Free A Heritage and its History by Ivy Compton-Burnett Page A

foothold in her sister’s home.”
    â€œI can’t help the whole thing’s being strange to me, Uncle.”
    â€œThen you will be the person apart, as she will not.”
    â€œWe have not congratulated you, Edwin,” said Julia. “We were taken by surprise. You know we do so from our hearts.”
    â€œThank you. You have always served me. I owe much to you.”
    â€œYour life with my father for twenty-seven years,” said Simon. “You will never feel that anyone fills that place.”
    â€œMy wife is to do something different, fill a place of her own.”
    â€œNo doubt you needed someone in your life, who belonged wholly to you. You had always had it.”
    â€œYou are right as far as you go. It is further than you have gone.”
    â€œI hope I have not failed in sympathy, Uncle?”
    â€œIt has not been in my mind to ask it. Or in yours to give it.”
    â€œI begin to have a feeling of guilt.”
    â€œIt is not your fault that I have not done so. But I have seen no reason.”
    â€œI have not meant to put my life before yours.”
    â€œOur own lives are first to us. You see that mine is to me. And you should understand it. It is something we learn from ourselves.”
    â€œSimon, you will weary your uncle,” said Julia.
    â€œI am tired, it is true. I will go and rest. I am travelling tomorrow.”
    â€œDeakin,” said Simon, “you did not tell us that Sir Edwin was going to be married. You kept the knowledge to yourself.”
    â€œI had none at first, sir, except by inference. And Sir Edwin was the one to impart it.”
    â€œI expect you dreaded the moment for us.”
    â€œWell, for the mistress, sir,” said Deakin, lowering his voice and glancing at Julia. “It is not to be a slight change.”
    â€œI must not be called the mistress much longer,” said Julia.
    â€œNo, ma’am, I have seen the matter in its bearings.”
    â€œAnd this is the worst to you?” said Walter.
    â€œI could not apply the term to another, sir.”
    â€œYou will have to, Deakin,” said Julia. “It will be better for us all.”
    â€œIt will be lip service, ma’am.”
    â€œWell, that is a kind that is recognised,” said Walter.
    â€œHave you talked of the matter to Sir Edwin?” said Simon.
    â€œNot to say that, sir. I merely had the information.”
    â€œBut no doubt you showed surprise?”
    â€œI hope not unduly, sir. I try to fulfil my calling, as I see it.”
    â€œI have a great respect for it,” said Walter.
    â€œYes, sir, it is what is said.”
    â€œIt is a great deal to say,” said Julia. “And it is what we feel for the most important things.”
    â€œBut not the need to say it, ma’am. There being no need.”
    â€œWhat will Rhoda feel about her position here?” said Simon. “It must seem such a temporary thing.”
    â€œShe will live in the present, as we shall,” said Julia. “Well, the past is safe, and much of my life is there.”
    â€œI wish I could know what my father would say to it. Do not you, Deakin?”
    â€œIt is a wish I can hardly feel, sir.”
    â€œIt may be that he knows,” said Julia.
    â€œThen I wish I could know what he does say, and to whom he says it,” said her son.
    â€œSir Edwin is doing nothing wrong, Deakin,” said Julia.
    â€œWell, ma’am, the words cover a wide ground.”
    â€œYou think he essentially is?” said Simon.
    â€œWell, sir, if he had left things as they were, he would have remained where he was. He seems to have left his place. Though it is not for me to feel it.”
    â€œIt is a pleasant thing to hear. I am tired of being the one person to speak the truth.”
    â€œI think we all stand together, sir. It is what is left.”
    â€œMiss Graham will be Lady Challoner,” said Walter. “Had you thought of