A Buyer's Market Part 12

"What was the funeral like?" she asked, as if making a deliberate return to every-day conditions.

"Short."

"I think I was right not to go."

"You didn't miss much."

"It was a matter of conscience."

She developed for a time this line of thought, and I agreed that, regarded in the light of her convictions, her absence might be looked upon as excusable, if any such severity of doctrine was indeed insurmountable. I agreed further that Mr. Deacon himself might have appreciated such scruples.

"Max Pilgrim was there."

"The man who sings the songs?"

"He didn't at the cremation."

"There comes a moment when you've got to make a stand."

I presumed that she had returned to the problems of her own conscience rather than to refer to Pilgrim's restraint in having kept himself from breaking into song at the crematorium.

"Where will you stay now that the shop is coming to an end?"

"Howard says he can put me up once in a way at the Vox Populi. They've got a camp-bed there. He's taking me to the party to-night."

"What's he going as?"

"Adam."

"Is he arriving here in that guise?"

"We're dining early, and going back to his place to dress up. Only I thought I must try out my costume first. As a matter of fact he is picking me up here fairly soon."

She looked rather doubtful, and I saw that I must not overstay my welcome. There was nothing to be said for allowing time to slip by long enough for Craggs to arrive. It appeared that Gypsy was going to the country-it was to be presumed with Craggs-in the near future. We said good-bye. Later, as I made my way towards the Widmerpools', a.s.sociation of ideas led inevitably to a reminder, not a specially pleasant one, of Widmerpool himself and his desires; parallel, it appeared, in their duality, with my own, and fated to be defrauded a second time. The fact that I was dining at his flat that evening in no way reduced the accentuation given by events to that sense of design already mentioned. Whatever the imperfections of the situation from which I had just emerged, matters could be considered with justice only in relation to a much larger configuration, the vast composition of which was at present-that at least was clear-by no means even nearly completed.

There is a strong disposition in youth, from which some individuals never escape, to suppose that everyone else is having a more enjoyable time than we are ourselves; and, for some reason, as I moved southwards across London, I was that evening particularly convinced that I had not yet succeeded in striking a satisfactory balance in my manner of conducting life. I could not make up my mind whether the deficiencies that seemed so stridently to exist were attributable to what had already happened that day, or to a growing certainty in my own mind that I should much prefer to be dining elsewhere. The Widmerpools-for I felt that I had already heard so much of Widmerpool's mother that my picture of her could not be far from the truth-were the last persons on earth with whom I wished to share the later part of the evening. I suppose I could have had a meal by myself, thinking of some excuse later to explain my absence, but the will to take so decisive a step seemed to have been taken physically from me.

They lived, as Widmerpool had described, on the top floor of one of the smaller erections of flats in the neighbourhood of Westminster Cathedral. The lift, like an ominously creaking funicular, swung me up to these mountainous regions, and to a landing where light shone through frosted panes of gla.s.s. The door was opened by a depressed elderly maid, wearing cap and pince-nez, who showed me into a drawing-room, where Widmerpool was sitting alone, reading The Times The Times. I was dimly aware of a picture called The Omnipresent The Omnipresent hanging on one of the walls, in which three figures in bluish robes stand or kneel on the edge of a precipice. Widmerpool rose, crumpling the paper, as if he were surprised to see me, so that for a painful moment I wondered whether, by some unhappy mistake, I had arrived on the wrong night. However, a second later, he made some remark to show I was expected, and asked me to sit down, explaining that "in a minute or two" his mother would be ready. hanging on one of the walls, in which three figures in bluish robes stand or kneel on the edge of a precipice. Widmerpool rose, crumpling the paper, as if he were surprised to see me, so that for a painful moment I wondered whether, by some unhappy mistake, I had arrived on the wrong night. However, a second later, he made some remark to show I was expected, and asked me to sit down, explaining that "in a minute or two" his mother would be ready.

"I am very much looking forward to your meeting my mother," he said.

