Mingled With Venom

Chapter2

Family Dinner

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The task of arranging the seating had devolved upon Fiona. Romula had made only two stipulations. She would sit at the head of the table (Fiona had taken this for granted) and facing her at the foot was to be one of the men.

Fiona, in pursuance of her usual policy, sought out Maria for a consultation. ‘There are all sorts of things to consider,’ she said, ‘and I don’t want to boob.’

‘For one thing,’ said Maria, ‘the two children must be placed side by side. They will be shy and awkward. They are at an in-between age. It would be unwise and unkind to separate them. Then their parents had better be near enough to them to tender advice and exercise authority if that is needed.’

‘Yes, I had thought of all that, but I can’t put Rupert and Diana together. I don’t even think it would be a good idea to put them directly opposite one another. The first thing to be settled is which of the men to place at the other end of the table, don’t you think? It is a position of some importance.’

‘It ought to be Garnet. He is her grandson and my son. It is his obvious place. After all, if everybody was given his rights, Garnet should be her heir.’

‘Granted, although I have a feeling it won’t work out that way.’

‘Blood is thicker than water.’

‘Meaning that that marks the difference between us?’

‘Well, let’s not go upon those lines, but there is a difference, I suppose. I’ll tell you what! Let us each take pencil and paper, make our own dining plan and then compare the results. That way there is a basis for rational discussion.’

‘Fine! Let’s do just that.’

In spite of what both saw as a slight passage of arms between the prodigal daughter and the chosen favourite, the two women had no intention of quarrelling. Each made her list and put her point of view and without acrimony a compromise was reached with which both were satisfied.

The invitations had been greeted by their recipients with mixed feelings. There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that there was some sufficient reason for the unexpected summons and all except the two children and Gamaliel concluded that it had something to do with Romula’s disposal of her property.

‘Not that we’re likely to come in for much,’ said Rupert almost amiably to Diana. ‘She can’t forget that I was born on the wrong side of the blanket, although how I could help that happening I can’t possibly say.’

‘I don’t intend to go.’

‘Oh, I don’t know. Better humour her, I think.’

‘Why? She’s never been here, she has never shown the slightest interest in the children or in me and she repudiated your father. Why should you suddenly turn round and lick her boots?’

‘Is there any need to be offensive? I should like to go if only to please Aunt Maria. She brought me up when my parents died and was kind to me. Besides, if my grandmother has invited us, she will have invited the others. I wouldn’t mind having a talk with Garnet and Bluebell again. They were like brother and sister to me when I was a boy. Then there are our own youngsters to consider. She may pass me over, but surely she won’t attach any stigma to Quentin and Millament? We ought not to stand in their way and they are included in the invitation.’

‘They are at school until the middle of July.’

‘The invitation is for a Saturday. There would be no difficulty about their getting weekend leave.’

‘Well, you must please yourself what you do. I certainly shall not go.’

‘Oh well, if you want Fiona and Ruby to bounce your children out of their inheritance, I have nothing more to say.’

‘Fiona and Ruby? But they’re not family! They couldn’t have the slightest claim!’

‘That’s what you think! One thing I can tell you, and I’ll give it you straight. If she does cut them, or either of them, in for the lion’s share, I shall not contest the Will and Maria, Garnet and Bluebell can’t afford to go to litigation, so bang will go her money straight out of the family and there you have it.’

‘My price is a new dinner gown.’

‘Done!’ Rupert was tempted to add: ‘I knew you’d see reason if I mentioned Ruby’ but he bit the words back and merely remarked, ‘will Truro or Exeter do, or will you want to go up to Town to buy it?’

Garnet and Bluebell were equally convinced that something was in the wind.

‘I haven’t known her call the whole family together since my father died, and that was long enough ago, goodness knows. Do you think she means to spill the beans about her Will?’ said Garnet to his sister.

‘I can’t think of any other reason for calling up the clan. What chance do you suppose we stand?’

‘She can’t leave us out altogether.’

‘I’m not so sure. There are Rupert’s children.’

‘I wouldn’t worry so much about those. She thinks Rupert comes of tainted stock. No, it’s Fiona and Ruby who tangle in my hair.’

