Hes thinking of our house, said Ellie.
It seemed that she had twice suggested to me that we should go now into the dining-room. I looked at her affectionately.
Later in the day it was that evening when we were dressing to go out to dinner, Ellie said a little tentatively: Mike, you do you do like Greta, dont you?
Of course I do, I said.
I couldnt bear it if you didnt like her.
But I do, I protested. What makes you think I dont?
Im not quite sure. I think its the way you hardly look at her even when youre talking to her.
Well, I suppose thats because well, because I feel nervous.
Nervous of Greta?
Yes, shes a bit awe-inspiring, you know.
And I told Ellie how I thought Greta looked rather like a Valkyrie[51].
Not as stout as an operatic one, said Ellie and laughed. We both laughed. I said:
Its all very well for you because youve known her for years. But she is just a bit well, I mean shes very efficient and practical and sophisticated. I struggled with a lot of words which didnt seem to be quite the right ones. I said suddenly, I feel I feel at a disadvantage with her.
Oh Mike! Ellie was conscience-stricken. I know weve got a lot of things to talk about. Old jokes and old things that happened and all that. I suppose yes, I suppose it might make you feel rather shy. But youll soon get to be friends. She likes you. She likes you very much. She told me so.
Listen, Ellie, shed probably tell you that anyway.
Oh no she wouldnt. Gretas very outspoken. You heard her. Some of the things she said today.
It was true that Greta had not minced her words during luncheon. She had said, addressing me rather than Ellie:
You must have thought it queer sometimes, the way I was backing Ellie up when Id not even seen you. But I got so mad so mad with the life that they were making her lead. All tied up in a cocoon with their money, their traditional ideas. She never had a chance to enjoy herself, go anywhere really by herself and do what she wanted. She wanted to rebel but she didnt know how. And so yes, all right, I urged her on. I suggested she should look at properties in England. Then I said when she was twenty-one she could buy one of her own and say goodbye to all that New York lot.
Greta always has wonderful ideas, said Ellie. She thinks of things Id probably never have thought of myself.
What were those words Mr Lippincott had said to me? She has too much influence over Ellie. I wondered if it was true. Queerly enough I didnt really think so. I felt that there was a core somewhere in Ellie that Greta, for all that she knew her so well, had never quite appreciated. Ellie, I was sure, would always accept any ideas that matched with the ideas she wanted to have herself. Greta had preached rebellion to Ellie but Ellie herself wanted to rebel, only she was not sure how to do so. But I felt that Ellie, now that I was coming to know her better, was one of those very simple people who have unexpected reserves. I thought Ellie would be quite capable of taking a stand of her own if she wished to. The point was that she wouldnt very often wish to and I thought then how difficult everyone was to understand. Even Ellie. Even Greta. Even perhaps my own mother The way she looked at me with fear in her eyes.
I wondered about Mr Lippincott. I said, as we were peeling some outsize peaches:
Mr Lippincott seems to have taken our marriage very well really. I was surprised.
Mr Lippincott, said Greta, is an old fox.
You always say so, Greta, said Ellie, but I think hes rather a dear. Very strict and proper and all that.
Well, go on thinking so if you like, said Greta. Myself, I wouldnt trust him an inch.
Not trust him! said Ellie.
Greta shook her head. I know. Hes a pillar of respectability and trustworthiness. Hes everything a trustee and a lawyer should be.
Ellie laughed and said, Do you mean hes embezzled my fortune? Dont be silly, Greta. There are thousands of auditors and banks and check-ups and all that sort of thing.
Oh, I expect hes all right really, said Greta. All the same, those are the people that do embezzle. The trustworthy ones. And then everyone says afterwards, Id never have believed it of Mr A. or Mr B. The last man in the world. Yes, thats what they say. The last man in the world.
Ellie said thoughtfully that her Uncle Frank, she thought, was much more likely to go in for dishonest practices. She did not seem unduly worried or surprised by the idea.
Oh well he looks like a crook, said Greta. That handicaps him to start with. All that geniality and bonhomie. But hell never be in a position to be a crook in a big way.
Is he your mothers brother? I asked. I always got confused over Ellies relations.
