Read The Last and the First for Free Online

I will go at that time. Remember to take the message.”
    â€œBut I never see her, Grannie. She has her tea taken to her room. She is arranging things with the new headmistress and has no time.”
    â€œNew headmistress? Is Miss Murdoch giving up?”
    â€œNo, but she is taking a partner. And they are planning things together. There is to be a good deal of change.”
    â€œOh, I remember the letter now. It seems that a partner is needed. I hope she will serve her purpose. Do you know her name?”
    â€œOh, it is the name of the people whose housemaid had the accident.”
    â€œHeriot? It would hardly be that. It is not a usual name.”
    â€œIt is the one in question, ma’am,” said Hollander, now moving round the table. “The eldest Miss Heriot has gone into a school as a partner. The carpenter heard when he went to mend the stair.”
    â€œWhat can be the reason of it? I wonder Sir Robert either allowed it or afforded it. Are you going to do nothing this morning, Osbert?”
    â€œYes, I am, Grannie. The office is closed to-day.”
    â€œIs there nothing in the world but lawyer’s work?”
    â€œNot much, as it is coming to seem to me.”
    â€œAre you also doing nothing, Erica?”
    â€œWell, what do I generally do?”
    â€œYou are too much your father’s children. He made no effort and has left no mark. You should take warning by him.”
    â€œIt seems disrespectful to take warning by a parent.”
    â€œRespect has to be earned,” said Jocasta, resting her eyes without expression on her other son. “Will you be in for luncheon, Hamilton?”
    â€œNot in person, Mamma. In thought I shall be with you. And with my mind’s eye see you at the table with your young group about you. And so enjoy a phantom companionship.”
    This group, when it gathered, would have been glad for companionship to be of this nature. Jocasta was in the state of nervous strain that occurred in her at intervals without warning or apparent cause.
    â€œNo words, if you please!” she said as she came to her seat. “We can eat and drink without them. I have seen it many times.”
    â€œSo our companionship will be phantom,” murmured Erica.
    â€œLet it be,” said Jocasta, lifting her hand as if to ward off some hostile force. “Let there be no sign or sound.”
    This condition prevailed and did its work, and later in the day Jocasta left her house and crossed the road to the larger one. Returning, swift and upright, satisfied with herself, she found the world had changed.
    â€œSo, Osbert, you have touched the height of humour.”
    â€œThe words are yours, Grannie. I hardly like to agree.”
    Whether Osbert agreed or not, someone else did, as Amy’s mirth testified.
    â€œWhere did you get that skirt? It must have been from my wardrobe.”
    â€œWell, yes, that is where it was. Where would a skirt be?”
    â€œThat is one of my widow’s caps. You must have opened a drawer.”
    â€œWell, yes, it is what I do with drawers.”
    â€œIt ought not to be. There might be something you should not see. People are entitled to their private lives.”
    â€œI should have thought they were the last things they were entitled to. I could not think of your having one.”
    â€œIs this behaviour typical of your personal life?”
    â€œNo, it is an isolated instance.”
    â€œI wonder if that is the truth.”
    â€œGrannie, do you doubt my word?”
    â€œWell, this surreptitious folly is not so straightforward, is it?”
    â€œOh, Grannie, have I been dishonourable? The thing I thought I could not be, even in jest.”
    â€œJests can reveal people as much as anything else.”
    â€œSo they can. Think how mine has revealed me. And how other people’s might reveal them. Or rather, keep your thoughts away from it.”
    â€œI hope you did not crush the