‘Oh, nothing to do with her work. She’s quite promising in a plodding way,’ the Professor declared. ‘It’s a family matter. I believe the grandfather has died, leaving them a villa in Florence and enough cash to go with it. So they’re all going back to Italy, and I can’t say I blame them. I wish someone would leave me a villa. And the cash to go with it, of course.’
‘It would be nice,’ Felicity agreed with a laugh. ‘And thanks for letting me know about the vacancy right away. I think Janet might have a chance.’ Then she went on to her classroom in excellent spirits.
It was one of those evenings when nothing could go wrong. The students were relaxed and responsive. She captured their delighted attention from the first few minutes. Everyone asked the right questions and none of the wrong ones. And through all the serious study ran a thread of something like gaiety which somehow made sheer hard work seem like fun.
Ten minutes before the end of the session Stephen slipped into the room, and stood at the back watching proceedings.
If he had come early in the evening it might have unnerved her. But now, though she felt her throat tighten for a moment, Felicity knew the evening was too well launched, too solidly and palpably successful for anything to upset it. It was able to run on its own momentum, so to speak. And she was aware of genuine enjoyment of the fact that he should be seeing and hearing her hold a class when she was on top form.
At the end, at least half the students crowded round her, still asking questions and making comments. But Stephen did not go away. He waited, smiling slightly, until she was free. Then he came up and said formally, though quite pleasantly, ‘Have you got ten minutes? I should like to have a few words with you.’
‘Yes, of course.’ She smiled at him as easily and naturally as she could, but she found herself wishing that he had addressed her by name. Either name! If he had called her ‘Felicity’ she would have known that everything was all right and that they were friendly again. If he had called her ‘Miss Grainger’ she would have been identified as the teacher — successful teacher notwithstanding — rather than a friend.
But he called her neither, and so she followed him to his study with something less than confidence.
When they got there, he pushed forward a comfortable chair for her and said very courteously, ‘Do sit down.’
Then, still standing but leaning back against his desk, he smiled at her not entirely reassuringly and said,
‘Well, Miss Grainger, it seems I owe you an apology — ’
So it was to be Miss Grainger still!
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘Please don’t talk about apologies,’ said Felicity eagerly. ‘They simply aren’t called for. So far as Janet was concerned, I had seen much more of her than you had and so, naturally, I was able to assess her gifts more accurately.’
‘Which doesn’t explain away the fact that perhaps I should have allowed you that from the beginning.’ He made a slight grimace. ‘And, according to Warrender, I should have been able to see her quality for myself, even though she was not at her best when I heard her.’
‘There were — special circumstances,’ murmured Felicity rather uncomfortably. ‘Don’t let’s go over that again. I’d much rather hear about your reactions to Mr. Warrender’s verdict.’
‘There can be only one reaction — of course,’ he admitted immediately. ‘Warrender is so confident about the child that he’s prepared to sponsor her himself. He wants her to be a resident pupil. I suppose that can be arranged? There would be no objection to her leaving her present foster-home and coming here?’
‘I don’t imagine so. There are no parents to consult, as you know.’
Julia’s name hung unspoken in the atmosphere. And finally, with a real effort of courage, Felicity said, ‘I think Mrs. Morton is her only relation — and, that simply by marriage. I have always understood that she preferred not to assume any responsibility towards Janet, and so — ’
‘There, as a matter of fact, you are wrong,’ Stephen told her drily. ‘You may be surprised to hear that the moment she learned Janet would be admitted to Tarkmans, Mrs. Morton offered to defray all the child’s expenses.’
‘But she can’t!’ cried Felicity, frankly astounded and then absolutely appalled as she saw the implications. For how did one forbid the person who footed the bill from coming in contact with the one who profited?
‘Why not?’ His tone was very cold. ‘As you probably know, lack of money is never a bar to a gifted child so far as Tarkmans is concerned. But that was her offer.’
Felicity sought for an inoffensive reply and found none. Then, as the silence lengthened, inspiration came to her.