He spoke as if introduction to his mother was an experience, rather a vital one, that every serious person had, sooner or later, to undergo. I became all at once aware that this was the first occasion upon which he and I had met anywhere but on neutral ground. I think that Widmerpool, too, realised that a new relations.h.i.+p had immediately risen between us from the moment when I had entered the drawing-room; for he smiled in a rather embarra.s.sed way, after making this remark about his mother, and seemed to make an effort, more conscious than any he had ever shown before, to appear agreeable. In view of the embarra.s.sments he had spoken of when we had last met-and their apparent conclusion so far as he were concerned-I had expected to find him depressed. On the contrary, he was in unusually high spirits.

"Miss Walpole-Wilson is supping with us," he said.

"Eleanor?"

"Oh, no," he said, as if such a thing were unthinkable. "Her aunt. Such a knowledgeable woman."

Before any comment were possible, Mrs. Widmerpool herself came through the door, upon the threshold of which she paused for a moment, her head a little on one side.

"Why, Mother," said Widmerpool, speaking with approval, "you are wearing your bridge-coat."

We shook hands, and she began to speak at once, before I could take in her appearance.

"And so you were both at Mr. Le Bas's house at school," she said. "I never really cared for him as a man. I expect he had his good qualities, but he never quite appreciated Kenneth."

"He was an odd man in many ways."

"Kenneth so rarely brings the friends of his school days here."

I said that we had also stayed together with the same French family in Touraine; for, if I had to be regarded as a close friend of her son's, it was at La Grenadiere that I had come to know him best, rather than at school, where he had always seemed a figure almost too grotesque to take seriously.

"At the Leroys'?" she asked, as if amazed at the brilliance of my parents in having hit on the only possible household in the whole of France.

"For six weeks or so."

She turned to Widmerpool.

"But you never told me that," she said. "That was naughty of you!"

"Why should I?" said Widmerpool. "You didn't know him."

Mrs. Widmerpool clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Her large features distinctly recalled the lineaments of her son, though she had perhaps been good looking when younger. Even now she seemed no more than in her late forties, though I believe she was, in fact, older than that. However, her well-preserved appearance was in striking contrast with Widmerpool's own somewhat decaying youth, so that the pair of them appeared almost more like contemporaries, even husband and wife, rather than mother and son. Her eyes were brighter than his, and she rolled them, expanding the pupils, in comment to any remark that might be thought at all out of the ordinary. Her double row of firm teeth were set between cheeks of brownish red, which made her a little resemble Miss Walpole-Wilson, with whom she clearly possessed something discernibly in common that explained their friendly connection. She seemed a person of determination, from whom no doubt her son derived much of his tenacity of purpose. The garment to which he referred was of flowered velvet, with a fringe, and combined many colours in its pattern.

"I hear you know the Gorings," she said. "It seems such a pity they have allowed Barbara to run so wild. She used to be such a dear little girl. There really appears to be something a trifle queer about Lord Aberavon's grandchildren."

"Oh, shut up, Mother," said Widmerpool, changing his almost amatory manner unexpectedly. "You don't know anything about it."

He must have felt, not entirely without reason, that his mother was on delicate ground in bringing up so early, and in such a critical spirit, the subject of Gorings and Walpole-Wilsons. Mrs. Widmerpool seemed not at all put out by the brusque form of address used by her son, continuing to express herself freely on the characteristics, in her eyes, good, bad and indifferent, of Barbara and Eleanor, adding that she understood that neither of the Goring sons were "very much of a hand at their books." She felt perhaps that now was the time to unburden herself upon matters hardly to be pursued with the same freedom after the arrival of Miss Janet Walpole-Wilson. From her comments, I supposed that Widmerpool must have given his mother, perhaps involuntarily, some indication that the Gorings were out of favour with him; although it was impossible to guess how accurately she might be informed about her son's former feelings for Barbara: even if she knew of them at all. It was possible that she had attributed the anxiety he had gone through with Gypsy Jones to a later aggravation of his entanglement with Barbara: in fact, the same conclusion to which I had myself first arrived, when, at Stourwater, he had spoken of the troubles that were oppressing him.

