Chapter 19: Chapter 19 – The task for which we were created

While the table was still clear, Oscar took the opportunity to slip his hand into his pocket and remove from it a letter that he deposited in front of his uncles, who looked at him, perplexed, not sure where to start asking. And the fact is that the name of Theresa Cornell was written on the envelope. It was no longer just that the Stevens had never heard their nephew had a close enough relationship with the youngest daughter of his employers to be exchanging letters, is that, why was he delivering the note to them?

"I need a favor," Oscar had confessed, not wanting to take too long to bring up the subject. “Could you give this to Theresa?”

"But dear, weren't you going to accompany us to Rose Cottage later?" Asked Aunt Cathy, who had already guessed what she would be asked of her from the moment she read the address on the envelope. “You can give it yourself.”

“No, I can´t. My reason for visiting Rose Cottage is different, as I promised Madeleine that I´d help her plan something to delight the public at the Seymour fair. In recent times we´ve had certain disagreements the two of us, and that´s why I offered to do this, so that she can see that I am sorry for my actions and finally forgive me. If I stop to deliver a letter to Theresa, she's likely to be upset again. Because, you know how she is, wanting to get to work as soon as possible. Without wasting a single second. And therefore she wouldn´t tolerate that I get involved in other conversations that only reduce the time we could have left to get everything ready.”

Oscar smiled, having sounded completely convincing. It hadn´t been noticed that half of his monologue was pure lies and that the only reason he did not dare to speak to Theresa was because he feared that Madeleine was going to disfigure his face in another of the outbursts of anger. He also couldn´t give the letter to Sayer to deliver along with the day's post. Well, as a good self-respecting introvert, Theresa never went out to get the mail. So the letter, before reaching her, could pass through anyone. From one of the servants to Madeleine herself and thus, once again, chaos unleashed.

He didn't want to take chances, so the safest thing to do was give the letter to his uncles — who were, no doubt, more efficient and discreet than Sayer — and have them handle it.

"It´s true Madeleine is a hard worker, like her mother," Cathy stated with complete conviction. “You shouldn´t make her wait, because when she wants to do something, it must be at the moment. But Oscar, try not to burden yourself too much with a job that doesn´t correspond to you. After all, you are no longer employed by the master.”

"Don't worry, I won't carry more than I can bear. It's just that I want to do this, helping her seems like a nice gesture after all the years we've spent together at Rose Cottage. Also, it would be like compensation because we don't see each other as often anymore.”

Aunt Cathy was delighted by those sugary words. Surely, her nephew loved Madeleine very much! And it was natural, they had grown up together. As for Uncle Rob, he just kept his serious expression on, taking the letter for Theresa and tucking it into his own jacket, implying that he consented but without using the same effusiveness as his wife. The food had not been brought to them yet and he was already drinking while aunt and nephew continued talking.

"We´ll make sure she receives it."

"Thanks, one less task I have to do, then. The truth is that I not only wanted to go with Madeleine, but also planned to pay a visit to Mr. Cornell. But of course, if I start talking to so many people on the way, the night will fall on me. And I don't think Madeleine would mind if I stopped for a moment to chat with her father, but… Anyway, uncle, you´ve got a good friendship with the boss. So, how is him these days, by the way? I haven't seen him since the day she went to Lilac Hall.”

"As always, maybe a little duller," he replied, setting his beer glass aside. “With businesses on the brink of bankruptcy, he keeps walking from the London office to here like a ghost. On top of that, the women aren´t help him much: his daughters ignore him and his wife seems fed up, because now she has also taken the habit of going out more with her friends and often helping with parish activities. In short, it´s an embarrassing situation that one does not have control of his own house and neither has the power to decide what his own family do!”

Oscar would have wanted to say that he was happy for Mrs. Cornell, for her to get away from that jerk of her husband and start living for herself, but he chose to keep quiet. Uncle Rob used to be quiet, but when you disagreed with him he was scary.

"It's just a phase, you don't have to give it that much importance," said Cathy. “The man is like this, it´s true and it´s a shame. No doubt. But he'll get over it, bad spells don't last a lifetime. And when fortune smiles on him again, I'm sure the lady will be spending more time at home too.”

"In any case, what was it you wanted to tell the master?"

"Oh, it's about Madeleine, so I didn't think he would mind. We´ll need funds to carry out that fair project that I mentioned.”

"Be careful how you ask," Rob warned him, "Master is delicate these days and he might get a bad rap if you suddenly mention a matter of money to him."

"How bad is it?"

“Well, before he often went out for leisure, even when money was already running low. But now, when he's at Snodland, he barely leaves the house. His temper has become more irritable than usual, hardly accepting visitors and… He behaves strangely depending on which people.” Noting he hadn´t explained well, proceeded to give an example. “With Miss Groves going no further, he barely speaks. He´s very elusive with her, even though before it was very common to invite her to have tea with his family or to be in favor of making her come to his office so that she could update him on how her daughters are doing in classes. It's strange! He doesn´t want to be with her alone for a minute, even when she receives the monthly payment from him, someone else must be present.”

"Oh, and it's not just with the governess, with the other women in the house he does too," Cathy agreed. “One cannot even pass in front of him without him being frightened, not even if we are passing from one room to another and we don´t even intend to approach him. It seems incredible that a man, at his age, is afraid of us.”

"Of course, the governess thing was nothing more than the most common example. Because they both get along, or got along, in a wonderful way. And it´s shocking to see that now, without a reason, they behave like strangers.”

"Didn't they argue?"

“Not that I know. But the boss doesn´t usually argue with anyone.”

