Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (35 page)

In the next few days he plunged deeply into the preparation of the
History,
compiling the editorial rules for footnotes, discussing format and map reproduction with the printers, he even began to sort through his papers for the substance of his own contribution - 'The Impact of Norman Feudalism upon Anglo-Saxon Society'. He succeeded in forgetting John's affairs altogether, but he could not so easily get Elvira out of his thoughts. The last days of March brought bright days with high winds and beautiful sailing clouds. He interspersed his work with walks in the Park; he felt twenty years younger in a new light-grey tweed suit and a new loose buff spring overcoat. He spoke to children by the Round Pond and engaged in quite a long conversation with a Pole who asked him for directions; he stood and gazed at the mauve and white streaked crocuses, reflecting that he had thought of them only as yellow or purple; he observed the steel-like claws of the crane that scratched in the little stream behind the Serpentine. He bought pots of hyacinths and daffodils for the house and spent a pleasant half-hour ordering wine. In all this, for the first time for many years, he did not feel lonely, but he constantly found himself wondering what Elvira was doing. Probably talking a lot of pretentious nonsense over coffee or cocktails in some smoke-filled room, he decided, or more likely in bed at noon. It would do her appearance a world of good to get out of doors more.

He was quick to check these speculations, and gradually they were replaced by a growing concern for Robin's relations with her. He thought over her hysterical outburst that night, Robin's surprising freedom and happiness, her obvious physical passion for him. It was an explosive situation that reminded him too easily of his own life with Dollie.
He
had allowed conventional ideas about the family, Inge's possessive interest, to ruin that; it was his duty, he decided, to give Robin a warning tip. Here at least was something he knew about, not like that peculiar business of John's; besides, Robin was an admirable chap. Gerald had no compunctions about Marie Hélène, he thought her a selfish, snobbish sort of woman. Besides, what good was the present situation doing her? What sort of life would she have with Robin if she destroyed his relationship with Elvira? What sort of life had Inge had? As to Timothy, Robin himself knew how far general happiness helped children in the end: besides the boy was sixteen. He rang up Robin and suggested lunch. He would call for him at his office, he said. Robin seemed friendly and pleased on the other end of the phone.

Robin, indeed, sat in his large comfortable office overlooking the Thames and awaited his father's arrival that morning with more pleasure than he ever would have expected from such an event. The truth was, that for all the embarrassment of Elvira's little outburst, he had enjoyed the dinner at Gerald's. It was satisfactory to have a father whom Elvira liked; it was pleasant to be able to take her to dine with that father and know that the occasion would be a civilized one. His father had proved friendly but not interfering. Robin here contrasted the occasion with any at which Inge would have so happily presided in the same circumstances. He had had quite enough of women lately; he somehow rather liked the situation of man, mistress, and elderly but experienced father. It had a worldly flavour, and worldly flavours tended to flatter Robin's somewhat starved soul. Of course; as the eldest son, he had seen what his mother had been through far more than John, who had only been a kid; he would always admire her and be grateful to her; he would always remember how rottenly his father had behaved, but it had to be faced that Gerald was rather pathetic - a washed-up, lonely old man.

Robin did not exactly compare his own marital behaviour to his father's, but in avoiding the comparison he sought refuge in a broad-minded determination not to judge him too harshly. After all, it was natural that he should get on with his father, he was essentially a man's man, not like John, a mother's darling. Robin had been very impressed by the views of an Oxford don who had been brought to one of Marie Hélène's parties recently. It seemed that his father was really a very eminent historian, even if he had not quite fulfilled his original promise. When Robin heard this, he remembered with pleasure how interested his father always was in what he said, how he deferred to his opinion on politics or economics. His father's respect for him seemed somehow doubly gratifying now that he knew how eminent he was in his own field. He decided that he would take Gerald out and give him a really good lunch.