"There doesn't seem any sign of Eleanor getting married yet," said Mrs. Widmerpool, almost dreamily, as if she were descrying in the depths of the gas-fire a vision invisible to the rest of us, revealing the unending cavalcade of Eleanor's potential suitors.

"Perhaps she doesn't want to," said Widmerpool, in a tone evidently intended to close the subject. "I expect you two will like a talk on books before the end of the evening."

"Yes, indeed, for I hear you are in the publis.h.i.+ng trade," said his mother. "You know, I have always liked books and bookish people. It is one of my regrets that Kenneth is really too serious minded to enjoy reading for its own sake.: I expect you are looking forward to those articles in I expect you are looking forward to those articles in The Times The Times by Thomas Hardy's widow. I know I am." by Thomas Hardy's widow. I know I am."

While I was making some temporising answer to these rea.s.surances on Mrs. Widmerpool's part regarding her inclination towards literature, Miss Walpole-Wilson was announced, who excused her lateness on the grounds of the chronic irregularity of the bus service from Chelsea, where her flat was situated. She was wearing a mackintosh, of which, for some reason, she had refused to divest herself in the hall; exemplifying in this manner a curious trait common to some persons of wilful nature, whose egotism seems often to make them unwilling, even incapable, of shedding anything of themselves until they can feel that they have safely reached their goal. She now removed this waterproof, folding and establis.h.i.+ng it upon a chair-an act watched by her hostess with a fixed smile that might have signified disapproval-revealing that she, too, was wearing a richly-coloured coat. It was made of orange, black, and gold silk: a mandarin's coat, so she explained, that Sir Gavin had given her years before.

The relations.h.i.+p between Mrs. Widmerpool and Miss Walpole-Wilson, in general an amicable one, gave the impression of resting not exactly upon planned alliance so much as community of interest, unavoidable from the nature of the warfare both waged against the rest of the world. Miss Walpole-Wilson was, of course, as she sometimes described herself, "a woman of wide interests," while Mrs. Widmerpool concerned herself with little that had not some direct reference to the career of her son. At the same time there was an area of common ground where disparagement of other people brought them close together, if only on account of the ammunition with which each was able to provide the other: mutual aid that went far to explain a friends.h.i.+p long established.

Miss Walpole-Wilson's manner that evening seemed intended to notify the possession of some important piece of news to be divulged at a suitable moment. She had, indeed, the same air as Widmerpool: one, that is to say, suggesting that she was unusually pleased with herself. We talked for a time, until the meal was despondently announced by the decrepit house-parlourmaid, who, a minute or two later, after we had sat down to cold food in a neighbouring room, hurried plates and dishes round the table with reckless speed, as if she feared that death-with which the day seemed still a.s.sociated in my mind-would intervene to terminate her labours. There was a bottle of white wine. I asked Miss Walpole-Wilson whether she had been seeing much of Eleanor.

"Eleanor and I are going for a sea trip together," she said. "A banana boat to Guatemala."

"Rather wise to get her away from her family for a bit," said Mrs. Widmerpool, making a grimace.

"Her father is full of old-fas.h.i.+oned ideas," said Miss Walpole-Wilson, "and he won't be laughed out of them."

"Eleanor will enjoy the free life of the sea," Mrs. Widmerpool agreed.

"Of course she will," said Miss Walpole-Wilson; and, pausing for a brief second to give impetus to her question, added: "You have heard, I expect, about Barbara?"

It was clear from the way she spoke that she felt safe in a.s.suming that none of us could possibly have heard already whatever her news might be. I thought, though the supposition may have been entirely mistaken, that for an instant she fixed her eyes rather malignantly on Widmerpool; and certainly there was no reason to suggest that she knew anything of his former interest in Barbara. However, if she intended to tease him, she scored a point, for at mention of the name his face at once took on a somewhat guilty expression. Mrs. Widmerpool inquired curtly what had happened. She also seemed to feel that Miss Walpole-Wilson might be trying to provoke her son.

"Barbara is engaged," said Miss Walpole-Wilson, smiling, though without good-humour.

