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79321.
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Chapter 3
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79322.
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The owner of the mediaeval castle was an Englishman, a Mr. Briggs, who was in London at the moment and wrote that it had beds enough for eight people, exclusive of servants, three sitting-rooms, battlements, dungeons, and electric light. The rent was £60 for the month, the servants’ wages were extra, and he wanted references—he wanted assurances that the second half of his rent would be paid, the first half being paid in advance, and he wanted assurances of respectability from a solicitor, or a doctor, or a clergyman. He was very polite in his letter, explaining that his desire for references was what was usual and should be regarded as a mere formality.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79323.
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Mrs. Arbuthnot and Mrs. Wilkins had not thought of references, and they had not dreamed a rent could be so high. In their minds had floated sums like three guineas a week; or less, seeing that the place was small and old.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
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79324.
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Sixty pounds for a single month.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
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79325.
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It staggered them.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79326.
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Before Mrs. Arbuthnot’s eyes rose up boots: endless vistas, all the stout boots that sixty pounds would buy; and besides the rent there would be the servants’ wages, and the food, and the railway journeys out and home. While as for references, these did indeed seem a stumbling-block; it did seem impossible to give any without making their plan more public than they had intended.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79327.
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They had both—even Mrs. Arbuthnot, lured for once away from perfect candour by the realisation of the great saving of trouble and criticism an imperfect explanation would produce—they had both thought it would be a good plan to give out, each to her own circle, their circles being luckily distinct, that each was going to stay with a friend who had a house in Italy. It would be true as far as it went—Mrs. Wilkins asserted that it would be quite true, but Mrs. Arbuthnot thought it wouldn’t be quite—and it was the only way, Mrs. Wilkins said, to keep Mellersh even approximately quiet. To spend any of her money just on the mere getting to Italy would cause him indignation; what he would say if he knew she was renting part of a mediaeval castle on her own account Mrs. Wilkins preferred not to think. It would take him days to say it all; and this although it was her very own money, and not a penny of it had ever been his.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
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79328.
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"But I expect,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79329.
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she said,
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79330.
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"your husband is just the same. I expect all husbands are alike in the long run."
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79331.
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Mrs. Arbuthnot said nothing, because her reason for not wanting Frederick to know was the exactly opposite one—Frederick would be only too pleased for her to go, he would not mind it in the very least; indeed, he would hail such a manifestation of self-indulgence and worldliness with an amusement that would hurt, and urge her to have a good time and not to hurry home with a crushing detachment. Far better, she thought, to be missed by Mellersh than to be sped by Frederick. To be missed, to be needed, from whatever motive, was, she thought, better than the complete loneliness of not being missed or needed at all.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79332.
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She therefore said nothing, and allowed Mrs. Wilkins to leap at her conclusions unchecked. But they did, both of them, for a whole day feel that the only thing to be done was to renounce the mediaeval castle; and it was in arriving at this bitter decision that they really realised how acute had been their longing for it.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79333.
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Then Mrs. Arbuthnot, whose mind was trained in the finding of ways out of difficulties, found a way out of the reference difficulty; and simultaneously Mrs. Wilkins had a vision revealing to her how to reduce the rent.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79334.
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Mrs. Arbuthnot’s plan was simple, and completely successful. She took the whole of the rent in person to the owner, drawing it out of her Savings Bank—again she looked furtive and apologetic, as if the clerk must know the money was wanted for purposes of self-indulgence—and, going up with the six ten pound notes in her hand-bag to the address near the Brompton Oratory where the owner lived, presented them to him, waiving her right to pay only half. And when he saw her, and her parted hair and soft dark eyes and sober apparel, and heard her grave voice, he told her not to bother about writing round for those references.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79335.
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"It’ll be all right,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79336.
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he said, scribbling a receipt for the rent.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79337.
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"Do sit down, won’t you? Nasty day, isn’t it? You’ll find the old castle has lots of sunshine, whatever else it hasn’t got. Husband going?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79338.
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Mrs. Arbuthnot, unused to anything but candour, looked troubled at this question and began to murmur inarticulately, and the owner at once concluded that she was a widow—a war one, of course, for other widows were old—and that he had been a fool not to guess it.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
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79339.
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"Oh, I’m sorry,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79340.
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he said, turning red right up to his fair hair.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79341.
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"I didn’t mean—h’m, h’m, h’m—"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79342.
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He ran his eye over the receipt he had written.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79343.
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"Yes, I think that’s all right,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79344.
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he said, getting up and giving it to her.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
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79345.
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"Now,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
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79346.
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he added, taking the six notes she held out and smiling, for Mrs. Arbuthnot was agreeable to look at,
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79347.
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"I’m richer, and you’re happier. I’ve got money, and you’ve got San Salvatore. I wonder which is best."
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79348.
