ‘Charles seemed convinced that it was their own flat. Is Rupert well off?’
‘I don’t know. He had a sizeable income, but he’s been a free agent for a long time now. He’s twenty-six, remember. It’s been more than five years since I had any involvement in his financial affairs.’
The door was opened by a maid in a very chic French uniform, very lacy and tight and Hannah thought of Florrie in her commodious aprons and how she would sniff at so fancy a creature and was, momentarily amused. The flat was luxurious. Wide windows overlooked the street, and there were heavy pile carpets, glass and chrome furniture, and very modern paintings on the walls. It was untidy, however, with cushions hurled on the floor, and a litter of unwashed glasses and overflowing ashtrays scattered about, which the maid seemed to regard with distaste and an air of unconcern, as though whoever was going to clean up, it was certainly not be she.
They waited in the stuffy room, which smelled of cocktails and stale cigarette smoke, for ten minutes before at last a door opened and Marie came out her hair rumpled and her face streaked with stale makeup. She was wrapped in a man’s dressing gown. She stood and stared at them both for a moment, and then made a face.
‘Rupert,’ she shouted, and kicked the door behind her. ‘You’d better come. Storm warning’s gone up.’
‘There’s no need for that sort of attitude, young woman,’ Marcus said strongly. ‘Let’s get that clear for a start. We’ve come to see if you are well, to sort out what has been happening, and to do so in a civilized manner. There are not going to be any storms of our making. I hope there will be none of yours. I’ve got better things to do with my energy and so has your mother. Is that understood?’
She stood and stared at him for a moment, looking very young suddenly, like a child who has been playing with her mother’s makeup. Then she said awkwardly, ‘Well, all right, all right. It was just that I thought … ’
The door opened and Rupert came out. He was wearing only pyjama trousers in a heavily brocade black satin and a sweater tied by its sleeves round his shoulders. He had a cigarette between his lips and looked half asleep.
‘Well,’ he said awkwardly and then produced a cheeky grin, trying to look as though he couldn’t care less. ‘My in-laws, as I live and breathe! Little Boy Blue blew his horn then did he? Sent you looking for your little Bo Peep?’
‘Charles told us you to are married, if that’s what you mean,’ Hannah said quietly.
‘Damn him,’ Marie said viciously. ‘I didn’t want to make any fuss yet. No need to go meddling.’
‘Not a word about Charles, Marie,’ Hannah said firmly. ‘I won’t listen. Now, what is all this? Is it true you're married?’
‘Yup!’ Rupert said. ‘Thought we might as well. Madly romantic and madly wicked. Catholic Church in Paris! How’s that going to get to the old biddies round the family, hmm? But it’s right and tight and legal, I promise you. Went through all the right French channels, that we did. You can’t overset it.’
‘I don’t intend to try,’ Hannah said.
There was a little silence and then Marie said carefully, ‘you don’t. But I thought you’d be furious! Aren’t you?’
‘I'm hurt,’ Hannah said after a moment. ‘I didn’t think I was so difficult that you had to be so hole-in-the-corner. I didn’t think Marcus was so difficult a stepfather either - but angry? What would be the point?’
Marie ran to them, like a child, trotting across the room with her face split from side to side with a huge grin. ‘Oh, Mama, I do love you! I didn’t want to upset you, honestly I didn’t but Rupert said… Well, you know how you are about him and Daphne, and it was such a lark, an there was the money and all - ’
‘Money?’ Marcus said sharply.
She looked over Hannah’s shoulder at him, hugging Hannah hard all the time. ‘Well, you didn’t tell me, did you? There was I getting a lot from Gramps when I was eighteen, and if Rupert hadn’t found out at Lammeck Alley I’d never have known. I thought … Rupert thought… ’
She faltered and looked back over her shoulder almost fearfully. ‘Rupert?’ she said.
‘Well?’ He said leaning against the bedroom door, his arms folded over his bare chest.
‘You said, didn’t you, they’d try and stop us on account of the money?’
He tilted his head, and squinted at them over the smoke rising from the cigarette between his lips. ‘It occurred to me that you might. Why keep it so close to your chest, I asked myself? Is it to make sure the family money stays in the family? To let little old almost-brother Charles gets it? It occurred to me - ’
Hannah hardly saw Marcus move, he was so fast. Suddenly, he was standing in front of Rupert, his shoulders rigid with fury. She heard the sound rather than saw his hand move, and then Rupert was standing there, one hand to his face and his cigarette smouldering on the carpet at his feet.