‘Well, they are on the spot, of course, but so is our mother, and we do not come from a marriage over the tongs.’

‘We’re our father’s children and she was bitterly opposed to mother’s marriage. Besides, she may have a colour bar. What is she going to think when she sees Gamaliel?’

‘Do we need to take him with us?’

‘He received a separate invitation. I think Fiona did that deliberately to put you and Parsifal in a quandary,’ said Garnet. ‘I don’t see how you are going to explain to him that he can’t go. He showed me the card he’s had and is bucked to death about it. It would be inhuman to cut short his pleasure. Besides, he’s such a handsome, delightful boy that grandmamma may take a liking to him.’

‘I’m not so sure. She’s very much the memsahib, you know, and she was neither consulted nor informed when we adopted him.’

‘Anyway, I don’t see how you can do him out of what he obviously regards as a treat. Of course, he’ll need a dinner jacket.’

‘Oh, nonsense! He’s only sixteen. His dark suit will do very well.’

‘I’ll tell you what then. I’ve got a white mess-jacket somewhere. I’ll rout it out and get it cleaned and pressed. That, with his dark trousers, will fill the bill. Stick a red carnation in his buttonhole and he’ll knock grandmamma for six. Want to bet on it?’

‘I wish you wouldn’t spoil him the way you do.’

‘Spoil him nothing!’ Garnet turned away whistling and went out of the room. Parsifal said: ‘I would prefer that Gamaliel wore his dark suit. He will be quite conspicuous enough without being dolled up in a white mess-jacket and a red carnation.’

‘I know, but what can I do? I’ve no doubt Garnet has already promised him the mess-jacket,’ said Bluebell.

At Headlands preparations for the dinner party were going ahead with what Fiona, who was superstitious, decided was uncanny smoothness. Mrs Plack had recovered from her crise de nerfs and had actually agreed without fuss to Maria’s suggestions for the menu; Garnet, contacted by Fiona in person, had told her that he no longer had a dog; Bluebell now accepted meat as a suitable food and Diana was no longer on a diet.

It was all far too good to be true, thought Fiona, and was soon justified in this assumption.

The places at table had been settled and the place-cards written so that there could be no confusion as to where everybody was to sit, when Ruby sprang a most unwelcome surprise announcement. ‘You’ll have to put those two brats at a separate table or something,’ she said.

‘Of course we can’t,’ said Maria. ‘Mother has said definitely that she wants them at table with the rest of us. I showed her the list and it has her full approval. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, Ruby, but actually those children have far more right to sit with the rest of the family than you have.’

‘Dee dah dee dah!’ said Ruby. ‘All I meant to say was that Barnie is coming. That’s why I think you’ll have to move them.’

‘Barnie?’

‘My music master, Barnaby Orme-Head.’

‘Does madre know?’ asked Fiona sharply.

‘Certainly. I asked her if he could come and she agreed at once when I told her he was my singing teacher.’

‘But we shall be thirteen at table!’

‘That’s why I still say you’ll have to move the brats, dear. They probably chew with their mouths open and spill things in their laps, anyway, so you’ll be better off without them. Besides, I did promise you that I could get Barnie when you said you’d be short of men. Actually I thought I would be doing you a favour.’

Gamaliel went into Bluebell’s room to admire himself in her long mirror. Bluebell stood behind him, a tall, cadaverous woman with short-sighted, vaguely kind eyes, hair prematurely grey and bony, long fingered hands with which she was patting her hair into place.

Gamaliel turned to her. ‘But I am a prince!’ he said. ‘The Black Prince! Was he as black as I am?’

‘No. He wore black armour, that is all.’

‘Black is beautiful, don’t you think?’

‘I think so. In a little while we shall find out what my grandmother thinks.’

‘Oh, she will like me. Everybody does.’

‘How fortunate you are!’

‘What shall I call her?’

‘Mrs Leyden, unless she suggests anything else.’

Her long hands fluttered about his bow tie. ‘And remember not to scrape your plate. It isn’t done in the best circles.’

‘Yes, I must make a good impression. Do you think this jacket suits me? It is tight across the shoulders.’

