Read Online Alfred and Emily by Doris Lessing - Free Book Online

She did not know who they all were.
    â€˜Well,’ enquired Jessica, brushing crumbs from her black folds, ‘shall I begin?’
    â€˜Please do,’ said Emily. ‘But I am mystified.’
    The air was electric with the results of the ‘intrigues’ Cedric had warned against.
    â€˜Some of us feel, dear Emily,’ said Jessica, ‘that you might perhaps think it right to live in a perhaps rather less grand style. This is surely too large a house for one person.’
    â€˜Really?’ said Emily. ‘I had not decided to move.’
    â€˜Now surely, Emily,’ said Jessica, ‘it must have occurred to you that William would have wished for you to live more modestly.’
    â€˜But we know what William would have wished,’ said Emily, ‘because there was a will, and the house was left to me.’
    This sharp riposte, which was giving Emily a good deal of pleasure, did not please Jessica. But some people were recognizing that Sister Emily McVeagh was in the room, with her famously sharp tongue.
    â€˜Did dear William not perhaps indicate his wishes to you? He must have had thoughts.’
    Here Cedric coughed, to hide a laugh, and Jessica looked hard at him. ‘Not everyone agrees with the majority,’ she said. ‘Cedric, for one, said he hoped you would not end your music parties.’
    â€˜How could William have indicated anything, since he did not know he was due for a heart-attack?’ said Emily. ‘I don’t think such a degree of prescience could have been expected.’
    Cedric coughed again.
    â€˜Well, Emily, it is right that you know our thoughts. Your situation has been discussed, and at the very least you should take some notice of our wishes.’
    â€˜I am more concerned with William’s wishes,’ said Emily. ‘Not that I had any idea that you were so concerned about me. When I have thought it all out, I shall of course let you know what I propose to do. But I shall not be throwing myself on to a funeral pyre.’
    Cedric laughed outright and some of the younger members did too.
    â€˜We told Aunt Jessica you weren’t going to go quietly,’ said Cedric.
    â€˜Cedric,’ rebuked Jessica. ‘That was uncalled-for.’
    â€˜All that money William left you,’ said Cedric. ‘That’s the trouble, you see. Naturally they want to know what you are going to do with it.’ There, he had said it.
    â€˜Cedric!’ said the older aunts and uncles. ‘This is too bad.’
    â€˜Cedric, you are taking no care for Emily in her time of grief.’
    â€˜Well, you are, so that should be enough,’ said Cedric.
    There was a good deal of money. Emily had had no idea at all of the extent of her William’s little fortune. It was large enough to be called that. His father had been a stockbroker, had invested well, and the family had lived frugally. Until, that is, William married Emily and then she had made the house so elegant and, above all, so up-to-the-minute with her housekeeping devices.
    â€˜Some of us have been thinking,’ said Cedric, still determined to annoy the older Martin-Whites, ‘that this house would be perfect for a young couple. I shall be getting married– but I am already well housed. There’s young Raleigh: he’s marrying a cousin, so it would be kept in the family.’
    Emily was annoyed, but entertained, too. How glad she was that William had not much liked his family, if this was how they went on.
    â€˜I shall bear in mind,’ said Emily, ‘that Raleigh and – who?’
    â€˜Rose,’ said Jessica, regaining command of the proceedings. ‘Raleigh and Rose. I am sure Rose would appreciate your wonderful domestic arrangements.’
    â€˜I shall keep in mind that Raleigh and Rose want my house,’ said Emily. ‘Now, how about some more sherry, Jessica – Cedric, Tony…’
    â€˜You see, Emily,’ said