And my hic father?
A bit of a hound, but so are most men. Perhaps its their best quality. I hope you have a little bit of the hound in you too, Henry.
I dont huc think so.
We may discover it in time. You are your fathers son. That hiccup is best cured by drinking out of the opposite rim of a glass. You can imitate a glass with your hand. Liquid is not a necessary part of the cure.
I drew a long free breath and asked, Who was my mother, Aunt Augusta? But she was already far away from that subject, speaking to the driver. No, no, my man. This is the Crescent.
You said turn right, lady.
Then I apologize. It was my mistake. I am always a little uncertain about right and left. Port I can always remember because of the colour red means left. You should have turned to port not starboard.
Im no bloody navigator, lady.
Never mind. Just continue all the way round and start again. I take all the blame.[10]
We drew up outside a public house. The driver said, Maam, if you had only told me it was the Crown and Anchor
Henry, my aunt said, if you could forget your hiccup for a moment.
Huc? I asked.
Its six and six on the clock, the driver said.
Then we will let it reach seven shillings, Aunt Augusta retorted. Henry, I feel I ought perhaps to warn you before we go in that a white funeral in my case would have been quite out of place.
But-youve-never-married, I said, very quickly to beat the hiccups.
I have nearly always, during the last sixty or more years, had a friend, Aunt Augusta said. She added, perhaps because I looked incredulous, Age, Henry, may a little modify our emotions it does not destroy them.
Even those words did not prepare me properly for what I found next. My life in the bank had taught me, of course, to be unsurprised, even by the demand for startling overdrafts, and I had always made it a point[11] neither to ask for nor to listen to any explanation. The overdraft was given or refused simply on the previous credit of the client. If I seem to the reader a somewhat static character he should appreciate the long conditioning of my career before retirement. My aunt, I was to discover, had never been conditioned by anything at all, and she had no intention of explaining more than she had already done.
Chapter 3
The Crown and Anchor was built like a bank in Georgian style[12]. Through the windows I could see men with exaggerated moustaches in tweed coats, which were split horsily behind, gathered round a girl in jodhpurs. They were not the type to whom I would have extended much credit, and I doubted whether any of them, except the girl, had ever ridden a horse. They were all drinking bitter, and I had the impression that any spare cash they might have put aside went on tailors and hairdressers rather than equitation. A long experience with clients has made me prefer a shabby whisky-drinker to a well-dressed beer-drinker.
We went in by a side door. My aunts apartment was on the second floor, and on the first floor there was a small sofa, which I learnt later had been bought my aunt so that she could take a little rest on the way up. It was typical of her generous nature that she had bought a sofa, which could barely be squeezed onto the landing, and not a chair for one.
I always take a little rest at this point. Come and sit down, too, Henry. The stairs are steep, though perhaps they dont seem so at your age. She looked at me critically. You have certainly changed a lot since I saw you last, though you havent got much more hair.
Ive had it, but Ive lost it, I explained.
I have kept mine. I can still sit upon it, She added surprisingly, Rapunzel[13], Rapunzel, let down your hair. Not that I could have ever let it down from a second-floor flat.
Arent you disturbed by the noise from the bar?
Oh no. And the bar is very convenient if I suddenly run short. I just send Wordsworth[14] down.
Who is Wordsworth?
I call him Wordsworth because I cant bring myself to call him Zachary. All the eldest sons in his family have been called Zachary for generations after Zachary Macaulay, who did so much for them on Clapham Common. The surname was adopted from the bishop not the poet.
Hes your valet?
Let us say he attends to my wants. A very gentle sweet strong person. But dont let him ask you for a CTC. He receives quite enough from me.
What is a CTC?
That is what they called any tip or gift in Sierra Leone when he was a boy during the war. The initials belonged to Cape to Cairo cigarettes, which all the sailors handed out generously.
My aunts conversation went too quickly for my understanding, so that I was not really prepared for the very large middle-aged Negro wearing a striped butchers apron who opened the door when my aunt rang.
Why, Wordsworth, she said with a touch of coquetry, youve been washing up breakfast without waiting for me. He stood there glaring at me, and I wondered whether he expected a CTC before he would let me pass.
This is my nephew, Wordsworth, my aunt said.
You be telling me whole truth, woman?
Of course I am. Oh, Wordsworth, Wordsworth! she added with tender banter.