The Mighty and Their Fall Read Online Free PDF Page A

Hugo.
    â€œAnd people do not think in that way,” said Miss Starkie to her pupils.
    â€œHow do they think?” said Lavinia. “Is there another way?”
    â€œYou must prevent this child from being too mature and cynical, Miss Starkie,” said Ninian, with a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “It is my fault that she talks beyond her years, without the knowledge to justify it. It is for you to put it right, as you have put right so much.”
    â€œIs it not for you, Ninian?” said Hugo. “It is you who have made the mistake and want it rectified.”
    â€œThat is my reason for leaving it in better hands than mine.”
    â€œLavinia has learnt so many things easily and well, Mr. Middleton, that I am sure she will learn this. If she has been drawn too soon into the grown-up world, it will do her no harm to realise it. And perhaps she can have a foot in both worlds. That would be a fair compromise. We must try to see the matter through her eyes.”
    â€œWell I must go,” said Ninian. “I need not say to whom. I am happy in not having to go far. But I shall be happier when we can both stay.”
    The silence after he had gone was ended by Miss Starkie.
    â€œWell, we have had a break in our day. We must go and do better with the rest. I think Lavinia and Egbert will be staying with their grandmother.”
    â€œSo she knows I should not be alone,” said Selina. “And she knows people have a right to what is theirs. What use is wisdom in the wrong place?”
    â€œIs she too good to be a governess?” said Agnes, lingering behind.
    â€œFew people are too good for things. And no one is too good to be left unprovided for.”
    â€œYou will not be the mistress any longer, Grandma,” said Egbert. “I can’t keep the thought to myself.”
    â€œI have had that change before. I don’t know what I shall be. It is for someone else to decide. I daresay she has done so.”
    â€œWhat power a woman can have!” said Lavinia. “And how she can be in the power of another! Father must have known it.”
    â€œI wonder if this one can use power,” said Egbert.
    â€œNot without misusing it,” said Selina. “Few of us can do that. There is little hope that she is one of them. And we see that she will have it.”
    â€œWhat shall I do in the times when I was alone with Father?” said Lavinia, taking refuge in open words.
    â€œWhat I shall,” said her grandmother. “There will be nothing to do.”
    â€œNot for me,” said Hugo. “I shall spend more time with Lavinia. I don’t know if I am grateful to Ninian or vindictive towards him. People can be unsure of their own feelings. It means they have two kinds.”
    â€œGrandma, will you leave us?” said Egbert. “We must say the things that are not for you to hear.”
    Selina nodded and left the room, lifting her shoulders in resignation to her duties, as long as they remained to her.
    â€œSo Father is to marry a wife,” said Egbert. “It is very masculine of him. I have always appreciated his feminine streak. And now I am afraid it is not there.”
    â€œPeople ought not to marry openly,” said Hugo. “It is one of those things that should be recognised but veiled.”
    â€œIt is humbling to accept what is to do you harm,” said Lavinia. “It means you put others before yourself, and naturally that is despised. It is odd that it is held to be esteemed.”
    â€œI was grateful to you and Miss Starkie, Uncle,” said Egbert. “Father can’t shut his eyes to all human claims.”
    â€œHe said all was fair in love and war. I have always thought it an immoral saying.”
    â€œIt means the opposite of what it says. But why say all is unfair in love and war? We all know it. Anyhow Father does.”
    â€œHe feels I have failed him,” said Lavinia. “And knows it would