Perhaps if Gerald had been a poorer man, had needed the good lunch a bit more, Robin would have looked forward to the occasion even more. Even as it was, he was in very good spirits. He had lunched with Pelican a few days earlier and suggested that, if things went wrong, it was possible that Middleton and Company could do something about it. Would Pelican think it over and let him know what he felt about the idea? And now Pelican had written. Reading between the lines, it was obvious the poor chap was desperately anxious about the future. Robin's handsome, fleshy face was gathered in lines of pleasure. He loved helping people. He read the letter over again, '...in these circumstances, and in view of all the publicity that has been given to the incident, I suspect that the Minister will be driven to take what is called disciplinary action. If so, it is more than likely that I may find myself sent to one of the branch offices. Apart from the general disinclination that anyone in middle age feels for such changes, the situation would be peculiarly unfortunate in my case. My two boys are at St Paul's. It would be a serious dislocation to their education to move them to another school at this stage, even if this were possible, which I very much doubt. My wife, too, sets great store on the boys being at home. She is a great opponent of boarding schools. So that if the blow does fall, I fear it will be a choice between a number of very uncomfortable evils. I confess that I am dearly tempted, in any case, after all this, to resign from the Service, but to give up my pension at forty-five with a family to consider would be an impossible luxury. If, on the other hand, there were an opening…'

Robin rang for his secretary. 'Miss Rodmell,' he said, 'take a letter, will you, to Pelican? You'd better not send it to the Ministry. Send it to his home address. He lives somewhere out Elstree way. "Dear Pelican,"' he began, when the door half opened and Donald's long white face, so like an intelligent sheep's, peered round it.

Miss Rodmell looked horrified at this sacrilege. Robin said sharply, 'Yes?'

'There are one or two points ...' Donald began.

'I'm busy now,' Robin said: 'Put them in writing.'

Donald came into the room. 'Oh, I should hardly care to elevate them into the importance of a written memorandum,' he declared primly. Robin sat back in fury. Donald took his silence for permission to proceed. 'I'm not entirely happy about the hour appointed for my next lecture,' he announced. 'I've been talking to Mr Ferguson down at the Works, and it's quite apparent to me that Grant here has rather unfortunately only considered the clerical staff in fixing ...'

Robin suddenly shot forward in his seat. 'Look!' he cried. 'I think I told you that I was busy. What is more I seem to remember that this very situation has occurred far too often. Perfectly good machinery exists for making appointments to see me. Please use them, Donald.' It was all he could do to soften his speech by the use of his brother-in-law's Christian name.

The result was unfortunate. Donald's success so far with the staff of Middleton's, due to factors of which he had no comprehension - desire by some to curry favour with Robin, determination by others to let him have a rope and hang himself - had removed his doubts about his ability to deal with people. It was only the academic world, he had decided, that from jealousy disliked him. All his natural conceit had been released. Robin's use of his Christian name reminded him of their family relationship and of Inge's assurance that, when her eldest son was angry, he could always be teased out of it. Donald had somewhat vague ideas of the nature of teasing, but he set out nevertheless to tease. 'I find it so difficult,' he said, his watery eyes gleaming with a pale, flickering light of humour, 'to remember the various cabbalic passwords and devices with which I should approach the Holy of Holies, Robin. You should devise something more simple, like "Open Sesame".'

Robin glowered at him. 'If you don't mind,' he said, 'this is not an occasion for misplaced facetiousness.' He had decided that he must strike heavily and put an end to these intrusions for good and all. 'If you wish to see me, you should telephone Miss Rodmell, or in her absence my other secretary, and state your business. They will no doubt be competent to decide whether it requires my attention. I would remind you, though, that they are both very busy people. Please don't bother them with petty questions that can perfectly well be decided by reference to someone else, if, that is, you feel incompetent to decide them yourself. As I said many times before you joined us, we are on a business not a family footing here.'

Donald was both alarmed and angry at the failure of his jocular approach. 'Certainly,' he said, 'I shall have no occasion to forget an order made in those terms. I may add, however, that I have hardly been tempted to recall any family relationship. I have received the greatest help in work from everyone in this place except you.'

