The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro [88]
‘I wish you wouldn’t call me “sir” like that all the time, Mr Stevens. No, they’re not such a bad bunch at all around here. As far as I’m concerned, I’d happily spend the rest of my life out here.’
I thought I heard something slightly odd in the way Dr Carlisle said this. There was, too, a curiously deliberate edge to the way he went on to inquire again:
‘So you found them an engaging bunch, eh?’
‘Indeed, Doctor. Extremely congenial.’
‘So what were they all telling you about last night? Hope they didn’t bore you silly with all the village gossip.’
‘Not at all, Doctor. As a matter of fact, the conversation tended to be rather earnest in tone and some very interesting viewpoints were expressed.’
‘Oh, you mean Harry Smith,’ the doctor said with a laugh. ‘You shouldn’t mind him. He’s entertaining enough to listen to for a while, but really, he’s all in a muddle. At times you’d think he was some sort of Communist, then he comes out with something that makes him sound true blue Tory. Truth is, he’s all in a muddle.’
‘Ah, that is very interesting to hear.’
‘What did he lecture you on last night? The Empire? The National Health?’
‘Mr Smith restricted himself to more general topics.’
‘Oh? For instance?’
I gave a cough. ‘Mr Smith had some thoughts on the nature of dignity.’
‘I say. Now that sounds rather philosophical for Harry Smith. How the devil did he get on to that?’
‘I believe Mr Smith was stressing the importance of his campaigning work in the village.’
‘Ah, yes?’
‘He was impressing upon me the point that the residents of Moscombe held strong opinions on all manner of great affairs.’
‘Ah, yes. Sounds like Harry Smith. As you probably guessed, that’s all nonsense, of course. Harry’s always going around trying to work everybody up over issues. But the truth is, people are happier left alone.’
We were silent again for a moment or two. Eventually, I said:
‘Excuse me for asking, sir. But may I take it Mr Smith is considered something of a comic figure?’
‘Hmm. That’s taking it a little too far, I’d say. People do have a political conscience of sorts here. They feel they ought to have strong feelings on this and that, just as Harry urges them to. But really, they’re no different from people anywhere. They want a quiet life. Harry has a lot of ideas about changes to this and that, but really, no one in the village wants upheaval, even if it might benefit them. People here want to be left alone to lead their quiet little lives. They don’t want to be bothered with this issue and that issue.’
I was surprised by the tone of disgust that had entered the doctor’s voice. But he recovered himself quickly with a short laugh and remarked:
‘Nice view of the village on your side.’
Indeed, the village had become visible some way below us. Of course, the morning sunshine gave it a very different aspect, but otherwise it looked much the same view as the one I had first encountered in the evening gloom, and I supposed from this that we were now close to the spot where I had left the Ford.
‘Mr Smith seemed to be of the view,’ I said, ‘that a person’s dignity rested on such things. Having strong opinions and such.’
‘Ah, yes, dignity. I was forgetting. Yes, so Harry was trying to tackle philosophical definitions. My word. I take it it was a lot of rot.’
‘His conclusions were not necessarily those that compelled agreement, sir.’
Dr Carlisle nodded, but seemed to have become immersed in his own thoughts. ‘You know, Mr Stevens,’ he said, eventually, ‘when I first came out here, I was a committed socialist. Believed in the best services for all the people and all the rest of it. First came here in ‘forty-nine. Socialism would allow people to live with dignity. That’s what I believed when I came out here. Sorry, you don’t want to hear all this rot.’ He turned to me cheerily. ‘What about you, old chap?’
‘I’m sorry, sir?’
‘What do you think dignity’s all about?’
The directness of this inquiry did, I admit, take me rather by surprise. ‘It’s rather a hard thing to explain in a few words,