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"I think you know,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79349.
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said Mrs. Arbuthnot with her sweet smile.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79350.
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He laughed and opened the door for her. It was a pity the interview was over. He would have liked to ask her to lunch with him. She made him think of his mother, of his nurse, of all things kind and comforting, besides having the attraction of not being his mother or his nurse.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79351.
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"I hope you’ll like the old place,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79352.
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he said, holding her hand a minute at the door. The very feel of her hand, even through its glove, was reassuring; it was the sort of hand, he thought, that children would like to hold in the dark.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79353.
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"In April, you know, it’s simply a mass of flowers. And then there’s the sea. You must wear white. You’ll fit in very well. There are several portraits of you there."
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79354.
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"Portraits?"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79355.
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"Madonnas, you know. There’s one on the stairs really exactly like you."
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79356.
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Mrs. Arbuthnot smiled and said good-bye and thanked him. Without the least trouble and at once she had got him placed in his proper category: he was an artist and of an effervescent temperament.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79357.
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She shook hands and left, and he wished she hadn’t. After she was gone he supposed that he ought to have asked for those references, if only because she would think him so unbusiness-like not to, but he could as soon have insisted on references from a saint in a nimbus as from that grave, sweet lady.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79358.
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Rose Arbuthnot.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79359.
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Her letter, making the appointment, lay on the table.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79360.
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Pretty name.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79361.
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That difficulty, then, was overcome. But there still remained the other one, the really annihilating effect of the expense on the nest-eggs, and especially on Mrs. Wilkins’s, which was in size, compared with Mrs. Arbuthnot’s, as the egg of the plover to that of the duck; and this in its turn was overcome by the vision vouchsafed to Mrs. Wilkins, revealing to her the steps to be taken for its overcoming. Having got San Salvatore—the beautiful, the religious name, fascinated them—they in their turn would advertise in the Agony Column of The Times , and would inquire after two more ladies, of similar desires to their own, to join them and share the expenses.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79362.
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At once the strain of the nest-eggs would be reduced from half to a quarter. Mrs. Wilkins was prepared to fling her entire egg into the adventure, but she realised that if it were to cost even sixpence over her ninety pounds her position would be terrible. Imagine going to Mellersh and saying,
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79363.
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"I owe."
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79364.
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It would be awful enough if some day circumstances forced her to say,
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79365.
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"I have no nest-egg,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79366.
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but at least she would be supported in such a case by the knowledge that the egg had been her own. She therefore, though prepared to fling her last penny into the adventure, was not prepared to fling into it a single farthing that was not demonstrably her own; and she felt that if her share of the rent was reduced to fifteen pounds only, she would have a safe margin for the other expenses. Also they might economise very much on food—gather olives off their own trees and eat them, for instance, and perhaps catch fish.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79367.
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Of course, as they pointed out to each other, they could reduce the rent to an almost negligible sum by increasing the number of sharers; they could have six more ladies instead of two if they wanted to, seeing that there were eight beds. But supposing the eight beds were distributed in couples in four rooms, it would not be altogether what they wanted, to find themselves shut up at night with a stranger. Besides, they thought that perhaps having so many would not be quite so peaceful. After all, they were going to San Salvatore for peace and rest and joy, and six more ladies, especially if they got into one’s bedroom, might a little interfere with that. speech first However, there seemed to be only two ladies in England at that moment who had any wish to join them, for they had only two answers to their advertisement.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79368.
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"Well, we only want two,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79369.
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said Mrs. Wilkins, quickly recovering, for she had imagined a great rush.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79370.
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"I think a choice would have been a good thing,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79371.
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said Mrs. Arbuthnot.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79372.
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"You mean because then we needn’t have had Lady Caroline Dester."
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79373.
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"I didn’t say that,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79374.
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gently protested Mrs. Arbuthnot.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79375.
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"We needn’t have her,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79376.
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said Mrs. Wilkins.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79377.
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"Just one more person would help us a great deal with the rent. We’re not obliged to have two."
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79378.
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"But why should we not have her? She seems really quite what we want."
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79379.
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"Yes—she does from her letter,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79380.
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said Mrs. Wilkins doubtfully.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79381.
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She felt she would be terribly shy of Lady Caroline. Incredible as it may seem, seeing how they get into everything, Mrs. Wilkins had never come across any members of the aristocracy.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79382.
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They interviewed Lady Caroline, and they interviewed the other applicant, a Mrs. Fisher.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79383.