‘It makes you look very distinguished.’

‘Do I bow or shake hands?’

‘Bow first and then see how things go.’

‘Are you a society woman?’

‘No, thank God, I am an artist.’

‘And I am the Black Prince.’

‘And you are the Black Prince, but do not get above yourself if the people at Headlands are kind to you. It is not good manners to become exuberant in public’

‘I shall remember. Do you think I shall be head boy at school next year?’

‘You know that better than I do.’

‘I think I shall. I am very popular.’ He turned to the mirror and preened himself.

Parsifal came into the room. ‘The car has come for us,’ he said. ‘You had better sit beside the chauffeur, Blue, so as not to crease your dress. We three men can squash up on the back seat. I must say it was very civil and thoughtful of your grandmamma to offer the car. Taxi hire from Truro would have been a great expense.’

‘We could have hired from Trewith in the village.’

‘His old rattle-banger? Hardly, on such an occasion. Oh, well, come along. We mustn’t keep Lunn waiting.’

‘Lunn is a great deal too big for his boots,’ said Bluebell. ‘Just because he serves a household of women, he thinks he can do as he pleases. Kindly hand me my cloak. How do you think I look?’

‘Splendid, my dear, and Gamaliel too.’

‘And,’ said Bluebell, ‘for a last word of warning, Gamaliel, remember not to criticise the food. If you do not like what you are given, say nothing, just put your knife and fork beside one another on your plate, sit back and wait for the servants to collect. And remember that everything will be served over your left shoulder, so sit up straight and do not impede the service.’

‘Are you going to be ashamed of me at table?’

‘Indeed I hope not. You have natural good manners and should succeed admirably.’

‘That is what I think,’ said Gamaliel, smiling broadly.

With the inclusion of Ruby’s Barnaby Orme-Head, the seating arrangements had suffered some changes and Fiona and Maria had decided to dispense with the seat opposite Romula’s at the lower end of the table.

‘It’s going to look so odd otherwise, madre,’ explained Fiona. ‘We’ve given Maria the seat on your right, next to her we’ve put Mr Orme-Head, then Diana, then Gamaliel, next to him Ruby (who is nearest his age) and then Parsifal.’

‘On the other side of the table,’ said Maria, ‘next to you we’ve put Garnet, then Fiona and next to her are the two children. The boy Quentin will be opposite his mother so that she can keep an eye on him, and Rupert is to be next to the little girl to fulfil the same purpose. The children go to a very good boarding-school, so they should not be too uncouth. Bluebell is to neighbour Rupert and that concludes the seating arrangements.’

‘Oh, well, I suppose it will have to do,’ said Romula. ‘You seem to have given thought to the matter.’ She looked older than her seventy-five years, a cossetted, selfish woman dependent upon others just as much as they were dependent upon her. ‘I would have preferred to have Fiona next to me rather than Garnet.’

‘It would make the party less symmetrical, madre, that’s all, but just as you wish,’ said Fiona. ‘I have no desire to sit between Garnet and a fidgety little boy, I assure you.’

‘Oh no, let be, let be. Who is this Gamaliel? Is he Jewish? Will the food suit him? I believe they have fads.’

‘Oh, no, he is not Jewish, madre,’ said Fiona, when she had exchanged glances with Maria. ‘He is an orphan whom Parsifal and Blue adopted some years ago.’

The introduction of Gamaliel when he arrived provided something of a sensation.

‘But he’s black!’ Romula exclaimed, leaning heavily upon her silver-topped ebony stick and gazing astoundedly upon the comely youth.

‘Black is beautiful,’ said Gamaliel. ‘Do you not think so, dear old Mrs Leyden? I like old ladies. They also are beautiful.’

‘You are a very astonishing young man,’ said Romula. ‘I will have you next to me at table.’

The rearranged seating at table proved not unsatisfactory so far as most of those present were concerned. Fiona and Maria saw no reason for giving the music teacher a place next to Romula, so Maria remained on her right with Barnaby next and Diana on the other side of him.

