The Custom of the Country (20 page)

‘No sign of her. She’s simply forgotten.’

Bowen looked at his watch, and turned to compare it with the high-waisted Empire clock.

‘Six o’clock. Why not telephone again? There must be some mistake. Perhaps she knew Ralph would be late.’

Laura laughed. ‘I haven’t noticed that she follows Ralph’s movements so closely. When I telephoned just now the servant said she’d been out since two. The nurse waited till half-past four, not liking to come without orders; and now it’s too late for Paul to come.’

She wandered away toward the farther end of the room, where, through half-open doors, a shining surface of mahogany reflected a flower-wreathed cake in which two candles dwindled.

‘Put them out, please,’ she said to some one in the background; then she shut the doors and turned back to Bowen.

‘It’s all so unlucky – my grandfather giving up his drive, and mother backing out of her hospital meeting, and having all the committee down on her. And Henley: I’d even coaxed Henley away from his bridge! He escaped again just before you came. Undine promised she’d have the boy here at four. It’s not as if it had never happened before. She’s always breaking her engagements.’

‘She has so many that it’s inevitable some should get broken.’

‘Ah, if she’d only choose! Now that Ralph has had to go into business, and is kept in his office so late, it’s cruel of her to drag him out every night. He told us the other day they hadn’t dined at home for a month. Undine doesn’t seem to notice how hard he works.’

Bowen gazed meditatively at the crumbling fire. ‘No – why should she?’

‘Why
should
she? Really, Charles –!’

‘Why should she, when she knows nothing about it?’

‘She may know nothing about his business; but she must know it’s her extravagance that’s forced him into it.’ Mrs Fairford looked at Bowen reproachfully. ‘You talk as if you were on her side!’

‘Are there sides already? If so, I want to look down on them impartially from the heights of pure speculation. I want to get a general view of the whole problem of American marriages.’

Mrs Fairford dropped into her armchair with a sigh. ‘If that’s what you want you must make haste! Most of them don’t last long enough to be classified.’

‘I grant you it takes an active mind. But the weak point is so frequently the same that after a time one knows where to look for it.’

‘What do you call the weak point?’

He paused. ‘The fact that the average American looks down on his wife.’

Mrs Fairford was up with a spring. ‘If that’s where paradox lands you!’

Bowen mildly stood his ground. ‘Well – doesn’t he prove it? How much does he let her share in the real business of life? How much does he rely on her judgement and help in the conduct of serious affairs? Take Ralph, for instance – you say his wife’s extravagance forces him to work too hard; but that’s not what’s wrong. It’s normal for a man to work hard for a woman – what’s abnormal is his not caring to tell her anything about it.’

‘To tell Undine? She’d be bored to death if he did!’

‘Just so; she’d even feel aggrieved. But why? Because it’s against the custom of the country. And whose fault is that? The man’s again – I don’t mean Ralph, I mean the genus he belongs to: homo sapiens, Americanus. Why haven’t we taught our women to take an interest in our work? Simply because we don’t take enough interest in
them
.’

Mrs Fairford, sinking back into her chair, sat gazing at the vertiginous depths above which his thought seemed to dangle her.

‘
You
don’t? The American man doesn’t – the most slaving, self-effacing, self-sacrificing –?’

‘Yes; and the most indifferent: there’s the point. The “slaving’s” no argument against the indifference. To slave for women is part of the old American tradition; lots of
people give their lives for dogmas they’ve ceased to believe in. Then again, in this country the passion for making money has preceded the knowing how to spend it, and the American man lavishes his fortune on his wife because he doesn’t know what else to do with it.’

‘Then you call it a mere want of imagination for a man to spend his money on his wife?’

‘Not necessarily – but it’s want of imagination to fancy it’s all he owes her. Look about you and you’ll see what I mean. Why does the European woman interest herself so much more in what the men are doing? Because she’s so important to them that they make it worth her while! She’s not a parenthesis, as she is here – she’s in the very middle of the picture. I’m not implying that Ralph isn’t interested in his wife – he’s a passionate, a pathetic exception. But even he has to conform to an environment where all the romantic values are reversed. Where does the real life of most American men lie? In some woman’s drawing-room or in their offices? The answer’s obvious, isn’t it? The emotional centre of gravity’s not the same in the two hemispheres. In the effete societies it’s love, in our new one it’s business. In America the real
crime passionnel
is a “big steal” – there’s more excitement in wrecking railways than homes.’