Cathy nodded. Edmund Cornell was not one to argue. Perhaps he had been in his youth, but now and for many years, living in a house full of women, he had grown tired of losing in verbal disputes. So if an argument arose, he preferred to opt for an early withdrawal rather than engage in an exchange of witty phrases and various insults.

Now, Oscar wondered, would these people know about the Cornell affair? It didn´t seem like it. Either that, or they were playing dumb, because he was so obvious.

"I'll try not to startle him," Oscar said, though he knew that would be nearly impossible, and if Cornell was as weak-spirited as his uncle claimed, he was likely to have a heart attack just by looking at him. “Besides, I don't think listening to my request will cause much effect anyway. Madeleine is his daughter and he probably have already heard from her she wishes to participate in the fair. It's natural for her to ask for some support.”

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Support that should not be denied, he thought. Because even if I lend myself to help that stupid woman for a greater purpose, my benevolence doesn´t reach the point of accepting to pay her the expenses that it would entail.

No, in short, not even despite having the money would he waste it on such a company.

It was at this point in the conversation that a waiter approached to bring lunch and the talk died for a few moments, to then be resumed again with more information about the fair and the neighbors who planned to attend it.

It was Sunday and Oscar had left Lilac Hall before the food was served for the service, since he had arranged to meet his uncles for lunch in the village. After this, as agreed, he would accompany them to Rose Cottage, where he´d stay until it began to get dark and had to depart back to the Seymour estate. Goes without saying, considering the previous dialogue, that what Oscar wanted was not to have some time alone with his uncles, to strengthen ties and make up for lost hours since he no longer lived with them nor was it possible for him to see them on a daily basis. Rather, the reason he summoned them was to deliver Theresa's letter. Nothing else. The fact that his aunt got excited, saying it was great that he always remembered them and wrote often - which he did, because he really felt it was good to have certain allies in Rose Cottage - was just a plus.

Inviting his uncles to lunch on his afternoon off was like killing two birds with one stone. He would get someone to do him the favor for free and make Aunt Cathy happy along the way. She would dare to spoil him a little more in the future and he would think that he´d have been spared seeing his false relatives for another two or three weeks. Everyone was winning.

"Oh, by the way," Cathy began, after one of those little silent intervals between bites, "your cousin Thomas wrote to say he was coming to visit. I was going to write to tell you, but then we met here for lunch and I said to myself, I better tell you in person, because it´ll surely make you more excited!”

"Yes, it's great that he can relax for a bit and come back home." Oscar tried to be pleased, like someone who hears news from a close relative after years of absence, trying not to show his absolute indifference towards that subject. “But wasn't he about to start the semester?”

"And so he is, but I didn´t mean that he´ll come now, but at Christmas. Thomas will be busy with exams and assignments these months, so it's good we managed to convince him to take a break and come spend a couple of weeks with us.” Turning to her husband, she said. “Don't you think so, dear?”

“Sure. Besides, with all certainty that what they feed them there is slop, nothing to do with what is in this part of the region.”

“Exactly! And the Cornells will be delighted to see our Thomas again, they always held him in high regard. It's a shame Oscar is working at Lilac Hall right now; If he were home, we could all have a dinner like old times. That is, all four together.”

"You can come on a Sunday, right?"

"I can, I suppose," Oscar said, although he wished with all his heart that Patrick would forbid him to leave his mansion at that time.

"To all this, I'm surprised you don't know anything about it," said Cathy. “Thomas wrote to tell me about this news about a week ago and assured me that the two of you were still in touch, even though you moved.”

“Really?”

When he was still living at Rose Cottage, Oscar had been present on several occasions when letters from the university where his cousin was studying were opened. Usually it was two letters a month. Always addressed to Mrs. Stevens, but mentioning both Uncle Rob and Oscar, to whom Thomas always sent an affectionate greeting and reiterated over and over his desire to see them again.

In short, the letters he sent were a compendium of his life accounts and kind words addressed to his relatives. Oscar, from this and from the very impression that the novel had left on him when the character of Thomas was mentioned, had been left with the feeling that the aforementioned was a young man of jovial character, well educated, with a desire for progress and that appreciated his family above all else.

That is why he was surprised when Aunt Cathy mentioned Thomas was going to write to him. That is, Thomas may have mentioned it in a previous letter, but he had not received anything in the month that he had already been in the new property. And, anyway considering that who Thomas got along best with was his mother, he soon forgot the matter, thinking the boy would have decided to refrain from contacting him. Being that he would prefer to continue communicating through his mother.

"It must have been Sayer's mistake," Cathy said, annoyed. “Thomas told me these weeks he has been writing to you also, to tell you how he´s doing in college and also to be interested in how you are adjusting. He probably wrote to tell you about his vacation, but you still haven't received the letter… I'll have to hurry that bum Willie as soon as I see him!”

"Yes, it may be Sayer's thing," Oscar said, trying to make the explanation satisfactory. “These weeks he says that he has quite a lot of trouble at the office.”

Does that Thomas want to see my face of stupid? He wondered to himself in the meantime. What the fuck with that? His aunt, who lived a few miles from him, had received a letter, but he hadn´t. A letter that would go through the same rooms as his before separating and ending each one in different buildings. Ergo, for some reason he still couldn't figure out, Thomas couldn't or didn't want to write to him.

Oscar could write to him to clear up the misunderstanding, but his curiosity was not that high. He was in enough trouble already to add another one to the list.

So after assuring Aunt Cathy that it was a mistake, he let the matter die. Thomas could not have mistaken the address, since he himself lived in Snodland before and knew those places well, so it had to be something else. And whatever it was, Oscar intended to let it expose itself.

He wouldn't lift a finger for the cause.

 

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