Providence by Anita Brookner Read Free Book Online Page B

it.
    By mutual and unspoken consent, the two men left her out of their discussions. But Kitty, who was obscurely unsettled by her speechless presence, made sure, like a good hostess, that her questions were regularly addressed to Miss Fairchild. When thus addressed, Miss Fairchild would clear her throat, uncross her legs or shift her position in a sensuous fashion unsuited to the occasion. She would sometimes answer quite reasonably but was clever enough to let Larter run away with her argument, which he did without even noticing he had been activated. At such moments Miss Fairchild would give a faint smile, push her hair behind her head, and then let it fall forward, shielding her face. Kitty was rather frightened of her. She recognized that Miss Fairchild was unteachable, and this in itself was frightening. But more than that; Miss Fairchild was unteachable because she felt she knew enough already.
    ‘Will you describe to me,’ said Kitty calmly, ‘some of the
tristes équivoques
of which Adolphe accuses himself?’
    ‘In fact,’ said Larter, ‘there is no equivocation there at all.’ He took a massive drag on his eighth cigarette. ‘Adolphe decides to seduce this woman, then grows tired of her, and wants to return to a more suitable way of life. She hangs on. His weakness in the face of her suffering is not equivocation. It is cowardice.’
    ‘But Adolphe himself calls this suffering somethingelse. And he is in a state of conflict. Hence,
équivoques
. Look at the words and trust them more. After all, this is Constant’s story, not yours. And a novel is not simply a confession, you know. It is about the author’s choice of words.’
    Mills pondered. ‘He never uses the word
amour.’
    ‘Yes, he does,’ said Kitty, ‘but he is talking about love as a phenomenon, not about his love for this particular woman. I am sorry to hammer this point but you must take notice of how the words are handled, in which context they are used. They will tell you everything. For her part, Ellénore considers Adolphe
misérable
. What do you make of that? Miss Fairchild?’
    Miss Fairchild raised her startling eyelids and smiled, to herself rather than at the question, as Kitty feared. ‘Well,’ she said, very slowly, ‘this woman is a nuisance. She’s old and she’s foreign. She’s ruining his career. Obviously, she’s being unfair.’
    Kitty, trying to control her annoyance, said, gently, ‘That’s not quite what I meant. None of these words is used accidentally. The word
misérable
is used because there is a great deal of shame involved. How do we know this?’
    ‘The preface,’ said Larter excitedly.
    ‘All right, the preface. Some think that this is the most important part of the book, although it was added some years later. Ten, to be precise. I think it might be useful if we were to translate the preface at this stage. Into the exact equivalent; no flourishes, please. Mr Mills?’
    Mr Mills donned his bifocals. ‘ “I wanted to depict the malady suffered by even the most arid hearts on account of the sufferings they cause, and the illusion that leads them to suppose that they –” ’
    ‘ “That these sufferings”,’ murmured Kitty.
    ‘ “That these sufferings are lighter or more superficial than they really are. From a distance, the image of thesorrow one causes appears vague and confused, like a cloud easy to pierce; one is encouraged by the approbation of an entirely artificial society, which replaces principles with rules and emotions with …” ’
    He stopped.
    ‘Convenances
,’ said Kitty. ‘That’s a difficult one, isn’t it? Yet that is perhaps the most crucial word in the paragraph.’
    ‘Conventions?’ supplied Larter.
    ‘I think so. We’ll see. Go on, Philip.’ She always called them by their Christian names when she got carried away by the argument. She felt a closeness with them, then. Even Miss Fairchild was watching Mills, although her hands were now hidden in the