Venetia, watching her uncle press his finger-tips to one temple, rose, and went quietly out of the room. She was not absent for many minutes, but when she returned her uncle told her that he had been discussing with Damerel her visit to the Steeples. ‘I have no hesitation in assuring, you, my dear niece, that what his lordship has already told you is perfectlytrue. No stigma whatsoever attaches toyou, and although anyregularintercourse between you and Sir Lambert and Lady Steeple would be most undesirable, nothing could be more unbecoming – I may sayimproper– than for a daughter to cut her mother’s acquaintance! I do not conceal from you that on that painful subject I have never found myself in agreement, either with your aunt, or with your late parent. In my opinion, the policy of secrecy which was insisted on was as ill-judged as it was absurd!’
‘Very true!’ said Venetia. She looked from one to the other, a smile in her eyes. ‘What else have you discussed? Have you settled between you what my future is to be? Or shall I tell you whatIhave settled?’
Mr Hendred, seeing that smile reflected in Damerel’s eyes, said quickly: ‘Venetia, I beg you will consider before you do what I gravely fear you cannot but regret! You think me unfeeling, but believe me, it is not so! I think it my duty to tell you, however – and I trust your lordship will forgive me! – that no more unsuitable marriage than the one you contemplate could well be imagined!’
‘My dear uncle, howcanyou talk in such an exaggerated fashion?’ Venetia protested. ‘Do but recollect a little! Damerel may be arake, but at least he won’t turn out to bemy father!’
‘Turn out to be your father?’ repeated Mr Hendred, in a stupefied tone. ‘What, in heaven’s name –?’
Damerel’s shoulders had begun to shake. ‘Oedipus,’ he said. ‘At least, so I apprehend, but she has become a trifle confused. What she means is thatshewon’t turn out to bemymother.’
‘Well, it is the same thing, Damerel!’ said Venetia, impatient of such pedantry. ‘Justas unsuitable!’
‘You will oblige me, Venetia,’ said Mr Hendred acidly, ‘by abandoning a subject which I consider to be extremely improper. I may say that I am excessively shocked to think thatAubrey – for I collect it was he! – should have sullied his sister’s ears with such a story!’
‘But you must surely see, sir, that Damerel isn’t in the least shocked!’ she pointed out. ‘Doesn’t that circumstance help you to understand why he would be the mostsuitableof all imaginable husbands for me?’
‘No, it does not!’ replied Mr Hendred roundly. ‘Upon my word, I don’t know how to bring you to your senses! You appear to me to be living in a – in a –’
‘Soap-bubble,’ supplied Damerel.
‘Yes, very well! a soap-bubble!’ snapped Mr Hendred. ‘You have fallen in love for the first time in your life, Venetia, and in your eyes Damerel is some sort of a hero out of a fairy-tale!’
She went into a peal of laughter. ‘Oh, no, he is not!’ she exclaimed. ‘Dear sir, how can you suppose me to be such a goose? If that pretty soap-bubble image was meant to signify that a dreadful disillusionment is in store for me, I can assure you that you may be easy!’
‘You compel me to be blunt – and a very distasteful task it is! Damerel may have the intention of reforming his way of life, but habits of long standing – the trend of a man’s character – are not easily altered! I have a considerable regard for you, Venetia, and it would cause me distress and self-blame if I saw you made unhappy!’
She looked at Damerel. ‘Well, my dear friend?’
‘Well, my dear delight?’ he returned, a glint in his eyes.
‘Do you think you will make me unhappy?’
‘I don’t – but I will offer you no promises!’
‘No, pray don’t!’ she said seriously. ‘As soon as one promises not to do something it becomes the one thing above all others that one most wishes to do!’ She turned her head towards her uncle again. ‘You mean to warn me that he may continue to have mistresses, and orgies, and – and so-on, don’t you, sir?’
‘Particularlyso-on!’ interpolated Damerel.
‘Well, how should I know all the shocking things you do? The thing is, uncle, that I don’t think I ever should know.’
‘You’d know about my orgies!’ objected Damerel.
‘Yes, but I shouldn’t care about them, once in a while. After all, it would be quite unreasonable to wish you to changeallyour habits, and I can always retire to bed, can’t I?’
‘Oh, won’t you preside over them?’ he said, much disappointed.
‘Yes, love, if you wish me to,’ she replied, smiling at him. ‘Should I enjoy them?’
He stretched out his hand, and when she laid her own in it, held it very tightly. ‘You shall have a splendid orgy, my dear delight, and you will enjoy it very much indeed!’
Fortunately, since the much-tried Mr Hendred was showing alarming signs of having reached the end of his endurance, the door opened at that moment, and Imber came in with the tea-tray. He set this down before Venetia, who at once poured out a cup, and gave it to her uncle, saying: ‘I know you won’t venture to eat anything, sir, but tea always does you good, doesn’t it?’
He could not deny it, and it did indeed exercise a beneficial effect upon him, for by the time he had finished his second cup he had so far accepted the marriage as inevitable as to demand of Damerel whether he had any notion how his affairs stood, to what tune he was in debt, and in what style he proposed to support his wife.
These pregnant questions were posed in a tone of withering irony, but Damerel’s answer was in the nature of a doubler. ‘I know exactly how my affairs stand: what my debts amount to, and what my disposable assets will bring in. I shan’t be able to support my wife in luxury, but I trust to support her in comfort. I have been into all this with my man of business – a month since! He merely awaits my instructions to act in the manner agreed upon at that time.’
Driven against the ropes, Mr Hendred was still full of pluck, and rattled in again, game as a pebble. ‘And a settlement?’ he demanded.