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Lady Caroline came to the club in Shaftesbury Avenue, and appeared to be wholly taken up by one great longing, a longing to get away from everybody she had ever known. When she saw the club, and Mrs. Arbuthnot, and Mrs. Wilkins, she was sure that here was exactly what she wanted. She would be in Italy—a place she adored; she would not be in hotels—places she loathed; she would not be staying with friends—persons she disliked; and she would be in the company of strangers who would never mention a single person she knew, for the simple reason that they had not, could not have, and would not come across them. She asked a few questions about the fourth woman, and was satisfied with the answers. Mrs. Fisher, of Prince of Wales Terrace. A widow. She too would be unacquainted with any of her friends. Lady Caroline did not even know where Prince of Wales Terrace was.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79384.
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"It’s in London,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79385.
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said Mrs. Arbuthnot.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79386.
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"Is it?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79387.
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said Lady Caroline.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79388.
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It all seemed most restful.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79389.
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Mrs. Fisher was unable to come to the club because, she explained by letter, she could not walk without a stick; therefore Mrs. Arbuthnot and Mrs. Wilkins went to her.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79390.
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"But if she can’t come to the club how can she go to Italy?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79391.
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wondered Mrs. Wilkins, aloud.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79392.
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"We shall hear that from her own lips,"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79393.
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said Mrs. Arbuthnot.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79394.
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From Mrs. Fisher’s lips they merely heard, in reply to delicate questioning, that sitting in trains was not walking about; and they knew that already. Except for the stick, however, she appeared to be a most desirable fourth—quiet, educated, elderly. She was much older than they or Lady Caroline—Lady Caroline had informed them she was twenty-eight—but not so old as to have ceased to be active-minded. She was very respectable indeed, and still wore a complete suit of black though her husband had died, she told them, eleven years before. Her house was full of signed photographs of illustrious Victorian dead, all of whom she said she had known when she was little. Her father had been an eminent critic, and in his house she had seen practically everybody who was anybody in letters and art. Carlyle had scowled at her; Matthew Arnold had held her on his knee; Tennyson had sonorously rallied her on the length of her pig-tail. She animatedly showed them the photographs, hung everywhere on her walls, pointing out the signatures with her stick, and she neither gave any information about her own husband nor asked for any about the husbands of her visitors; which was the greatest comfort. Indeed, she seemed to think that they also were widows, for on inquiring who the fourth lady was to be, and being told it was a Lady Caroline Dester, she said,
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79395.
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"Is she a widow too?"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79396.
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And on their explaining that she was not, because she had not yet been married, observed with abstracted amiability,
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79397.
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"All in good time."
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79398.
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But Mrs. Fisher’s very abstractedness—and she seemed to be absorbed chiefly in the interesting people she used to know and in their memorial photographs, and quite a good part of the interview was taken up by reminiscent anecdote of Carlyle, Meredith, Matthew Arnold, Tennyson, and a host of others—her very abstractedness was a recommendation. She only asked, she said, to be allowed to sit quiet in the sun and remember. That was all Mrs. Arbuthnot and Mrs. Wilkins asked of their sharers. It was their idea of a perfect sharer that she should sit quiet in the sun and remember, rousing herself on Saturday evenings sufficiently to pay her share. Mrs. Fisher was very fond, too, she said, of flowers, and once when she was spending a week-end with her father at Box Hill—
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79399.
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"Who lived at Box Hill?"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79400.
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interrupted Mrs. Wilkins, who hung on Mrs. Fisher’s reminiscences, intensely excited by meeting somebody who had actually been familiar with all the really and truly and undoubtedly great—actually seen them, heard them talking, touched them.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79401.
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Mrs. Fisher looked at her over the top of her glasses in some surprise. Mrs. Wilkins, in her eagerness to tear the heart out quickly of Mrs. Fisher’s reminiscences, afraid that at any moment Mrs. Arbuthnot would take her away and she wouldn’t have heard half, had already interrupted several times with questions which appeared ignorant to Mrs. Fisher.
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79402.
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"Meredith of course,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79403.
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said Mrs. Fisher rather shortly.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79404.
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"I remember a particular week-end"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79405.
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—she continued.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79406.
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"My father often took me, but I always remember this week-end particularly—"
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Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79407.
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"Did you know Keats?"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79408.
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eagerly interrupted Mrs. Wilkins.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79409.
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Mrs. Fisher, after a pause, said with sub-acid reserve that she had been unacquainted with both Keats and Shakespeare.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79410.
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"Oh of course—how ridiculous of me!"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79411.
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cried Mrs. Wilkins, flushing scarlet.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79412.
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"It’s because"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79413.
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—she floundered—
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79414.
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"it’s because the immortals somehow still seem alive, don’t they—as if they were here, going to walk into the room in another minute—and one forgets they are dead. In fact one knows perfectly well that they’re not dead—not nearly so dead as you and I even now,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79415.
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she assured Mrs. Fisher, who observed her over the top of her glasses.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79416.
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"I thought I saw Keats the other day,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79417.
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Mrs. Wilkins incoherently proceeded, driven on by Mrs. Fisher’s look over the top of her glasses.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79418.