Bowen paused to light another cigarette, and then took up his theme. ‘Isn’t that the key to our easy divorces? If we cared for women in the old barbarous possessive way do you suppose we’d give them up as readily as we do? The real paradox is the fact that the men who make, materially, the biggest sacrifices for their women, should do least for them ideally and romantically. And what’s the result – how do the women avenge themselves? All my sympathy’s with them, poor deluded dears, when I see their fallacious little attempts to trick out the leavings tossed them by the preoccupied male – the money and the motors and the clothes – and pretend to themselves and each other that
that’s
what really constitutes life! Oh, I know what you’re going to say – it’s less and less of a pretence with them, I grant you; they’re more and more
succumbing to the force of the suggestion; but here and there I fancy there’s one who still sees through the humbug, and knows that money and motors and clothes are simply the big bribe she’s paid for keeping out of some man’s way!’

Mrs Fairford presented an amazed silence to the rush of this tirade; but when she rallied it was to murmur: ‘And is Undine one of the exceptions?’

Her companion took the shot with a smile. ‘No – she’s a monstrously perfect result of the system: the completest proof of its triumph. It’s Ralph who’s the victim and the exception.’

‘Ah, poor Ralph!’ Mrs Fairford raised her head quickly. ‘I hear him now. I suppose,’ she added in an undertone, ‘we can’t give him your explanation for his wife’s having forgotten to come?’

Bowen echoed her sigh, and then seemed to toss it from him with his cigarette-end; but he stood in silence while the door opened and Ralph Marvell entered.

‘Well, Laura! Hallo, Charles – have you been celebrating too?’ Ralph turned to his sister. ‘It’s outrageous of me to be so late, and I daren’t look my son in the face! But I stayed down town to make provision for his future birthdays.’ He returned Mrs Fairford’s kiss. ‘Don’t tell me the party’s over, and the guest of honour gone to bed?’

As he stood before them, laughing and a little flushed, the strain of long fatigue sounding through his gaiety and looking out of his anxious eyes, Mrs Fairford threw a glance at Bowen and then turned away to ring the bell.

‘Sit down, Ralph – you look tired. I’ll give you some tea.’

He dropped into an armchair. ‘I did have rather a rush to get here – but hadn’t I better join the revellers? Where are they?’

He walked to the end of the room and threw open the dining-room doors. ‘Hallo – where have they all gone to? What a jolly cake!’ He went up to it. ‘Why, it’s never even been cut!’

Mrs Fairford called after him: ‘Come and have your tea first.’

‘No, no – tea afterward, thanks. Are they all upstairs with my grandfather? I must make my peace with Undine –’

His sister put her arm through his, and drew him back to the fire.

‘Undine didn’t come.’

‘Didn’t come? Who brought the boy, then?’

‘He didn’t come either. That’s why the cake’s not cut.’

Ralph frowned. ‘What’s the mystery? Is he ill, or what’s happened?’

‘Nothing’s happened – Paul’s all right. Apparently Undine forgot. She never went home for him, and the nurse waited till it was too late to come.’

She saw his eyes darken; but he merely gave a slight laugh and drew out his cigarette case. ‘Poor little Paul – poor chap!’ He moved toward the fire. ‘Yes, please – some tea.’

He dropped back into his chair with a look of weariness, as if some strong stimulant had suddenly ceased to take effect on him; but before the tea-table was brought back he had glanced at his watch and was on his feet again.

‘But this won’t do. I must rush home and see the poor chap before dinner. And my mother – and my grandfather? I want to say a word to them – I must make Paul’s excuses!’

‘Grandfather’s taking his nap. And mother had to rush out for a postponed committee meeting – she left as soon as we heard Paul wasn’t coming.’

‘Ah, I see.’ He sat down again. ‘Yes, make the tea strong please. I’ve had a beastly fagging sort of day.’

He leaned back with half-closed eyes, his untouched cup in his hand. Bowen took leave, and Laura sat silent, watching her brother under lowered lids while she feigned to be busy with the kettle. Ralph presently emptied his cup and put it aside; then, sinking into his former attitude, he clasped his hands behind his head and lay staring apathetically into the fire. But suddenly he came to life and started up. A motor-horn had sounded outside, and there was a noise of wheels at the door.

‘There’s Undine! I wonder what could have kept her.’ He
jumped up and walked to the door; but it was Clare Van Degen who came in.