‘You apologize at once for that,’ Marcus said, his voice unrecognizable to Hannah. ‘At once, you hear me?’
There was a long silence and the Rupert shrugged sulkily and moved his hand from his face. Hannah could see the red weals by the contact of Marcus’s fingers.
‘Well, for Christ’s sake, Marcus! We're bloody Lammecks, aren’t we? People who go on and on about money all the time! Why should you be any different? If it wasn’t so, then it wasn’t, and I'm sorry, but you don’t have to make such a drama.’
‘But I do,’ Marcus said, and came back to stand beside Hannah.’ Now listen to me. You two are married. All right, you're married. We won’t interfere and can only hope the pair of you can be happy. I'll see to it that Peterson sorts out Marie’s finances in such a way that she’s protected from you. No, don’t say a word! I know about the sort of extravagance you're capable of, and Marie has to be protected. There'll be settlements and arrangements made. I'll see to it that he advises you on finding somewhere better than this to live, where you won’t spend such a fortune, and we'll do all we can to see you on the right road. But be warned, Rupert. If ever you do anything to make Marie anything but very happy, I personally will deal with you. Do you understand me?’
There was another silence and then Rupert shrugged and muttered, ‘Okay, okay! Leave me alone, will you? I’ve got a headache. I'm going to take my bath. Stop playing the big brother. Do me a favour, and leave me alone.’
Marie drew back from Hannah then went back to stand beside Rupert, tucking her hand into his arm.
‘It’s such fun!’ she said and her voice was high and fluting. ‘Too too ridiculous. I mean, Mama, you're my sister-in-law now, aren’t you? Isn’t it too too delicious?’
61
22 Paultons Square
Chelsea
2 January 1931<
br />
Dear Edie,
Well, here I am at last finding a minute to say thank you for the lovely stockings which fitted perfectly, and just the right colour to go with my new gunmetal costume with the coney collar that Madam gave me specially made to measure just like she does every Christmas, as always being very thoughtful. I was glad to hear that Kenneth is well and has got over his whooping cough so nicely, I always said as he was the strongest boy of all your children and would be a credit to us all and so he seems to be turning out what that with his scholarship and all. I am sorry to hear your George has been playing about but that’s men isn’t it even the best of them though I must say as how our Mr Marcus seems to be a different sort, but for my part I am glad enough I never did marry for all you keep on having a go at me about being an old maid in your letters ha ha! Anyway no need on go on over all that old ground it doesn’t make for happy families does it. We go on here much as we always have with You-Know-who coming to dinner twice this past month and behaving as ways very handsome to me and Florrie leaving a very nice gratuity on his way out and when he does get to be King then we'll all be very lucky though not a word of ill would I wish on his father of course but you know what I mean. I cooked him a lovely turbot in hollandaise sauce and an ice pudding and trimmed it all very fancy and Madam said I was the best cook in London and was very nice about how it all went. Se looks better now, at last, though she was so peaky poor lady all last year and it wasn’t only the way she was after she had come out of hospital having had her operation after that miscarriage, I think it was the sadness of her tragic loss that got to her for after all with her older one behaving so funny it’s natural she should want a baby of he own again, but as Florrie says maybe it was for the best seeing as how she’s getting on a bit and you do see these funny babies born to older women though Madam isn’t only thirty-eight and looks very young with it. We’ve been very busy here seeing as how Mr Jake and Mr Solly who you will remember are Madam’s brothers and keep coming and going have been here over Christmas and all but they are going back to America soon lucky them but they’ve got their interests there now and doing very nicely it seems, certainly they look very well dressed and fatter than ever they both got a tendency that way not to say I haven’t too lately, but as time goes on what can you expect. They say it is all the food they eat in New York and they come into my kitchen sometimes and try to tell me about cheesecakes and such things but I don’t pay no attention they are just like you and George great ones for having a go. Mr Solly tells me all the time about the people he meets and he talked to Al Jolson he said and well I was that surprised because Mr Solly says he is a very hard man but in his films he is so lovely. I saw Mammy last week at the Empire Leicester Square and it was lovely I cried and cried to go an see it when it gets to you where there in Whitby though of course you'll have to wait a long time Whitby isn’t exaclty like London is it, my turn for a joke. I will write again soon and will tell them all Thorpe Bay when I hear from you and go give the children my love and tell your George not to be so silly I will tell him me him myself when I come to you in the summer.
The Running Years Page 61