‘Perhaps “can’t” isn’t quite the word,’ she admitted in a placatory voice. ‘What I really meant was that it wouldn’t be necessary. I think Janet has a certain amount of money in her own right. She told me once that her uncle had left her some money and that was why — ’ she coughed and the sentence remained unfinished.
‘That was why?’ he prompted.
‘Nothing. Let’s just say that Janet made the statement. She may have been mistaken, of course. But obviously means have been available to pay for her present maintenance and her quite heavy fees at Carmalton. I don’t think one need call on Mrs. Morton’s — generosity.’
‘I hope not. But the offer was freely and instantly made. I thought you should know that.’
Infuriated by his tone, she longed to say, ‘Why, for heaven’s sake?’ But she choked back the impulse and asked instead, very calmly, when Janet was likely to enter Tarkmans.
He told her then, in his turn, about Camilla Ronci and the vacancy which had unexpectedly occurred.
‘And you’re satisfied that it should go to Janet?’ she urged, aching for him to make just one sign that he shared something of the excitement and interest which had moved her and Oscar Warrender.
‘Of course.’ That was almost offensively indifferent. ‘There could be no question of her suitability from the way Warrender spoke.’
‘But don’t you want to hear her for yourself, Stephen?’ The name slipped out before she could stop it. ‘Aren’t you interested?’
‘In this particular child rather than any other? Why should I be?’
That suddenly released the nervous rage which had been boiling in Felicity for some minutes now.
‘Because Mr. Warrender is excited about her. Because she’s Julia Morton’s niece, if you like. Because — oh, anything, so long as you’ll stop being a pompous ass!’ she cried.
‘What did you say?’ He looked as startled as if she had slapped his face. And now she almost wished she had.
‘Exactly what you thought I said. And richly was the remark deserved. Ever since we came into this room you’ve been offensive and — yes, pompous. You’ve displayed the sort of exaggerated courtesy which is almost insulting. You haven’t smiled, laughed, said one generous word about the discovery of what is admittedly an excitingly gifted child. If Janet had come to you any other way you’d have been as excited as I am. Does it hurt so much having been in the wrong for once? Or is it just that you dislike me so much that you extend that dislike to the totally inoffensive Janet?’
‘I don’t dislike you,’ he said, stopping her in her tracks so effectively that she suddenly realized with horror just what she had said — and that in a voice much louder than any she habitually used.
‘D-don’t you?’ she stammered in utter confusion.
‘No. You infuriate me at times when you’re incorrigibly meddlesome, but that’s a different thing. And I admit that in Janet’s case the interference may even have been justified. I resent your going behind my back to the Warrenders, but I’m sure to you it was immaterial that you might have made bad blood between me and my most important director. According to you — and apparently to Warrender too, I’m bound to say — the end justified the means. Janet will come to Tarkmans.’
‘I — I’m sorry. I should never have spoken to you like that. Will you
please try to forget it and — ’
‘On the contrary, I shall try to remember every salutary word,’ he assured her rather unkindly. ‘Particularly the bit about being pompous.’
‘Oh — ’ a slight irresistible smile twitched the comers of her mouth. Then impulsively she held out her hand. ‘Please forgive me. I hate not being friends.’
He slowly took her hand in his and looked down at it. ‘I don’t much like it either,’ he admitted.
‘Then I’m forgiven?’
‘For what, exactly?’
‘Principally the outburst just now. And then — whatever it is that has so offended you and spoiled our pleasant relationship,’ she told him frankly.
‘The outburst is completely forgiven. It was quite refreshing, to tell the truth. One so seldom hears a candid opinion of oneself. I even forgive you for being right about Janet and I was wrong — ’ he smiled wryly, and then suddenly his expression changed. ‘What I can’t forgive is the fact that, even when you had triumphantly carried your point about the child, you couldn’t leave it at that. You had to infect Warrender, of all people, with your unworthy suspicions about a valued and generous friend of mine.’
