The Hardie Inheritance (32 page)

‘It's going to be open for four days, not just one,' Trish told Terry. ‘Ellis has been doing marvellously on publicity. On Thursday there's to be a preview. He's got someone from the radio coming down to do an interview with Grace and to talk
about the exhibits. And art critics from the newspapers as well.'

‘So when do the buyers come?'

‘Friday and Saturday. We're using your idea of selling catalogues in advance. And doing what you said about limiting the numbers, though Ellis has been taking the names and addresses of anyone he turns away, so they can always be invited privately afterwards. And he thinks that some of them will just turn up and demand to buy catalogues at the door, so he's allowed for that. I've been making Dan and Boxer practise giving change. They're terribly quick at it. I'm surprised, because their school reports are never up to much.'

‘It's the result of being descended from generations of market traders,' said Terry, smiling as though it were a joke and yet speaking seriously. ‘Mum had a stall up to the start of the war. I can do much more complicated sums in my head, and faster, than I can on paper. Talking of moving fast, there's one thing I've got to tell you. Just been having a word with Dan and Boxer about it. I've got somewhere for us all to live.'

Trish was pleased and disappointed at the same time. ‘We'll miss them,' she said.

‘Nice of you to say so. But we can't expect you to put them up for ever, and school begins on Tuesday. Besides, you won't be here yourself so much, will you, if that art school of yours goes back to its old place in London.'

‘Tuesday!' Trish exclaimed. ‘You mean you're going straight off after the weekend. You won't just disappear, will you, Terry?'

‘Course not. Might need you to put a coat of paint on the flat for us. Where do we go next?'

He was concentrating on the sculpture route, and again Trish felt a kind of disappointment that he should apparently be able to break the connection with Greystones so easily. But perhaps that attitude was necessary to persuade his brothers that the return to London was natural and inevitable. Although still troubled by the thought of their departure, she tried to
follow Terry's lead and concentrate on discussions of the opening arrangements.

From the moment on Thursday when newspaper photographers began to arrive, the success of the adventure was assured and, at least to start with, the system operated smoothly. On Friday and Saturday there were never more than thirty people in the grounds at any time, and the amateur band of helpers had no difficulties in dealing with them. Grace was available to talk about her work, whilst Ellis talked business.

Sunday, however, was different. A feeling of guilt at turning her own garden into a shop had led Grace to offer an extra afternoon's opening to a charity. They were all totally unprepared for the response. September 2nd was a warm, sunny day and it seemed that half the population of Oxford had decided to combine a country walk with the chance of exploring an estate which was usually private. Art-lovers who had learned of the show too late to apply for catalogues took the opportunity to see the sculptures after all, so that once again Grace and Ellis were kept busy in the studio.

The charity provided its own gatekeepers to collect entrance money – and this was just as well, since it freed the other members of the household to patrol the grounds. Charity or no charity, Andy was not prepared to allow anyone to do more than admire the vineyard from a safe distance. Jean-Paul was on duty in the walled garden, whilst Dan and Boxer, Terry and Trish kept on the move, discouraging visitors from touching the sculptures with sticky fingers or from breaking off pieces of plants to take home. Jay had taken a deck chair to the heart of the serpentine garden originally created by Philip, ready to surprise any plant thieves who thought themselves unobserved.

It was when the crowds were at their largest that Trish caught a glimpse of someone who was certainly not a sightseer, and who even as a potential patron would have chosen a quieter day to call. Rupert, dressed for riding, was looking round with a bemused expression on his face. Deserting her duty, Trish hurried towards him.

‘What on earth is going on here?' he exclaimed. ‘Has the Revolution begun?'

‘It's for charity.' But Trish's quick explanation only made him shake his head incredulously.

‘How can Grace stand it? So many people trampling around. Are they in the house as well?'

‘Only the studio.' Originally designed for Lucy Hardie and her watercolour painting, this had a direct door to the garden; so visitors were able to enter it without going through the rest of the house.

