Some Do Not . . ._ A Novel - Ford Madox Ford [140]
'I frequently do,' Valentine said. 'But they don't seem to mind. Perhaps they think I'm a Waac officer. That would be quite respectable...'
Mrs Duchemin drifted away, her arms full of flowers and real agony upon her face.
Now, beside the tea-table she said, very softly:
'My dear, we've decided not to have our usual Friday afternoon next week.' Valentine wondered whether this was merely a lie to get rid of her. But Edith Ethel went on: 'We've decided to have a little evening festivity. After a great deal of thought we've come to the conclusion that we ought, now, to make our union public.' She paused to await comment, but Valentine making none she went on: 'It coincides very happily--I can't help feeling it coincides very happily!--with another event. Not that we set much store by these things...But it has been whispered to Vincent that next Friday...Perhaps, my dear Valentine, you, too, will have heard...'
Valentine said:
'No, I haven't. I suppose he's got the O.B.E. I'm very glad.'
'The Sovereign,' Mrs Duchemin said, 'is seeing fit to confer the honour of knighthood on him.'
'Well!' Valentine said. 'He's had a quick career. I've no doubt he deserves it. He's worked very hard. I do sincerely congratulate you. It'll be a great help to you.'
'It's,' Mrs Duchemin said, 'not for mere plodding. That's what makes it so gratifying. It's for a special piece of brilliance, that has marked him out. It's, of course, a secret. But...'
'Oh, I know!' Valentine said. 'He's worked out some calculations to prove that losses in the devastated districts, if you ignore machinery, coal output, orchard trees, harvests, industrial products, and so on, don't amount to more than a year's household dilapidations for the...'
Mrs Duchemin said with real horror:
'But how did you know? How on earth did you know?...' She paused. 'It's such a dead secret...That fellow must have told you...But how on earth could he know?'
'I haven't seen Mr Tietjens to speak to since the last time he was here,' Valentine said. She saw, from Edith Ethel's bewilderment, the whole situation. The miserable Macmaster hadn't even confided to his wife that the practically stolen figures weren't his own. He desired to have a little prestige in the family circle; for once a little prestige! Well! Why shouldn't he have it? Tietjens, she knew, would wish him to have all he could get. She said therefore:
'Oh, it's probably in the air...It's known the Government want to break their claims to the higher command. And anyone who could help them to that would get a knighthood...'
Mrs Duchemin was more calm.
'It's certainly,' she said, 'Burke'd, as you call it, those beastly people.' She reflected for a moment. 'It's probably that,' she went on. 'It's in the air. Anything that can help to influence public opinion against those horrible people is to be welcomed. That's known pretty widely...No! It could hardly be Christopher Tietjens who thought of it and told you. It wouldn't enter his head. He's their friend! He would be...'
'He's certainly,' Valentine said, 'not a friend of his country's enemies. I'm not, myself.'
Mrs Duchemin exclaimed sharply, her eyes dilated. 'What do you mean? What on earth do you dare to mean? I thought you were a pro-German!'
Valentine said:
'I'm not! I'm not!...I hate men's deaths...I hate any men's deaths...Any men...' She calmed herself by main force. 'Mr Tietjens says that the more we hinder our allies the more we drag the war on and the more lives are lost...More lives, do you understand?...'
Mrs Duchemin assumed her most aloof, tender, and high air: 'My poor child,' she said, 'what possible concern can the opinions of that broken fellow cause anyone! You can warn him from me that he does himself no good by going on uttering these discredited opinions. He's a marked man. Finished! It's no good Guggums, my husband, trying to stand up for him.'
'He