Robin looked at him for a moment, then he said wearily, 'Please sit down, Donald.' He turned to Miss Rodmell. 'I'll let you know when I'm ready for that letter,' he said.

He was beginning to fear that his brother-in-law might turn out a bad investment, but he felt that he might be able to swing the market if he took the right steps at once.

'Now, Donald,' he said. He found it difficult - as indeed it was - to look neither stern nor amiable. 'I think we
must
get a few things straight. I'm appreciative of the success you made of your first lecture. The whole idea of these lectures was a pet one of mine carried through in the teeth of a good deal of opposition, so that I'm naturally grateful for the good start you've given them. But that doesn't mean that I think them other than a small luxury to the firm, a little up-to-date sideline.' He smiled at the possibility of Donald's supposing them to be more. 'In any case, you must not think of your job here as anything but a stop-gap. Your proper sphere is the university world, where I have no doubt you'll have great success. But I would like to say something to you that may be of general help. Wherever you work and whatever you're doing, you'll need to have a more realistic assessment of people. You've been very pleased with the praises here for your lecture, the praises of Kennedy and Hollett and Jim Straker. I've no doubt they were pleased, but there are a hundred other reasons why they should have chosen to make a fuss of you. You simply must not take these things at their face value. For example, every time you come in here - and we won't go into the undesirability of that again - you retail a bit of gossip. First of all, let's get this clear, I never listen to it. But neither should you. If you're going to be elated or depressed by every chance remark or mood of the people you work with either here or elsewhere, you'll never get anywhere, which would be a pity, because I'm quite sure you could have a fine career ahead of you.' He sat back in his chair and smiled.

Donald got up and walked to the door, then he turned and said, 'I think it would be much better for everyone if you ceased to think of these lectures as your peculiar possession, particularly as you did not see fit to come to the first one.'

Robin smacked the arm of his chair. 'Oh, for heaven's sake!' he cried. 'Surely you saw that I stayed away so that everyone should have a free hand.'

Donald's thin lips compressed. 'If that really is so,' he said, 'you might consider how far your present attitude is due to a dislike of your protégé acquiring wider loyalties to the firm.'

As he went through the secretary's room, his white face was suffused with pink. He did not trust Miss Rodmell to be discreet, the story would be all over the office by tonight and common talk at the works tomorrow.

Robin looked at his watch and saw that it was nearly the time of his appointment with Gerald. He rang. 'Miss Rodmell,' he said, 'I'm expecting my father at any moment - write to Pelican for me. Tell him that I anticipate no opposition, perhaps we'd better say no serious opposition here, to my proposal for his joining us in a situation satisfactory to him. And add that I look forward to making him an official proposal in the event of his wishing to leave his present work.'

They lunched at the Savoy Grill. Gerald chose a Châteaubriant and a Mâcon, because Robin remembered that this was his favourite lunch, though he did not share the memory. He was a little uneasy at having so much fuss made of him, although it pleased him. Robin talked at great length of John's misconduct in the Pelican affair and of the surprise his brother would get when Pelican was made a director of Middleton's. 'I have some connexions with the newspaper world,' he said. 'Not John's ghastly rag, of course, but the more reputable papers. I shall see that it gets into print and not only in the financial column.' He saw that his father was a little bored with the topic. 'I shall be glad when it's ail over,' he added; 'it's getting to be rather an
idée
fixe
with me, and a boring one for other people.' He laughed self-deprecatingly.

Gerald asked after Donald's progress, but Robin was short in his answer. 'He's got a very bad manner sometimes,' he announced judicially, 'but I think he's learning.' Recalling the Oxford don's praise, he asked his father after
his
work.

For a moment Gerald was quite nonplussed, he did not remember his family ever showing an interest in his studies. However, in his new happiness, he soon warmed to the subject and told Robin about the new history. 'It's a very large affair really,' he said; 'four or five volumes. Heaven knows if I shall live to see it finished!'

'My dear father, it's just the thing to give you a long life. I'm frightfully pleased. But, of course, you're the obvious man for it. Everyone says you're right at the top of your tree.'