Fiona was opposite him and next to her sat Garnet, so that she was between him and Gamaliel who, although mindful of the table manners which Bluebell had been at pains to teach him, still managed to entertain his hostess in his own way.

‘Have you ever been mugged, dear old lady?’ he enquired. ‘After dinner I will show you what to do if it ever happens to you. Also I have a manual on karate. I will lend it to you and then you will be safe under any circumstances. I will teach you the killer chop. You may not use it in competitions, of course, but it can be a very good thing to know.’

‘Does your pupil make the progress you would wish, Mr Orme-Head?’ asked Diana in the voice she kept for what might be termed state occasions.

‘Oh, yes, indeed,’ the shock-headed young man replied. ‘She works hard, practises assiduously and is unusually gifted.’

‘How nice,’ said Diana, dismissing him in her mind (despite his handsome appearance) as a stuffed shirt and abandoning her intention of flirting with him. This had been intended to stimulate Garnet, who appeared to be having an absorbing conversation with Fiona, punctuated, to Diana’s envious fury, by laughter.

Meanwhile, Gamaliel was consolidating his position with the giver of the feast.

‘Do you believe that women are superior to men?’ he asked Romula.

‘No. I think the sexes complement one another.’

‘Women are superior. They give birth.’

‘Well they most certainly could not do that without the help of men in the first place.’

‘The Virgin Mary did, if you believe the story. Suppose I had not been born? What a tragedy! Do you think white is superior to black?’

‘Mrs Leyden will be in trouble if she says so,’ said Maria with heavy humour. ‘You might invoke the Race Relations Board, Gamaliel, and they are a sensitive body.’

‘Ham, Shem and Japheth were brothers. Black, yellow and white, but Ham seems to come first and he was black,’ said Gamaliel. ‘Three kings came from the east, too, black, yellow, white. They brought gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold comes first. Gold is black. Black is beautiful.’

‘Get on with your dinner, or you will be less than equal with the rest of us; you will be all behind,’ said Maria.

‘So you believe all men are equal,’ said Gamaliel, obediently shovelling food into his mouth. ‘Does God believe that?’

‘Of course He does,’ said Maria stiffly.

‘Then God must be cross-eyed. All men are not equal. I am not equal. I am a prince. Mrs Leyden is not equal. She is very rich. Muhammad Ali is not equal. He is the best boxer in the world. Who wants to be equal? Only those who cannot be superior.’

‘Then I think I must be one of those,’ said Maria.

‘Your black boy is only keeping madame amused, I hope. She is not likely to take him up to any serious extent, is she?’ said Ruby to Parsifal. ‘She likes playthings, and that is what he is.’

Parsifal, always diffident and unsure of himself, wondered whether to ask the obvious question and then discovered that there was no need.

‘I began by being one of her playthings myself,’ Ruby went on, ‘but I don’t mind that, so long as I get what I want in the end.’

‘And what is that?’

‘A first class musical education and then, when I am ready, a proper launching. She has the money and I have the talent. People think I suck up to her for what I hope she’ll leave me when she dies, but it isn’t that. I only need her backing. The money will go to her family, as it should.’

‘Do you really think along those lines?’

‘Fiona thinks she stands a chance,’ Ruby went on, her pert little face settling to a hard stare as she caught Rupert’s sardonic eye across the table and realised that he had heard every word of the conversation, ‘but I could tell her something different. Do you want to hear it too?’ she said to Rupert.

‘Eat up your chicken, Millament,’ said Rupert, transferring his attention to his daughter. ‘You’re messing about with it.’

‘I like chicken alive, not dead,’ said Millament. ‘Can’t I have some more of those little sausages?’

‘They’re made from dead pigs,’ said Quentin. ‘Dead pigs with maggots in them.’

‘Be quiet, Quentin! Don’t be disgusting,’ said his mother from further down the table.

‘Oh, Lord!’ said Ruby. ‘Bloody kids!’

‘Black is beautiful,’ said Gamaliel. ‘Maggots are not.’

‘Has anyone noticed that we are thirteen at table?’ asked Parsifal, desperately changing the subject. Everybody except Maria and Fiona, both of whom already knew the score, took a hasty glance around.