‘It would drive me up the wall to have so many strangers invading my privacy. Well, I won't stay. I've been spending a couple of days with Julia and realized it was within riding distance. Just come and say Hello to her, and then we'll be off. I can see that this is no moment for a tête-à-tête.'

Trish had not until then realized that Rupert had arrived with a companion; but now, as she turned to accompany him, she saw a slim young woman in her late twenties standing beside the fence to which two horses were tethered.

So that was his brother's fiancée! Trish put a hand on Rupert's arm to hold him back. ‘Before I meet her, have you had any news about Miles?' The war against Japan was over at last.

‘He's alive, thank God,' said Rupert. ‘Mother heard yesterday. That's why I went over to Julia's place, to tell her. But he's not fit enough to travel yet. Suffering from malnutrition and two separate tropical diseases. All the same, there've been times when we feared the worst – so yes, we're all very happy.' They walked on again. ‘Julia, meet Patricia Faraday. Patricia, this is Julia Lloyd-Jones.'

‘Trish,' said Trish, shaking hands. ‘Rupert's just told me about Miles. I'm so glad. I know how worried you've all been – and for such a long time.'

‘Yes, it's a great relief. Marvellous news. We're not going to let ourselves get frightened by the medical report.'

‘We have to let Patricia get back to control her perfectly frightful crowds,' Rupert said. ‘But before you go, you promised to come and see what's happened to Castlemere? Would the day after tomorrow be any good?'

‘I'd love to come. Oh, and Rupert, congratulations on your magnificent victory! Have you taken your seat yet?'

‘Yes, I went up on the 20th, with all the other new boys. To sit in impotent opposition while the country goes to the dogs. The Labour lot even sang the Red Flag in the Chamber, would you believe? But we mustn't have a political argument. No doubt you're gloating over the result.'

‘Not really. I thought it was rather ungrateful, as a matter of fact, after all that Churchill's done. Oh, just look at that boy climbing through the hole!'

‘Why else does Grace carve holes if not for them to be climbed through? But I mustn't distract you from your police duties. See you on Tuesday, then.'

Trish watched as he and Julia swung themselves up into their saddles and rode away. Then it was time to return to crowd control.

It was an exhausted group of people who gathered for a drink of home-made lemonade or wine that evening half an hour after the last of the invaders had left. But Grace, flushed with the success of the venture, was more animated than Trish ever remembered seeing her before.

‘I need to make a short speech,' she said. ‘To thank you all for your help and hard work. I've suddenly become a rich woman!'

‘Don't let it go to your head,' Ellis warned her. ‘Remember that it's six years' work you've been selling. You won't be able to replace it in five minutes. You need to divide the total by six to work out an income.'

‘But I've kept alive during those six years,' Grace pointed out. ‘I refuse to be sensible and cautious about this. When all the buyers have paid for what they've chosen, for the first time in my life I shall have money in the bank that I've earned
myself and that isn't earmarked in advance for something dull like repairing the roof. It seems the right opportunity to distribute one or two rewards.'

‘Oh goody!' exclaimed Jay. ‘It's certainly been a very arduous afternoon, guarding your property from a deck chair.'

‘Those who live as family are expected to work as family,' said Grace, laughing. ‘Bad luck, Jay. Nothing for you except a big thank-you. Andy, I'd like to call down at the lodge for a chat later this evening, if I may. Boxer, will you come to the library with me? And Dan afterwards.'

Within only a few minutes the two boys were back, eager to show their brother what they had been given. Dan was waving a ten shilling note, while Boxer clutched a handful of silver coins.

‘You're to go next,' they said to Terry before dashing up to their bedroom with their fortunes.

‘A pound for me, d'you think?' he guessed. ‘Since I'm bigger than them.' He was smiling as he went out of the room; but when he returned his face was pale with shock.

‘What's the matter?' asked Trish, fearing that he must have been given bad news of some kind.

‘Nothing's the matter. I'll say nothing's the matter!'

‘Well, tell me what's happened, then.' By now the two of them were alone.

