have your share of the marriage settlement."
There'll be no settlement. For God's sake, Max, there'll be no marriage. Charnwood won't allow it. And if you persist in this madness, we won't even have two thousand pounds to remember him by."
"I don't want his money. I want his daughter."
"Then have her. Before you cut and run. But cut and run you must."
A look came into his eyes such as I had seen many times, but never before directed at me. It was one of utter contempt. "You don't understand the meaning of the word love, do you, Guy? I don't blame you. Neither did I, till I met Diana. I ought to ram what you've just said about her back down your throat. And I will, if you dare to repeat it. I'll let it pass this once, for old time's sake. But, if you set any store by our friendship, don't ever take her name in vain again. If you do, it'll be the end between us. For good and all."
He was deadly serious. There was no longer any room for doubt. He was in love with Diana Charnwood. Or, as I saw it, he was sufficiently obsessed with her to glorify his emotions with such a description. But the definition was less important than the effect. And the effect, in my judgement, could only be disastrous for both of us. "Let's take this calmly," I said, as much for my own benefit as Max's. There's no reason for us to fall out."
"I agree. As long as you don't interfere in my plans."
"I won't. But Charnwood will. He knows a lot about us. And he has the resources to find out more. He won't hesitate to tell Diana what sort of lives we've led."
"Let him. She knows I'm no angel. And she knows her father won't approve of her choice of husband. Not initially, anyway.
That's why we've agreed she'll spend the next few days winning him over. She can twist him round her little finger. I've seen her do it. By the time I go down there next week-end, he'll already be as good as convinced. Once I explain the misapprehension you and he were labouring under .. ."
"He'll shake you by the hand and give his consent. Is that how you see it?"
"Yes. It is. And why not? Beneath the bluster, he only wants Diana to be happy. Well, so do I."
"Max, it's not as simple as '
"It's as simple as this!" He pointed his finger at me imperiously. "We love each other and we mean to be married. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I rather think I do."
"Good. In a few days, Charnwood will as well. Until then, I don't want to hear another word on the subject."
An uneasy truce prevailed between Max and me for the rest of that week. There was clearly nothing I could do to make him see reason. I could only hope Charnwood would succeed where I had failed and adhere to the terms we had agreed. But unpleasant doubts about the whole enterprise had been sown in my mind. The money was there for the taking. My every instinct told me not to delay in accepting it. Yet delay was the only policy Max would permit. And any protest by me seemed likely to provoke a permanent rupture between us.
The atmosphere in the flat became, not surprisingly, intolerable. Eager to escape it, I embarked on a journey which it had been in my mind to undertake since my meeting with Charnwood. For he had prompted me to speak of my brother Felix. And I knew I could confide in Felix with absolute confidence for the simple reason that he would not remember a single thing I said. He would probably not even remember my visit. And, if he did, nobody would believe him. Not my father or my sister, anyway. However low their opinion of me might be, I was certain it would not have sunk to the point where they could be persuaded I had returned to England after seven years without troubling to tell them.
So it was that on Friday morning I walked to St. Pancras and caught a train out into the Hertfordshire countryside south of St. Albans. My destination was Napsbury Hospital, where
Felix had been admitted in 1917, supposedly suffering from neurasthenia, a diagnosis later amended to embrace whichever neurosis his doctors
There'll be no settlement. For God's sake, Max, there'll be no marriage. Charnwood won't allow it. And if you persist in this madness, we won't even have two thousand pounds to remember him by."
"I don't want his money. I want his daughter."
"Then have her. Before you cut and run. But cut and run you must."
A look came into his eyes such as I had seen many times, but never before directed at me. It was one of utter contempt. "You don't understand the meaning of the word love, do you, Guy? I don't blame you. Neither did I, till I met Diana. I ought to ram what you've just said about her back down your throat. And I will, if you dare to repeat it. I'll let it pass this once, for old time's sake. But, if you set any store by our friendship, don't ever take her name in vain again. If you do, it'll be the end between us. For good and all."
He was deadly serious. There was no longer any room for doubt. He was in love with Diana Charnwood. Or, as I saw it, he was sufficiently obsessed with her to glorify his emotions with such a description. But the definition was less important than the effect. And the effect, in my judgement, could only be disastrous for both of us. "Let's take this calmly," I said, as much for my own benefit as Max's. There's no reason for us to fall out."
"I agree. As long as you don't interfere in my plans."
"I won't. But Charnwood will. He knows a lot about us. And he has the resources to find out more. He won't hesitate to tell Diana what sort of lives we've led."
"Let him. She knows I'm no angel. And she knows her father won't approve of her choice of husband. Not initially, anyway.
That's why we've agreed she'll spend the next few days winning him over. She can twist him round her little finger. I've seen her do it. By the time I go down there next week-end, he'll already be as good as convinced. Once I explain the misapprehension you and he were labouring under .. ."
"He'll shake you by the hand and give his consent. Is that how you see it?"
"Yes. It is. And why not? Beneath the bluster, he only wants Diana to be happy. Well, so do I."
"Max, it's not as simple as '
"It's as simple as this!" He pointed his finger at me imperiously. "We love each other and we mean to be married. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I rather think I do."
"Good. In a few days, Charnwood will as well. Until then, I don't want to hear another word on the subject."
An uneasy truce prevailed between Max and me for the rest of that week. There was clearly nothing I could do to make him see reason. I could only hope Charnwood would succeed where I had failed and adhere to the terms we had agreed. But unpleasant doubts about the whole enterprise had been sown in my mind. The money was there for the taking. My every instinct told me not to delay in accepting it. Yet delay was the only policy Max would permit. And any protest by me seemed likely to provoke a permanent rupture between us.
The atmosphere in the flat became, not surprisingly, intolerable. Eager to escape it, I embarked on a journey which it had been in my mind to undertake since my meeting with Charnwood. For he had prompted me to speak of my brother Felix. And I knew I could confide in Felix with absolute confidence for the simple reason that he would not remember a single thing I said. He would probably not even remember my visit. And, if he did, nobody would believe him. Not my father or my sister, anyway. However low their opinion of me might be, I was certain it would not have sunk to the point where they could be persuaded I had returned to England after seven years without troubling to tell them.
So it was that on Friday morning I walked to St. Pancras and caught a train out into the Hertfordshire countryside south of St. Albans. My destination was Napsbury Hospital, where
Felix had been admitted in 1917, supposedly suffering from neurasthenia, a diagnosis later amended to embrace whichever neurosis his doctors
Similar Books
