Legacy by Larissa Behrendt Read Free Book Online Page B

Kenton has now been married for over twenty years and while her relationship with her husband has not always been easy or happy, she has grown to love him in her own way. With the arrival of a grandchild she chooses to stay with her family rather than return to Darlington Hall and Stevens returns there alone.
    â€˜And what did you think?’ Professor Young asks.
    â€˜At the end of the book Miss Kenton has a family, even though she is not always happy and her family life is not perfect. Her husband loves her even if he does let her down but, sadly, Stevens has none of that. Instead he sacrificed his life to the service of a man who was morally flawed and eventually disgraced. What did he have to show for all the hard work, the loyalty?’
    We talk about the importance of work/life balance as I bundle up my notes from the meeting. I lie back on my bed, looking at the ceiling, and listen to Professor Young.
    â€˜People didn’t have as much choice in those days though, did they? If you got married, you pretty much had to leave your employment. Domestic service in someone else’s house certainly wasn’t conducive to having a family of your own.’
    â€˜You certainly do get a sense of how much Stevens has sacrificed the night of the large banquet when his father is dying but he continues to attend to his duties as Lord Darlington attempts to play statesman,’ I add.
    When I finally put the phone down I have a renewed enthusiasm. Talking to Professor Young always inspires me. The fear I harbour in the lead-up to the meetings that he will be disappointed with me, that I will make a mistake, evaporates when I actually speak with him and leaves in its wake the adrenalin rush that comes from a challenging, fast-paced conversation in which I feel as though I am in the hot seat.
    The next phase of my doctoral research is to start really drilling down into what it is that Aboriginal people mean when they speak about ‘sovereignty’. And the best way to do that, I decide, is through a series of interviews. This would justify my staying here longer. Perhaps until December when Jamie comes back from Perth. Professor Young won’t like it, not one bit, but I’ll draw up an interview schedule - I might even be able to do a few in Perth - and then it will be easier to counter his inevitable protests.
    There would be no better place to start than by talking to my father.

7
    BOSTON, UNITED STATES
    He scheduled his meetings with Simone so she could be the last appointment of his day. Today, he had missed looking at her as she spoke, seeing how expressive she was when she was confident about what she was saying, loosening the nervousness she seemed cloaked in at the beginning of every meeting. Even with just her voice to go by he could, through the nuances, imagine her face, how she looked upwards when she was thinking and frowned when she was listening.
    His meetings with doctoral students had always been structured the same way. He would start by asking them about their project: ‘What is your central argument?’ This required them to think more deeply and assisted them in understanding their arguments more thoroughly than by just writing them down. But he also had the habit at the end of their meetings of asking his students about what they were reading, knowing the question forced them to read something other than the materials they needed for their research.
    It gave him a chance to talk with these bright, young students about matters beyond their studies - about life, love, ethics, duty, values and politics. John had always been a prolific reader, an only child who wasn’t naturally drawn to sport - more of a loner than a team player - and he prided himself that it was rare that his students would talk about a book that he had not read. He had even introduced a ‘Law and Literature’ course over the summer semester, much to the amusement of his colleagues but to the delight of