‘She's given me a cheque. For ten per cent of the sales. And there'll be more to come later, when the bronze editions have been cast. Because it was my idea, she said. But it's much more than an idea is worth.'

Trish shook her head. ‘There's nothing more valuable than an idea. That's what starts everything off.'

‘Well, what she said is that if she'd sold through a London gallery it would have taken forty per cent, so she reckons she's got all that to give away. Ellis doesn't want any, except to pay the exhibition bills. Jean-Paul's going to keep the money from selling the wine, and Mrs Barrett's having whatever she took for refreshments. And there'll be something for you; you're to
go in next. But –' He looked unbelievingly at the cheque in his hand. ‘I haven't even got a bank account!'

‘You'd better hurry up and open one, then. What will you do with the money?'

‘Get stock. Premises, even. You can make a good living from a market stall but to take a step up you've got to have capital. I thought I'd have to wheedle it out of a bank and be saddled with interest payments. But now …! This was what I really needed, to make a start. Grace said she wanted to see me doing well. But it's crazy. I mean, we owe her; she doesn't owe us.'

‘She's not interested in money,' Trish told him confidently. ‘But she
is
interested in people being able to do what they specially want to do. And she knows how hard it is, starting.'

‘Maybe she's going to set you up in business as well then!'

But Grace, smiling as Trish went into the library, was more practical than that.

‘I imagine the Slade will be going back to London now that the war's over,' she said. ‘You'll need a more generous allowance for living there. Ellis will discuss that with you when you've got some idea of what your expenses will be. The first problem will be to find somewhere to live. You'll have to put down a deposit and pay the first month in advance; and you may want to buy things to make the place more homey. So you'd better have a lump sum ready.' She pushed a cheque across the table.

‘Oh Grace, you are generous. You oughtn't –'

‘I've given more to Terry – because I think he needs it more. But I really do appreciate all the hard work you put into the weekend, Trish. It's not just the money. In fact, that's not important at all, except as a practical sign of how people see my work. But it's been wonderful to have people coming and enjoying what they see. It's not something I ever expected to happen. And Ellis has just been showing me an article in the
Observer
. It makes me feel – well, important.'

‘And so you are.'

‘It's not something that's easy to imagine, while I'm hammering away here on my own. Yesterday in particular was quite a day. So a few thank-yous seem to be in order.'

‘Terry's thrilled to bits,' Trish told her. ‘Are you doing something for Andy as well, or shouldn't I ask?'

‘It's something he and I have got to talk about,' Grace told her. ‘I don't even know whether he wants to stay in England, or whether he'd like to go back to France and start again from scratch on the farm there. But if he
does
stay, he ought to be offered a more formal arrangement. What I have in mind is to offer him a tenancy of the vineyard. So that if it makes any profits, he can keep them. And he could have a few acres extra to that to make a small-holding.'

‘You ought to keep the land at the bottom of the hill in your own hands,' said Ellis, who had been sitting quietly at the other end of the room with the papers relating to the sculpture sales in front of him.

‘Why?' asked Grace.

‘If the Morris works want to expand again at the rate they were going before the war, you could get a good price for the fields on the far side of the wood.'

‘I don't want to see a factory going up in our grounds!' exclaimed Grace, horrified.

‘Then you need to keep full ownership of the land in order to protect it.'

‘I suppose you're right. Anyway, Andy wouldn't want the wood. He may not even be interested in taking over the vineyard. But he seems enthusiastic enough. I haven't got either the skill or the time to give it proper attention. I want to concentrate on my own work. It's all very selfish.'

‘It sounds very generous to me,' Trish said.

‘Well, you know.' Grace looked serious for a moment. ‘My brother David is always on at me about wills and things, and I suppose there may be a pleasure of a sort in thinking who's going to enjoy my possessions after I'm dead. But there's a
much greater pleasure, it seems to me, in making presents while I'm still alive and watching people smile and tell me how generous I am! I know that I can't do that with the house, and – to forestall what Ellis is bursting to say – I also know that the house can't continue to exist without the land. But I see absolutely no point in hoarding anything else.'