A God and His Gifts by Ivy Compton-Burnett Read Free Book Online Page A

sighing.
    Salomon was a short, solid boy of seven, with a large, round head, a full, round face, wide, grey eyes and features resembling Sir Michael’s. Merton, two years younger and nearly the same height, was a dark-eyed, comely boy with a likeness to Ada’s father, whose name he bore. Reuben at three was puny for his age, with a pinched, plain face surprisingly like Emmeline’s, considering the vagueness of feature of both.
    â€œThere are Father and Mother,” said Merton.
    â€œAnd Aunt Zillah, if Father is there,” said Salomon.
    â€œWell, that will swell our numbers,” said Sir Michael. “And I hear your Aunt Emmeline too. It will give us a good game.”
    â€œWhy are things called games?” said Salomon.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Joanna. “It is not the right word.”
    â€œWhat would you call them?” said her husband.
    â€œThey are a kind of dance,” said Merton.
    â€œSomething handed down,” said his brother.
    â€œYes, they are old games,” said Sir Michael. “Handed down to us from the past. I don’t know their history.”
    â€œI am glad of that,” said Joanna. “So no one else need know.”
    â€œPlay again,” said Reuben.
    â€œYes, in a minute,” said his grandfather. “The others are on their way.”
    â€œAll unknowing, my lady,” said Galleon, with a smile for Joanna. “Or they might be disposed to divert it.”
    Hereward and his wife and sister entered, followed by the group from the other house. Alfred looked disturbed, Penelope grave, and Emmeline sober and aloof.
    â€œGrandpa Merton play,” said Reuben, laughing at the idea. “One, two grandpas play. Galleon grandpa too.”
    â€œNo, Master Reuben. I have no little grandsons.”
    â€œHe means you are old,” said Salomon.
    Galleon did not reply.
    â€œNo, Hereward, I can’t put it off any longer,” said Ada, in a tone that did not only address her husband. “I have tried to shut my eyes, but the time is past. I can’t go on being blind and deaf and silent. I have eyes and ears, and now you will find I have words as well. You can feel you are finding it late. My father and aunt see the truth. Your father and mother see it. You and my sister know it in your hearts. Emmeline, my sister! To think what has come between us!”
    â€œThere need be nothing between you. No change has come to her or me. If there is a change, it is in you.”
    â€œIt is true. No change has come. It was there from the first, the feeling between you. The change in me is that I see it. It is strange that I did not before. But I thought of her as a child.”
    â€œOf course the feeling was there. You were anxious that it should be. You put it in my heart. It was a thing we shared.”
    â€œNo, something else is the truth. It helped your feeling for me. It went through everything. I see it now. I should have seen it then. You hardly hid it. It could not have been hidden from yourself.”
    â€œWhy should I hide it? From myself or anyone else? I cared for you both. I do so now. What is there wrong about it?”
    â€œWe need not say,” said Alfred. “But there is something that must be said. We know our world. We know its limits and its laws. We know they must be followed. We do not make our own.”
    â€œYou need not think of me,” said Emmeline. “I shall not be with you any longer. I am going away. I shall live at a distance from you all. Father and Aunt Penelope have arranged it. I see myself that I must go. I believe everyone would like me to stay. It is only that someone would like it too much.”
    â€œOh, there it is!” said Ada, with a sigh. “As it has been, so it will always be. It is no good to talk of it. It must simply be accepted.”
    â€œI fear it must be,” said her father, in the same grave tone. “And dealt with for the threat it