‘Oh — ’ she snatched her hand away, but in nervousness rather than anger — ‘you just won’t believe it’s anything but some sort of silly vendetta against Julia Morton, will you?’
‘Isn’t that what it amounts to, Felicity?’ He did at least call her Felicity once more. ‘You disliked her from the first, and you tried all ways to convince me that she wished Janet ill. And yet, as I’ve just told you, her first reaction on hearing that Janet had been accepted for Tarkmans was to offer to pay for anything that was required. Hardly the gesture, of a mean, ill-wishing aunt, was it?’
‘It was, however, only a gesture,’ Felicity felt bound to point out. ‘I suppose she knew as well as you did that it wouldn’t be necessary to implement it. It looked good, but it didn’t cost anything.’
‘Not,’ he remarked after a pregnant little silence, ‘a particularly generous remark on your part.’
‘I know it isn’t, but it’s true! — Oh, I’m sorry. It isn’t a subject we’re ever likely to agree upon. Can’t we just leave it at that?’
‘Rather difficult in the particular circumstances,’ he said drily. ‘Delusions are very dangerous things, particularly when they concern people.’
‘Delusions?’ The word stung her into fresh anger.
‘That’s what I said. You have completely deluded yourself, Felicity, with an absurd theory started by a highly-strung and spoiled little girl, and you use every chance word or action to bolster up that theory.’
‘You really — think that?’
‘Yes, I do. And I find it hard to be even moderately patient when you start handing on this atrocious invention to other people.’
Felicity took a deep breath.
‘You don’t think,’ she said rather dangerously, ‘that you could possibly be wrong?’
‘You said that to me once long ago, Felicity.’ He smiled, not very kindly. ‘I can hear almost the same tone of voice. It was when you differed with me over that forgotten pianist — what was his name? Rodney Eskith. And on that occasion, my dear, if I may remind you, I was right — against all your passionate belief to the contrary.’
She was shaken beyond expression, for nothing he could have said could have made a more powerful appeal. She had been so confident on that occasion — and so hopelessly wrong. And for the very first time the idea came to her that this time too she might — she just might — be wrong.
Suppose Janet were indeed a fanciful, temperamental little girl, playing up to a sympathetic audience and imposing her own obstinate view of her aunt on Felicity? The very idea was shattering.
But, even as she gripped her hands together in nervous indecision, she recalled Oscar Warrender saying, ‘It is something I have come across occasionally even in an experienced artist.’ And a little confidence flowed back into her.
‘If I’m being unjust to Julia I’m sorry.’ She spoke a little huskily. ‘And I’ll try to be quite objective in future. But about her effect on Janet there is simply no doubt, whether the child is being reasonable or unreasonable. If you want to get the best out of Janet I’m afraid you — we must allow for this odd weakness of hers. Mr. Warrender thinks the same. Not because of anything I said but because he has had to recognize and accept the same reaction in Anthea where Peroni is concerned.’
‘Peroni?’ Then a half amused, half annoyed look came into his face. ‘Was that what you two were discussing so cryptically in her dressing-room the other night?’
‘Yes. But don’t be cross about that,’ Felicity pleaded quickly. ‘It was just that Anthea had told me earlier about her unreasoning fear when Peroni was in the house. And what she described coincided exactly with the situation I had to tackle when Janet panicked at the school concert.’
‘All right.’ He capitulated with a vexed little laugh. ‘I will accept the situation as far as I can. But remember that I simply cannot allow major clashes between you and me about this child, once she is at Tarkmans. I wouldn’t do so with any pupil or any member of my staff.’
‘I do see that.’ Felicity sounded as submissive as she could, though she had to stifle some nervous misgivings even now.
Then he went over to his desk and flicked over the pages of his diary. ‘When can you bring Janet here for me to hear her for myself?’ he inquired.
‘Then you do want to hear her?’ Sudden joy flashed into her face.
He didn’t answer that directly, but stood with his pencil poised over his desk diary.
