The Flood-Tide by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles Page A

will add to our pleasure this Christmas,' Allen said as he read the note. The family was gathered around him in the drawing room, where they had been listening to Angus's tales of undergraduate life in Edinburgh, and all looked at him expectantly. 'Mary, here will be excitement enough even for you. My dear,' to Jemima, 'it seems your brother and his family are all come to stay at Shawes for the Christmas period.'
    ‘I did not know they were so intimate,' Jemima said. Allen shrugged.
    ‘I dare say they are not. But all the great families go into the country at Christmas, and since Charles has still not bought himself a country estate to replace this one, he must either stay in London - which would be intolerable - or depend upon an invitation. They have arrived today.'
    ‘Well, it was very courteous of them to let us know,' Jemima said.
    ‘Ah, but that is not all - the exciting part is still to come,' Allen said, smiling round at his family. 'They are to give a grand ball on St Stephen's Day to which we are all invited, in return for allowing them to join our hunting parties.'
    ‘I am sure he could not have said anything so improper,' Jemima smiled.
    ‘Oh no - from what little I know of Sir John Fussell, he is incapable of impropriety. It is very properly worded, but the meaning is clear enough. He speaks regretfully of the fact that Shawes has no estate attached, and therefore no hunting, and of the splendid hunting to be had on our estate, and then goes on quite innocently to mention the ball. We could not be so indelicate as to ignore such a cri de coeur, could we, my darling?'
    ‘But Papa, Papa—' Mary was almost jumping up and down in her anxiety. Allen took pity on her.
    ‘Yes, little one, you are invited to take tea with the Fussell children, and to watch the opening of the ball from the gallery. That, I imagine, is to remind us that the little Fussells will want to hunt as well,' he added to Jemima. ‘Well now, how shall I reply to this? Do you think I ought to refuse their kind invitation? To be sure, we hardly know them.’
    There was a chorus of agonized pleas from the younger ones, and Jemima, joining gravely in the fun, said that the presence of the Chelmsfords would naturally increase their intimacy, and advised him solemnly to accept.
    *
    The sudden return of Flora's brother Charles on the day before Christmas Eve brought more excitement, and great joy to Flora, for, once he had unpacked his specimens, mourned over those damaged beyond hope, and satisfied himself that the others were being properly cared for, he readily granted her permission to marry their cousin Thomas. And when pressed a little further, he even saw the necessity for an immediate marriage, so that Flora could be with Thomas in London for the last six weeks before he went to sea.
    ‘But won't you mind not having the grand wedding you must always have dreamed of?' he asked her. 'There will be too little time for anything but a quiet ceremony and private dinner.'
    ‘I don't care,' Flora said rapturously. 'I want to marry Thomas - I don't care about the wedding.’
    So Christmas passed in its accustomed way, but with the added happiness of Flora's approaching wedding, and the added interest of the families from Shawes. On Christmas Eve, Allen and Jemima gave a dinner party for the adult members of the families: Flora and Thomas, Charles and Angus, Sir John and Lady Marjorie, Lord and Lady Chelmsford, and Chelmsford's son from his first marriage, Lord Meldon, back from his first term at Oxford. Jemima was sorry to see a certain amount of uneasiness, even hostility, between her brother-in-law and his son, and during the course of the evening traced it to its source -Meldon resented the second wife and the new family, felt he was being neglected by his father. And indeed, judging by how often Chelmsford mentioned his wife and their children, who were, it seemed, more clever and handsome than any other two children who ever lived, Jemima