"Who to?" asked Widmerpool, abruptly.

"I can't remember whether you know him," she said. "He is a young man in the Guards. Rich, I think."

I felt certain, immediately, that she must refer to someone I had never met. Many people can never hear of any engagement without showing envy, and no one can be quite disinterested who has been at one time an implicated party. The thought that the man would turn out to be unknown to me was, therefore, rather a relief.

"But what is the name?" said Widmerpool, insistently.

He was already nettled. There could be no doubt that Miss Walpole-Wilson was deliberately tormenting him, although I could not decide whether this was simply her usual technique in delaying the speed at which she pa.s.sed on gossip with the object of making it more appetising, or because she knew, either instinctively or from specific information in her possession, that he had been concerned with Barbara. For a moment or two she smiled round the table frostily.

"He is called Pardoe," she said, at last. "I think his other name is John."

"Her parents must must be pleased," said Mrs. Widmerpool. "I always thought that Barbara was becoming-well-almost a problem in a small way. She got so noisy. Such a pity when that happens to a girl." be pleased," said Mrs. Widmerpool. "I always thought that Barbara was becoming-well-almost a problem in a small way. She got so noisy. Such a pity when that happens to a girl."

I could see from Widmerpool's pursed lips and gla.s.sy eyes that he was as astonished as myself. The news went some way to dispel his air of self-satisfaction, that had seemed only momentarily displaced by irritation with Miss Walpole-Wilson before this announcement. I was myself conscious of a faint sense of bitterness, rather indefinite in its application. Among the various men who had, at one time or another, caused me apprehension, just or unjust, in connection with Barbara, Pardoe had never at any moment, figured in the smallest degree. Why this immunity from my jealousy should have attached to him, I was now quite unable to understand, when, in the light of the information just imparted, I considered past incidents. Even after deciding that I was no longer in love with Barbara, I could still slightly resent her att.i.tude towards Tompsitt; but objection-like Widmerpool's-to her crossing the supper-room to sit with Pardoe would never have entered my mind.

In fact, Widmerpool's instinct on the matter, if not his action, had, in one sense, been sound, so it now appeared; though it was true that his own emotions were still at that time deeply involved, a condition having a natural tendency to sharpen all perceptions in that particular direction. The manner in which jealousy operates is, indeed, curious enough, having perhaps relatively little bearing on the practical menace offered by a rival. Barnby used to describe a husband and lover known to him, who had both combined against a third-or rather fourth-party, found to be intervening. However, that situation was, of course, poles apart from the one under examination. Widmerpool now made an effort to control his voice.

"When did this happen?" he asked, speaking casually.

"I think they actually became engaged in Scotland," said Miss Walpole-Wilson, pleased with the impression she had made. "But it has not been made public yet."

There was a pause. Widmerpool had failed to rise above the situation. For the moment he had lost all his good-humour. I think he was cross not only at Barbara's engagement, but also at the inability he was experiencing to conceal his own annoyance. I felt a good deal of sympathy for him in what he was going through.

"Rather a ridiculous little man," he said, after a time. "Still, the fortune is a large one, and I have been told it is a nice house. I hope she will be very happy."

"Barbara has great possibilities," said Miss Walpole-Wilson. "I don't know how she will like being an officer's wife. Personally, I always find soldiers so dull."

"Oh, not in the Guards Guards, surely?" said Mrs. Widmerpool, baring her teeth, as if in expectation, or memory, of behaviour on the part of Guardsmen infinitely removed from anything that could be regarded as dull, even by the most satiated.

"Of course, one of Barbara's brothers went into the Army," said Miss Walpole-Wilson, as if that might be calculated to soften the blow.

