Page 56 of The Gathering Storm

‘She came over on the Queen Mary. The maiden trip. She was invited as a guest by the shipping company because her factory supplied the linens. Apparently, it was a tradition begun with her father.’

Lennie pushed his hands into his pockets so that Chapel should not see his fists clenched with emotion. ‘I wonder why she didn’t tell me she was coming. I could have come across and met her.’

‘But it was a short visit. Only a week.’ He stopped, turned his head away, cleared his throat. ‘She went back on the next crossing.’

‘I’d still have come. I’d have liked to see her,’ Lennie said. ‘How did you happen to meet her?’ That Polly should have come to New York without telling him was hurtful enough, but if it transpired that she had told Chapel she was coming, had arranged to meet him …

‘It was just chance,’ Eric said, giving Lennie momentary relief. ‘I met her at an art exhibition. I had no idea she was in America.’

‘Did you see much of her?’

‘Quite a bit. She seemed well. It was a pity,’ he said, in a changed tone, ‘that she had to go back. But that estate of hers is a hard master.’

‘Morland Place? Yes, I suppose it is.’

‘She will not leave it again, I think?’ Chapel said.

There was the suggestion of a question mark, but Lennie was too preoccupied to notice. Why had Polly not told him she was coming over? Was she angry with him for cancelling his visit? Had he offended her in some other way? Or – something he could hardly bear to contemplate – had she entered a relationship with a man back home, and didn’t want to tell him? She knew, of course – he had never hidden it – that he was in love with her. Did she perhaps think that the less she saw of him, the better it was for him?

Chapel had said something else, that he had missed. ‘I beg your pardon?’

‘I said that it is good to be kept busy. And there is always plenty of work in Hollywood.’

‘Yes, I suppose there is,’ Lennie said absently.

Robert’s nuptials would take place while Richard was on honeymoon, so given that neither would be at the other’s wedding, Richard asked Robert to a bachelor luncheon beforehand. Robert suggested the Peers’ Dining Room at the House. But Richard wanted to be on his own ground. ‘No, no, this is my show entirely,’ he said, and took him to the Savoy. Over the menus, he suggested the most expensive dishes, and ordered a fine claret to accompany the beef Wellington Robert chose. It was rather pathetic, he admitted to himself, to try to impress, but he didn’t want his brother to pity him.

Through the first course, they talked about neutral matters. It was only when the beef, with cauliflower, peas and Jersey potatoes, had been served and the waiters had departed that there was space for personal enquiry. Robert raised an eyebrow, and said, ‘So, you’re really going to go through with this marriage?’

Richard quelled his immediate annoyance, and said, ‘Why not?’

‘Nevinson is rich? I can’t find out much about him.’

‘Fairly,’ Richard replied. ‘He’s taking me into partnership in the business.’

‘Ah!’ Robert said, his brow clearing. ‘In return for marrying the daughter. I see. What’s wrong with her?’

‘Nothing,’ Richard said sharply. ‘There is no condition attached. I am marrying because I want to.’

Robert shook his head slowly. ‘I think it’s a mistake. Money’s useful, but it doesn’t make up for everything. You won’t be received, you know. Not in the best houses.’

‘I have no desire to mingle with high society.’

‘But then who will you mingle with?’

‘We’ll make our own friends. We’ll meet people through Molly and Vivian, to begin with.’

‘Oh, the bohemian set.’ Robert said dismissively. ‘And you’re willing to settle for that? I don’t understand you.’

‘Don’t you? After our father’s disgrace?’

Robert coloured slightly. ‘Yes, very well, I agree we had to haul ourselves up from the bottom. But you see that I’ve done it – and done it the right way. Marrying the right sort of girl, whose father has influence. Getting myself known in the House. I shall have a ministry. Suitable directorships. There are lots of things you could have done – still could do, with my help. The diplomatic corps, for instance. But not if you marry into that family.’ Richard did not respond, and he went on, encouraged: ‘Charlotte, now – I deplore this office-girl, latch-key business she’s got herself into, but now she’s marrying Launde, she’ll leave all that behind. A decent title, as the Irish ones go, and I shall take him under my wing when he comes into the House, make sure he shapes up, put him in the way of something suitable. Charlotte is doing the right thing, and I do think it’s too bad of you to jeopardise all that with this very unsuitable liaison. It will reflect on her, you know. And on us – Joan doesn’t say anything, but I know she’s upset. No man is an island.’

Richard noted that he didn’t mention Henry. Their father had acknowledged him, but it was common knowledge in the ton that Henry was the result of their mother’s affair with the acclaimed war artist Octavian Laidislaw. Such things were far from uncommon, and were shrugged off as long as the wife had already presented her husband with sufficient offspring. But Robert had a very rigid sense of propriety, and Henry was rarely mentioned in his conversation.

‘Why are you marrying her,’ Robert concluded, a touch peevishly, ‘if you don’t have to?’

The easiest thing would have been to say, ‘Because I love her.’ That’s what he should have said. But he hesitated just too long for it to sound natural. There was no reason he could give that would make any sense to Robert. They hardly made sense to him. Because the Nevinsons had been good to him. Because he could not bear to hurt their feelings by letting them think he was snubbing them. Because Cynthia loved him. Because he had to do something with his life, and here was a whole path mapped out for him: a business, a marriage, a family.