A Family and a Fortune by Ivy Compton-Burnett

not too tired with all your efforts?’
    â€˜How do you do, Mrs Gaveston? No, I am not so very tired,’ said Miss Griffin, a short, thin woman of fifty, with a long, sallow face, large, hazel eyes, features which might have been anyone’s except for their lines of sufferance and kindness, hands which were more developed than her body, and a look of being very tired indeed. ‘It is very good of you to come to welcome us.’
    â€˜Mrs Gaveston came in to see her father and sister, of course,’ said Matty, in a tone which said so much more than her words, that it brought a silence.
    â€˜Yes, indeed, dear,’ said her sister. ‘And when you want me to go and leave you to your dinner, you must tell me.’
    â€˜The dinner is not - the dinner will not be ready yet,’ said Miss Griffin, in a stumbling tone, glancing at Matty and away. ‘The maid does not know where anything is yet. She is quite new.’
    â€˜Of course she is, as we did not bring her with us,’ said Matty, with her little laugh. ‘Couldn’t you show her where the things are, as you have just unpacked them?’
    â€˜She put everything together - I put it all together - we have not sorted them yet. She is just finding what she can.’
    â€˜I should have put all the things in their places as I took them out. I should not have thought of any other way.’
    â€˜We couldn’t do that. The men were waiting to take the cases. We had to put them all down anywhere.’
    â€˜I should have known where anywhere was. I often wish I were able-bodied, for everyone’s sake.’
    â€˜We wish you were, child, but for your own,’ said Oliver.
    â€˜I think Miss Griffin has managed wonders from the look of the house,’ said Blanche.
    â€˜We have all done that today,’ said her sister. ‘I almost think I have managed the most, in keeping still through all the stir and turmoil. I hope we shall never have such a day again. I can’t help hoping it.’
    â€˜I know I shall not,’ said her father.
    â€˜I remember so well the day when you came to us, Miss Griffin,’ said Blanche. ‘It was thirty-one years ago, a fewdays before my wedding. And you were so kind in helping me to pack and put the last touches to my clothes. I wish I was taking you with me.’
    â€˜I remember thinking that you were using my companion as your own,’ said Matty, smiling from one to the other.
    Miss Griffin turned her face aside, finding it unsteadied by ordinary kindness.
    â€˜Sit down, Miss Griffin, and rest until dinner,’ said Matty. ‘There is no need to stand more than you must, though I often wish I could do a little of it. That may make me think other people more fortunate than they are.’
    Miss Griffin sat down in the sudden, limp way of someone who would soon have had to do so.
    â€˜There is Edgar,’ said Blanche. ‘He will come in and say a word, and then we will leave you all to rest.’
    â€˜Why, Edgar, this is nice,’ said Matty, rising from her seat as she had not done for her sister, and showing that she stood tall and straight, in spite of disabled lower limbs. ‘I did not think you would forget us on our first night. We had not forgotten you. No, you have been in our minds and on our lips. Now what do you say to our settling at your very gates?’
    â€˜That it is - that I hope it is the best place for you to be,’ said Edgar, putting out all his effort and accordingly unable to say more.
    â€˜And your brother! I am never quite sure what to call him,’ said Matty, putting round her head to look at Dudley. ‘Come in and let us hear your voice. We have been cheered by it so many times.’
    â€˜I am glad you have. I have always meant you to be. I am in my element in a chat. My strong point is those little things which are more important than big ones, because they make up life. It seems that big ones do not