The Kindly Ones - Anthony Powell [40]
‘Have you seen the place before?’ he asked. ‘You realise we are going to conduct you to a Wagnerian castle, a palace where Ludwig of Bavaria wouldn’t have been ashamed to disport himself.’
‘I was there about ten years ago. Some people called Walpole-Wilson took me over. They live twenty or thirty miles away.’
‘I’ve heard Donners speak of them,’ said Matilda.
She always referred to Sir Magnus by his surname. Isobel and I used to discuss whether Matilda had so addressed him in their moments of closest intimacy.
‘After all,’ Isobel had said, ‘she can only have liked him for his money. To call him “Donners” suggests capital appreciation much more than a pet-name. Besides, “Magnus” – if one could bring oneself to call him that – is almost more formal than “Donners”, without the advantage of conjuring up visions of dividends and allotment letters.’
‘Do you think Matilda only liked him for his money? She never attempted to get any out of him.’
‘It’s not a question of getting the money. It’s the money itself. Money is a charm like any other charm.’
‘As a symbol of power?’
‘Partly, perhaps. After all, men and women both like power in the opposite sex. Why not take it in the form of money?’
‘Do you really think Matilda liked nothing else about poor Sir Magnus?’
‘I didn’t think him very attractive myself the only time I saw him.’
‘Perhaps Matilda was won by his unconventional ways.’
‘Perhaps.’
‘You don’t think so?’
‘I don’t express an opinion.’
‘Still I must agree, she left him in the end.’
‘I think Matilda is quite ambitious,’ said Isobel.
‘Then why did she leave Sir Magnus? She might have made him marry her.’
‘Because she took a fancy to Hugh.’
That was no doubt the answer. I had been struck, at the time she said this, by Isobel’s opinion that Matilda was ambitious.
‘Who are the Walpole-Wilsons?’ asked Moreland.
‘Sir Gavin Walpole-Wilson is a retired diplomat. His daughter, Eleanor, has shared a flat for years with Isobel’s sister, Norah. But, of course, you know Norah and Eleanor of old.’
Moreland reddened at the mention of Isobel’s sisters. Thought of them must still have called Priscilla uneasily to his mind. The subject of sisters-in-law was obviously one to be avoided. However, Matilda showed some inclination to continue to talk of them. She had rescued her husband from Priscilla, whom she could consider to have suffered a defeat. She may have wanted to emphasise that.
‘How are Norah and Eleanor?’ she asked.
‘Eleanor is trying to make up her mind again whether she will become a Catholic convert,’ said Isobel. ‘Heather Hopkins became an RC the other day. Hugo says that puts Eleanor in a dilemma. She wants to annoy Norah, but doesn’t want to please Hopkins.’
‘I practically never go to Stourwater,’ Moreland said, determined to change the subject from one that could possibly lead back to Priscilla. ‘Matty pops over there once in a way to see some high life. I recognise that Donners has his points – has in the past even been very obliging to me personally. The fact remains that when I did the incidental music for that film of his, I saw enough of him to last a lifetime.’
If Matilda had wanted to make clear her sentiments about Stourwater, Moreland had now been equally explicit about his own. The question of the proximity of Sir Magnus perhaps irked him more than he would admit to himself, certainly more than I expected. On inquiry, it appeared that even Matilda