‘Could you bring her along after school tomorrow? I’ll get Blackthorn to come and hear her too.’
‘Oh, thank you! Yes, of course I’ll bring her. I can’t thank you enough.’
‘Don’t try. I might turn pompous again,’ he said disagreeably. But it was he who held out his hand as he said good night and for a moment the clasp was firm enough for her to decide it was friendly.
By running halfway down the drive she caught the bus which came half an hour after her usual one. But even so, she was late enough for Mary to remark on the fact when she reached home.
‘Any sensational developments?’ Mary wanted to know.
‘I don’t know if that’s the way to describe them.’ Felicity laughed, kicked off her shoes, flung herself down in a chair and put her feet up on a stool. ‘I’m exhausted!’ she declared.
‘By the evening class?’
‘Oh, no! That went like oiled silk. I had a discussion about Janet with Stephen later. I won’t go into all the details, but he’s going to hear Janet for himself tomorrow, and she’s to be admitted to Tarkmans in a week or two, because an unexpected vacancy has arisen. As for any difficulties in the future between Janet and her aunt, I’ll just have to tackle them as they come along.’
‘With Oscar Warrender as an ally need you worry?’
‘As to the final outcome — no,’ Felicity admitted. ‘But I can’t expect him to fight my personal battles for me, can I?’
‘And it’s still a very personal matter with Stephen Tarkman?’ Mary looked curious.
‘He describes Julia as a valued and generous friend,’ said Felicity resignedly.
‘Wouldn’t it have been simpler just to describe her as his fiancée?’ Mary asked drily. ‘If she is, I mean. It’s all a bit of a mystery to me. First you rush in all wide-eyed from that first dinner-party and tell me he’s going to marry Julia. Then he tells you on the way to London that he’s not. Did she refuse him, or did his good sense get the better of him, or is the whole thing on again since he still seems to be carrying a torch for her in a big way?’
‘I don’t know.’ Felicity drew a long sigh, and then tried to laugh that off as Mary glanced at her quickly. ‘Anthea’s theory is that Julia made unacceptable terms. Something like demanding that the unlikeable and interfering Miss Grainger should not be employed at Tarkmans after all. But I can’t
think that either of them would make a major issue of the appointment of a mere teacher.’
‘Not so much of the “mere”,’ retorted Mary with energy. ‘He very much wanted you there, and she would rather see you dead. She just might have been silly enough to try to force the issue, and he would of course greatly resent such impertinent interference. Engagements have been wrecked on smaller rocks than that!’
‘I know. But I should have expected her to give way gracefully and just bide her time.’
‘She has bided her time, my dear. And very well it has served her, if you ask me. She dug in her toes, which is a much better way of showing strength than giving in gracefully. Then, when he considered you were interfering by bringing in the Warrenders on Janet’s behalf, she had a wonderful opportunity to say virtuously, “Me interfering? What about that Felicity Grainger, who thinks she can lead you by the nose so far as the choice of pupil is concerned?” And ever since then she’s been fanning the flames of his wrath whenever she got a chance.’
Felicity laughed. But uneasily, for she knew Mary was more than half serious, and she was not herself sure that there was not a considerable degree of truth in what she was suggesting.
‘Don’t make me nervous,’ she said as lightly as she could. ‘I shall need all my courage and self-possession when I take Janet to him tomorrow.’
‘What about Janet? Isn’t she the one who will need some courage?’
‘Unless I’m much mistaken, Janet will be as cool as the proverbial cucumber, so long as there is no sign of Julia,’ Felicity declared. ‘She isn’t a bit afraid of people just because they are something big in their own line — particularly if it’s a musical line. You should have seen her measuring up to Oscar Warrender and telling him she thought he conducted the Brahms First very well.’
They both laughed a good deal over that, and Felicity felt better. But when it came to the following afternoon and she accompanied Janet to Tarkmans, it was perfectly true that of the two Janet was undoubtedly the less scared.
Child of Music (Warrender Saga Book 5) Page 12