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"In Hampstead—crossing the road in front of that house—you know—the house where he lived—"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79419.
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Mrs. Arbuthnot said they must be going.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79420.
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Mrs. Fisher did nothing to prevent them.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79421.
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"I really thought I saw him,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79422.
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protested Mrs. Wilkins, appealing for belief first to one and then to the other while waves of colour passed over her face, and totally unable to stop because of Mrs. Fisher’s glasses and the steady eyes looking at her over their tops.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79423.
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"I believe I did see him—he was dressed in a—"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79424.
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Even Mrs. Arbuthnot looked at her now, and in her gentlest voice said they would be late for lunch.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79425.
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It was at this point that Mrs. Fisher asked for references. She had no wish to find herself shut up for four weeks with somebody who saw things. It is true that there were three sitting-rooms, besides the garden and the battlements at San Salvatore, so that there would be opportunities of withdrawal from Mrs. Wilkins; but it would be disagreeable to Mrs. Fisher, for instance, if Mrs. Wilkins were suddenly to assert that she saw Mr. Fisher. Mr. Fisher was dead; let him remain so. She had no wish to be told he was walking about the garden. The only reference she really wanted, for she was much too old and firmly seated in her place in the world for questionable associates to matter to her, was one with regard to Mrs. Wilkins’s health. Was her health quite normal? Was she an ordinary, everyday, sensible woman? Mrs. Fisher felt that if she were given even one address she would be able to find out what she needed. So she asked for references, and her visitors appeared to be so much taken aback—Mrs. Wilkins, indeed, was instantly sobered—that she added,
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79426.
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"It is usual."
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79427.
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Mrs. Wilkins found her speech first.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79428.
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"But,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79429.
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she said,
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79430.
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"aren’t we the ones who ought to ask for some from you?"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79431.
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And this seemed to Mrs. Arbuthnot too the right attitude. Surely it was they who were taking Mrs. Fisher into their party, and not Mrs. Fisher who was taking them into it?
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79432.
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For answer Mrs. Fisher, leaning on her stick, went to the writing-table and in a firm hand wrote down three names and offered them to Mrs. Wilkins, and the names were so respectable, more, they were so momentous, they were so nearly august, that just to read them was enough. The President of the Royal Academy, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Governor of the Bank of England—who would dare disturb such personages in their meditations with inquiries as to whether a female friend of theirs was all she should be?
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79433.
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"They have known me since I was little,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79434.
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said Mrs. Fisher—everybody seemed to have known Mrs. Fisher since or when she was little.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79435.
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"I don’t think references are nice things at all between—between ordinary decent women,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79436.
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burst out Mrs. Wilkins, made courageous by being, as she felt, at bay; for she very well knew that the only reference she could give without getting into trouble was Shoolbred, and she had little confidence in that, as it would be entirely based on Mellersh’s fish.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79437.
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"We’re not business people. We needn’t distrust each other—"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79438.
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And Mrs. Arbuthnot said, with a dignity that yet was sweet,
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79439.
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"I’m afraid references do bring an atmosphere into our holiday plan that isn’t quite what we want, and I don’t think we’ll take yours up or give you any ourselves. So that I suppose you won’t wish to join us."
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79440.
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And she held out her hand in good-bye.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79441.
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Then Mrs. Fisher, her gaze diverted to Mrs. Arbuthnot, who inspired trust and liking even in Tube officials, felt that she would be idiotic to lose the opportunity of being in Italy in the particular conditions offered, and that she and this calm-browed woman between them would certainly be able to curb the other one when she had her attacks. So she said, taking Mrs. Arbuthnot’s offered hand,
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79442.
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"Very well. I waive references."
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79443.
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She waived references.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79444.
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The two as they walked to the station in Kensington High Street could not help thinking that this way of putting it was lofty. Even Mrs. Arbuthnot, spendthrift of excuses for lapses, thought Mrs. Fisher might have used other words; and Mrs. Wilkins, by the time she got to the station, and the walk and the struggle on the crowded pavement with other people’s umbrellas had warmed her blood, actually suggested waiving Mrs. Fisher.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79445.
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"If there is any waiving to be done, do let us be the ones who waive,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79446.
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she said eagerly.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79447.
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But Mrs. Arbuthnot, as usual, held on to Mrs. Wilkins; and presently, having cooled down in the train, Mrs. Wilkins announced that at San Salvatore Mrs. Fisher would find her level.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79448.
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"I see her finding her level there,"
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79449.
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she said, her eyes very bright.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set
79450.
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Whereupon Mrs. Arbuthnot, sitting with her quiet hands folded, turned over in her mind how best she could help Mrs. Wilkins not to see quite so much; or at least, if she must see, to see in silence.
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Narrator
Mrs. Wilkins
The owner
Mrs. Arbuthnot
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Fisher
Set