Discussion of the engagement continued in a desultory manner. Such matters are habitually scrutinised from angles that disregard almost everything that might be truly looked upon as essential in connection with a couple's married life together; so that, as usual, it was hard to think with even moderate clearness how the marriage would turn out. The issues were already hopelessly confused, not only by Miss Walpole-Wilson and Mrs. Widmerpool, but also by anarchical litter enveloping the whole subject, more especially in the case of the particular pair concerned: a kind of phantasmagoria taking possession of the mind at the thought of them as husband and wife. The surroundings provided by the Widmerpool flat were such as to encourage, for some reason, the wildest flights of imagination, possibly on account of some inexplicable moral inadequacy in which its inhabitants seemed themselves to exist. Barbara's engagement lasted as a topic throughout the meal.

"Shall we leave the gentlemen to their port?" said Mrs. Widmerpool, when finally the subject had been picked bone-dry.

She mouthed the words "gentlemen" and "port" as if they might be facetiously disputable as strictly literal descriptions in either case. Widmerpool shut the door, evidently glad to be rid of both women for the time being. I wondered whether he would begin to speak of Barbara or Gypsy. To my surprise, neither girl turned out to be his reason for his so impatiently desiring a tete-a-tete tete-a-tete conversation. conversation.

"I say, I've had an important move up at Donners-Brebner," he said. "That speech at the Incorporated Metals dinner had repercussions. The Chief was pleased about it."

"Did he forgive you for knocking his garden about?"

Widmerpool laughed aloud at the idea that such a matter should have been brought up against him.

"You know," he said, "you sometimes make me feel that you must live completely out of the world. A man like Sir Magnus Donners does not bother about an accident of that sort. He has something more important to worry about. For example, he said to me the other day that he did not give tuppence what degrees a man had. What he wanted was someone who knew the ropes and could think and act quickly."

"I remember him saying something of the sort when Charles Stringham went into Donners-Brebner."

"Stringham is leaving us now that he is married. Just as well, in my opinion. I believe Truscott really thinks so too. People talk a great deal about charm,' but something else is required in business, I can a.s.sure you. Perhaps Stringham will settle down now. I believe he had some rather undesirable connections."

I inquired what Stringham was going to do now that he was departing from Donners-Brebner, but Widmerpool was ignorant on that point. I was unable to gather from him precisely what form his own promotion, with which he was so pleased, would take, though he implied that he would probably go abroad in the near future.

"I think I may be seeing something of Prince Theodoric," he said. "I believe you just met him."

"Sir Gavin Walpole-Wilson could tell you all about Theodoric."

"I think I may say I have better sources of information at hand than to be derived from diplomats who have been 'unstuck'," said Widmerpool, with complacency. "I have been brought in touch recently with a man you probably know from your university days, Sillery- 'Sillers'-I find him quite a character in his way."

Feeling in no mood to discuss Sillery with Widmerpool, I asked him what he thought about Barbara and Pardoe.

"I suppose it was only to be expected," he said, reddening a bit.

"But had you any idea?"

"I really do not devote my mind to such matters."

In saying this, I had no doubt that he was speaking the truth. He was one of those persons capable of envisaging others only in relation to himself, so that, when in love with Barbara, it had been apparently of no interest to him to consider what other men might stand in the way. Barbara was either in his company, or far from him; the latter state representing a kind of void in which he was uninterested except at such a moment as that at the Huntercombes', when her removal was brought painfully to his notice. Turning things over in my mind, I wondered whether I could be regarded as having proved any more sentient myself. However, I felt now that die time had come to try and satisfy my curiosity about the other business.

"What about the matter you spoke of at Stourwater?"

Widmerpool pushed back his chair. He took off his spectacles and rubbed the lenses. I had the impression that he was about to make some important p.r.o.nouncement, rather in the manner of the Prime Minister allowing some aspect of governmental policy to be made known at the Lord Mayor's Banquet or Royal Academy Dinner.

"I am glad you asked that," he said, slowly. "I wondered if you would. Will you do me a great favour?"

"Of course-if I can."

"Never mention the subject again."

"All right."

"I behaved unwisely, perhaps, but I gained something."

"You did?"

I had accented the question in the wrong manner. Widmerpool blushed again.

"Possibly we do not mean the same thing," he said. "I referred to being brought in touch with a new side of life-even new political opinions."

"I see."

"I am going to tell you something else about myself."