The Black Swan Read Free

though.”
    Poor Celeste! I am afraid I did not think very much about her in those days, and it did not occur to me that I might be usurping the place which she should occupy. She should have been the one he liked to return to, the one he talked to.
    Now I knew that she was aware that he would not be pleased at the prospect of Belinda’s return and she wanted me to broach the matter to him.
    It was the least I could do.
    On those evenings when he was late home from the House, I made a habit of waiting up for him and, with the connivance of the cook, had had a little supper waiting for him in his study. There might be some soup which I would heat up on a little stove, and a leg of chicken or something like that. I had heard that Benjamin Dirsaeli’s wife used to do this for her husband, and I had always thought what a loving gesture it was.
    It amused my father very much. He had scolded me at first and said I should not be allowed to stay up so late, but I could see how pleased he was; and I knew how much he looked forward to talking to me about the events of the evening, and we would chat together while he ate.
    There was an understanding between us that if he did not arrive by eleven thirty it meant he would be staying the night at the house of a colleague, Sir John Greenham, who lived in Westminster, not far from the Houses of Parliament.
    On the evening of the day when the letter arrived, he was late, so I made the usual arrangements to wait in his study for him. He came home about ten o’clock to find me there with his supper.
    “I know these are busy days,” I said, “but I guessed you’d be here sometime.”
    “There’s a lot going on just now.”
    “Working up to the next election. Do you think you’ll get back?”
    “We’ve a good chance, I think. But it will be some little time before we go to the country.”
    “What a pity! But Lord Salisbury does seem to be quite popular.”
    “He’s a good man. The people don’t forget the Jubilee. They seem to give him credit for that. Bread and circuses, you know.”
    “I thought it was the Queen they were all admiring. Fifty years on the throne and all that.”
    “Yes, the Queen and her Prime Minister with her. Oh, he’s quite good … Salisbury. Bringing in free education is a mark in his favor. The Queen likes him, too. He doesn’t toady to her as Disraeli did, and she is clever enough to respect him for that, although she loved the flattery Dizzy laid on … with a trowel, as he himself admitted.”
    “The Queen doesn’t have the same admiration for Mr. Gladstone.”
    “Good Heavens, no … she really has taken against him. Very willful of Her Majesty. But there it is.”
    “But you have high hopes … when the election comes …”
    “Oh yes. People always want change. Never mind if it is for the better. Though we should be that, of course. But change … change … they all cry for change.”
    He was in a mellow mood and I thought it would be an appropriate moment to introduce the subject of Belinda.
    I said, “By the way, there was a letter from Australia. Tom Marner is dead.”
    “Dead!”
    “Yes. It was a heart attack. Apparently the mine was not doing so well …”
    “It has run out, I daresay. It has to be expected. Poor fellow! Who would have thought it?”
    “Apparently it was a great shock, and Leah herself is not in the best of health.”
    “What’s wrong with her?”
    “She didn’t say. She has hinted at something … rather bad. And she has written to Celeste because she is worried about Belinda.”
    “I see.” He was staring down at the chicken bones on his plate. “So … she wrote to Celeste.”
    “Well, Celeste is Belinda’s aunt. The letter came this morning.”
    “What does she want?”
    “She wants Belinda to come back here.”
    He did not speak for some time.
    I went on, “I think Celeste feels some responsibility.”
    “That girl made trouble,” he replied.
    “She was only young.”
    “She might have ruined