Hes my fathers sisters husband, said Ellie. She left him and married someone else and died about six or seven years ago. Uncle Frank has more or less stuck on with the family.
There are three of them, said Greta kindly and helpfully. Three leeches hanging round, as you might say. Ellies actual uncles were killed, one in Korea and one in a car accident, so what shes got is a much-damaged stepmother, an Uncle Frank, an amiable hanger-on in the family home, and her cousin Reuben whom she calls Uncle but hes only a cousin and Andrew Lippincott, and Stanford Lloyd.
Who is Stanford Lloyd? I asked, bewildered.
Oh another sort of trustee, isnt he, Ellie? At any rate he manages your investments and things like that. Which cant really be very difficult because when youve got as much money as Ellie has, it sort of makes more money all the time without anyone having to do much about it. Those are the main surrounding group, Greta added, and I have no doubt that you will be meeting them fairly soon. Theyll be over here to have a look at you.
I groaned, and looked at Ellie. Ellie said very gently and sweetly:
Never mind, Mike, theyll go away again.
Chapter 12
They did come over. None of them stayed very long. Not that time, not on a first visit. They came over to have a look at me. I found them difficult to understand because of course they were all Americans. They were types with which I was not well acquainted. Some of them were pleasant enough. Uncle Frank, for instance. I agreed with Greta about him. I wouldnt have trusted him a yard. I had come across the same type in England. He was a big man with a bit of a paunch and pouches under his eyes that gave him a dissipated look which was not far from the truth, I imagine. He had an eye for women, I thought, and even more of an eye for the main chance. He borrowed money from me once or twice, quite small amounts, just, as it were, something to tide him over for a day or two. I thought it was not so much that he needed the money but he wanted to test me out, to see if I lent money easily. It was rather worrying because I wasnt sure which was the best way to take it. Would it have been better to refuse point blank and let him know I was a skinflint or was it better to assume an appearance of careless generosity, which I was very far from feeling? To hell with Uncle Frank, I thought.
Cora, Ellies stepmother, was the one that interested me most. She was a woman of about forty, well turned out with tinted hair and a rather gushing manner. She was all sweetness to Ellie.
Cora, Ellies stepmother, was the one that interested me most. She was a woman of about forty, well turned out with tinted hair and a rather gushing manner. She was all sweetness to Ellie.
You mustnt mind those letters I wrote you, Ellie, she said. You must admit that it came as a terrible shock, your marrying like that. So secretly. But of course I know it was Greta who put you up to it, doing it that way.
You mustnt blame Greta, said Ellie. I didnt mean to upset you all so much. I just thought that well, the less fuss
Well, of course, Ellie dear, you have something there. All the men of business were simply livid. Stanford Lloyd and Andrew Lippincott. I suppose they thought everyone would blame them for not looking after you better. And of course theyd no idea what Mike would be like. They didnt realize how charming he was going to be. I didnt myself.
She smiled across at me, a very sweet smile and one of the falsest ones Id ever seen! I thought to myself that if ever a woman hated a man, it was Cora who hated me. I thought her sweetness to Ellie was understandable enough. Andrew Lippincott had gone back to America and had, no doubt, given her a few words of caution. Ellie was selling some of her property in America, since she herself had definitely decided to live in England, but she was going to make a large allowance to Cora so that the latter could live where she chose. Nobody mentioned Coras husband much. I gathered hed already taken himself off to some other part of the world, and had not gone there alone. In all probability, I gathered, another divorce was pending. There wouldnt be much alimony out of this one. Coras last marriage had been to a man a good many years younger than herself with more attractions of a physical kind than cash.
Cora wanted that allowance. She was a woman of extravagant tastes. No doubt old Andrew Lippincott had hinted clearly enough that it could be discontinued any time if Ellie chose, or if Cora so far forgot herself as to criticize Ellies new husband too virulently.
Cousin Reuben, or Uncle Reuben, did not make the journey. He wrote instead to Ellie a pleasant, non-committal letter hoping shed be very happy, but doubted if she would like living in England. If you dont, Ellie, you come right back to the States. Dont think you wont get a welcome here because you will. Certainly you will from your Uncle Reuben.
He sounds rather nice, I said to Ellie.