At sight of him she gave a little murmur of pleasure. ‘What luck to find you! No, not luck – I came because I knew you’d be here. He never comes near me, Laura: I have to hunt him down to get a glimpse of him!’

Slender and shadowy in her long furs, she bent to kiss Mrs Fairford and then turned back to Ralph. ‘Yes, I knew I’d catch you here. I knew it was the boy’s birthday, and I’ve brought him a present: a vulgar expensive Van Degen offering. I’ve not enough imagination left to find the right thing, the thing it takes feeling and not money to buy. When I look for a present nowadays I never say to the shopman: “I want this or that” – I simply say: “Give me something that costs so much.” ’ She drew a parcel from her muff. ‘Where’s the victim of my vulgarity? Let me crush him under the weight of my gold.’

Mrs Fairford sighed out ‘Clare – Clare!’ and Ralph smiled at his cousin.

‘I’m sorry; but you’ll have to depute me to present it. The birthday’s over; you’re too late.’

She looked surprised. ‘Why, I’ve just left Mamie Driscoll, and she told me Undine was still at Popple’s studio a few minutes ago: Popple’s giving a tea to show the picture.’

‘Popple’s giving a tea?’ Ralph struck an attitude of mock consternation. ‘Ah, in that case –! In Popple’s society who wouldn’t forget the flight of time?’

He had recovered his usual easy tone, and Laura saw that Mrs Van Degen’s words had dispelled his preoccupation. He turned to his cousin. ‘Will you trust me with your present for the boy?’

Clare gave him the parcel. ‘I’m sorry not to give it myself. I said what I did because I knew what you and Laura were thinking – but it’s really a battered old Dagonet bowl that came down to me from our revered great-grandmother.’

‘What – the heirloom you used to eat your porridge out
of?’ Ralph detained her hand to put a kiss on it. ‘That’s dear of you!’

She threw him one of her strange glances. ‘Why not say: “That’s like you?” But you don’t remember what I’m like.’ She turned away to glance at the clock. ‘It’s late, and I must be off. I’m going to a big dinner at the Chauncey Ellings’ – but you must be going there too, Ralph? You’d better let me drive you home.’

In the motor Ralph leaned back in silence, while the rug was drawn over their knees, and Clare restlessly fingered the row of gold-topped objects in the rack at her elbow. It was restful to be swept through the crowded streets in this smooth fashion, and Clare’s presence at his side gave him a vague sense of ease.

For a long time now feminine nearness had come to mean to him, not this relief from tension, but the ever-renewed dread of small daily deceptions, evasions, subterfuges. The change had come gradually, marked by one disillusionment after another; but there had been one moment that formed the point beyond which there was no returning. It was the moment, a month or two before his boy’s birth, when, glancing over a batch of belated Paris bills, he had come on one from the jeweller he had once found in private conference with Undine. The bill was not large, but two of its items stood out sharply. ‘Resetting pearl and diamond pendant. Resetting sapphire and diamond ring.’ The pearl and diamond pendant was his mother’s wedding present; the ring was the one he had given Undine on their engagement. That they were both family relics, kept unchanged through several generations, scarcely mattered to him at the time: he felt only the stab of his wife’s deception. She had assured him in Paris that she had not had her jewels reset. He had noticed, soon after their return to New York, that she had left off her engagement-ring; but the others were soon discarded also, and in answer to his question she had told him that, in her ailing state, rings ‘worried’ her. Now he saw she had deceived him, and, forgetting everything else, he went to
her, bill in hand. Her tears and distress filled him with immediate contrition. Was this a time to torment her about trifles? His anger seemed to cause her actual physical fear, and at the sight he abased himself in entreaties for forgiveness. When the scene ended she had pardoned him, and the reset ring was on her finger …

Soon afterward, the birth of the boy seemed to wipe out these humiliating memories; yet Marvell found in time that they were not effaced, but only momentarily crowded out of sight. In reality, the incident had a meaning out of proportion to its apparent seriousness, for it put in his hand a clue to a new side of his wife’s character. He no longer minded her having lied about the jeweller; what pained him was that she had been unconscious of the wound she inflicted in destroying the identity of the jewels. He saw that, even after their explanation, she still supposed he was angry only because she had deceived him; and the discovery that she was completely unconscious of states of feeling on which so much of his inner life depended marked a new stage in their relation.