‘Dear me!’ said Romula. ‘These superstitions! Only the weak-minded would pay any heed to them. Well, they can clear now and the men can have their port while we repair to the withdrawing-room.’ She made as though to rise.

Gamaliel seized her arm. ‘Not you!’ he said. ‘Let somebody else be first!’

Ruby skipped along to Barnaby. ‘You don’t want any nasty old port. Let’s go out and look at the sea, maestro,’ she said.

‘Not just now, Ruby,’ said Romula. ‘Mr Orme-Head has to get home.’

‘Oh, yes, rather!’ agreed Barnaby, who had done full justice to the dinner and the wine. ‘I had better be moving.’

‘Well, you have your port,’ said Romula kindly, ‘and then pop in for some coffee if you would like it. You have a long journey and will be doing some of it after dark as it is. I am never very happy about motor cycles at the best of times and after dark they are extremely dangerous. You have to get to the outskirts of London, I believe.’

‘Well, not exactly, no. I’m staying with a friend in Exeter.’

‘Well, have your glass of port and then we will say goodbye to you for the present. The withdrawing-room, Ruby.’

Ruby pouted, but followed the other women out of the dining-room.

‘Really, mother!’ said Maria, when they were seated and the maid had served coffee. ‘That was rather cool of you, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, it was worse than cool; it was very uncivil of me,’ Romula agreed, ‘but if I had not made myself plain he would have stayed on. There is family business to attend to when the men join us. You, Diana, had better run your children home. It must be past their bedtime. Rupert can tell you what is said.’

‘Rupert needs the car as much as I and the children do. At what time shall I return and pick him up?’

‘Oh, whenever you like, of course.’

‘Better still, if madre doesn’t mind, and to save you the extra journey, we can put him up here for tonight and Lunn can run him home in the morning,’ said Fiona. ‘Is that all right, madre?’

The children were not anxious to leave, as it was clear that Gamaliel was to stay for coffee, but Diana, accepting dismissal, ushered them out. Gamaliel, who had opened the door for her, returned to the room and seated himself on the floor at Romula’s feet. As though she were unaware of what she was doing, she grasped a handful of his springy hair and rubbed it gently through her fingers. Gamaliel leaned back so that he was resting half against her chair and half against her knee. Fiona said: ‘You’re rather a big boy to be sitting on the floor.’

‘St Paul sat at the feet of Gamaliel,’ said the black youth. ‘Now Gamaliel sits at the feet of his great grandmother.’

‘I hope she feels complimented,’ said Fiona, laughing. Romula gave Gamaliel’s thick hair an affectionate little tug before she took her hand away.

‘It may surprise you to know that I do feel complimented,’ she said.

‘I am very pleased to hear it, grandmamma,’ said Bluebell. ‘Well, it is getting late.’

‘Oh, Lunn will drive you home,’ said Maria, as the men came in. ‘Mother said she had family business to discuss, so you must stay a little longer.’

‘I thought I had,’ said Romula, taking up another handful of Gamaliel’s hair, ‘but I believe I am too tired and, in any case, it is more than time this young man was in bed. He may be of heroic stature, but he is still at the stage of growth. Goodnight, Gamaliel. Goodnight to the rest of you.’

Gamaliel rose to his feet in a fluid, effortless movement and stood to face her.‘ Goodnight, dear old lady,’ he said. He made the appropriate gestures as he concluded. ‘My hand, my head, and my heart at your feet.’

‘Well!’ said Maria that night at bedtime to Fiona, pausing with her fingers on the handle of her bedroom door. ‘This is a nice state of affairs, I must say! Not a word of her intentions and that black boy literally the nigger in the woodpile! Besides, what on earth induced you to call her bluff about putting Rupert up for the night? She had to agree, but she won’t forgive you for that. No wonder she changed her mind about making any disclosures!’

‘If he had not been asked to stay the night, Diana would have had to come back for him. I had no ulterior motive in getting him to stay,’ protested Fiona.

Maria made no comment on this obvious lie.

‘Mother is still downstairs,’ she said. ‘Perhaps she wants to speak to me alone. I think I will go and find out.’