Yes, said Ellie meditatively. She wasnt, it seemed, quite so sure about it.
Are you fond of any of them, Ellie? I asked, or oughtnt I to ask that?
Of course you can ask me anything. But she didnt answer for a moment or two all the same. Then she said, with a sort of finality and decision, No, I dont think I am. It seems odd, but I suppose its because they dont really belong to me. Only by environment, not by relationship. They none of them are my flesh and blood relations. I loved my father, what I remembered of him. I think he was rather a weak man and I think my grandfather was disappointed in him because he hadnt got much head for business. He didnt want to go into the business life. He liked going to Florida and fishing, that sort of thing. And then later he married Cora and I never cared for Cora much or Cora for me, for that matter. My own mother, of course, I dont remember. I liked Uncle Henry and Uncle Joe. They were fun. In some ways more fun than my father was. He, I think, was in some ways a quiet and rather sad man. But the uncles enjoyed themselves. Uncle Joe was, I think, a bit wild, the kind that is wild just because theyve got lots of money. Anyway, he was the one who got smashed up in the car, and the other one was killed fighting in the war. My grandfather was a sick man by that time and it was a terrible blow to him that all his three sons were dead. He didnt like Cora and he didnt care much for any of his more distant relatives. Uncle Reuben for instance. He said you could never tell what Reuben was up to. Thats why he made arrangements to put his money in trust. А lot of it went to museums and hospitals. He left Cora well provided for, and his daughters husband Uncle Frank.
But most of it to you?
Yes. And I think that worried him a little bit. He did his best to get it looked after for me.
By Uncle Andrew and by Mr Stanford Lloyd. А lawyer and a banker.
Yes. I suppose he didnt think I could look after it very well by myself. The odd thing is that he let me come into it at the age of twenty-one. He didnt keep it in trust till I was twenty-five, as lots of people do. I expect that was because I was a girl.
Thats odd, I said, it would seem to me that it ought to be the other way round?
Ellie shook her head. No, she said, I think my grandfather thought that young males were always wild and hit things up and that blondes with evil designs got hold of them. I think he thought it would be a good thing if they had plenty of time to sow their wild oats. Thats your English saying, isnt it? But he said once to me, If a girl is going to have any sense at all, shell have it at twenty-one. It wont make any difference making her wait four years longer. If shes going to be a fool shell be a fool by then just as much. He said, too, Ellie looked at me and smiled, that he didnt think I was a fool. He said, You maynt know very much about life, but youve got good sense, Ellie. Especially about people. I think you always will have.
I dont suppose he would have liked me, I said thoughtfully.
Ellie has a lot of honesty. She didnt try and reassure me by saying anything but what was undoubtedly the truth.
No, she said, I think hed have been rather horrified. To begin with, that is. Hed have had to get used to you.
Poor Ellie, I said suddenly.
Why do you say that?
I said it to you once before, do you remember?
Yes. You said poor little rich girl. You were quite right too.
I didnt mean it the same way this time, I said. I didnt mean that you were poor because you were rich. I think I meant I hesitated. Youve too many people, I said, at you. All round you. Too many people who want things from you but who dont really care about you. Thats true, isnt it?
I think Uncle Andrew really cares about me, said Ellie, a little doubtfully. Hes always been nice to me, sympathetic. The others no, youre quite right. They only want things.
They come and cadge off you, dont they? Borrow money off you, want favours. Want you to get them out of jams, that sort of thing. Theyre at you, at you, at you!
I suppose its quite natural, said Ellie calmly, but Ive done with them all now. Im coming to live here in England. I shant see much of them.
She was wrong there, of course, but she hadnt grasped that fact yet. Stanford Lloyd came over later by himself. He brought a great many documents and papers and things for Ellie to sign and wanted her agreement on investments. He talked to her about investments and shares and property that she owned, and the disposal of trust funds. It was all Double Dutch to me. I couldnt have helped her or advised her. I couldnt have stopped Stanford Lloyd from cheating her, either. I hoped he wasnt, but how could anyone ignorant like myself be sure?
There was something about Stanford Lloyd that was almost too good to be true. He was a banker, and he looked like a banker. He was rather a handsome man though not young. He was very polite to me and thought dirt of me though he tried not to show it.