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Chapter 17
THOUGH VERY WILLING to assume guidance over their party, Sidney Parker showed no inclination at all to conduct it back to Trafalgar House directly. Once clear of the bridge, he began inspecting paths branching off the main road; and finally selecting one to the right, he struck off across a broad meadow with the considerate remark that it should be dry enough for ladies underfoot but without consulting them whether it was in the direction they wished to go. "Should we not perhaps have turned left towards the sea?" suggested Charlotte, when they were half-way across the expanse of grass without anyone else having raised an objection. "Or even continued along the road? l am almost certain this path must lead inland to old Sanditon." "I dare say it does," agreed Sidney. "Had you any other object in mind for our walk?" "None. I only thought we had already had our walk." "Ambling along a beach and standing about in a cottage?" protested Sidney. "Unless you and Miss Brereton are worn out by such dawdling, I propose we now take some exercise." "It must be two o`clock at least," she said doubtfully, looking towards Miss Brereton for support. "Well, it certainly could not be three," Sidney argued, "so we have a clear two hours in hand for exploring old Sanditon." Two hours!" Charlotte had condemned Sir Edward`s persistence in suggesting an expedition that required only one, and she was certain Miss Brereton must feel all the inconsistency over such a change of plan. But Miss Brereton was as reticent and circumspect now as she had been then and gave Charlotte no indication of her real opinion; it was Mr. Brudenall who finally decided the matter, by coughing and saying, "I own I should very much like to examine a real seaside village before it is changed and developed to fit in with the fashionable new pattern." For Sidney, this was encouragement enough. His friend`s wishes must be paramount; and taking it for granted that the rest of the opposition was negligible, he walked on down the path. "Oh, you will find old Sanditon looks permanent enough," he said, talking as he went. "Much too neat a little place to leave room for improvements -- what do you think, Miss Brereton? A cosy little village; there is something so cheerful about its air -- do you not agree?" turning towards her and smiling slightly, "And l am persuaded you must wish to take advantage of this spell of fine weather. Are you not in favour of remaining out of doors as long as possible?" They reached the edge of the meadow as he addressed these questions to her and it was natural they should enter the woodland on the other side of it together. The path here was not wide enough to admit a party of four walking abreast, and Charlotte, finding she had been relegated to the rear with Henry Brudenall, tried to decide the exact point when this grouping had become inevitable and whether Sidney had effected it on purpose. She had more than a suspicion that he was eager to seize an opportunity of becoming better acquainted with the beautiful Clara. He walked briskly on ahead, talking without pause as though making a special effort to be agreeable to his companion. Henry Brudenall, on the other hand, made no effort at all. He strode along moodily switching at bushes with a stick he had picked up, looking so abstracted that Charlotte readily forgave his incivility and merely pitied his affliction. Twice he ignored remarks she made: the restful shade of summer trees and the pleasure of bird-song, both absent from the previous walk along the sands, were perhaps trite to comment on in themselves but reasonable enough, Charlotte felt, to show her own willingness for conversation. And once, on the only marshy patch of the entire woodland path, he trampled through so heedlessly that the hem of her gown was liberally splattered with mud. If Mr. Brudenall was so preoccupied with his own problems that he failed to notice even this discourtesy, Charlotte decided she could be forgiven for lapsing into silence. And having stopped wondering how to embark on any sort of conversation with him herself, she could only marvel that Miss Brereton had managed it for over an hour without apparent strain. Beyond glancing at him nervously whenever the pathway produced any sort of obstacle, she disregarded him completely and allowed him to enjoy his misery in peace. Fxercise had been Sidney`s avowed excuse for making this detour and he was setting a quick pace on ahead. Charlotte and her partner were also walking quite fast, though never sufficiently in reach of the others to overhear their conversation. They kept them well in sight, however; and with very little else to divert her, Charlotte found herself observing them both very intently and becoming extremely curious cver what they were discussing so earnestly. That Clara herself should be grave and serious did not surprise her in the least; that she .appeared to be doing most of the talking surprised her a good deal; but that Sidney`s profile, so repeatedly turned towards his companion, should be equally solemn and unsmiling was the most difficult to explain of all. Her summing up of his character had been that he would usually contrive to keep his daily communication with people on a fairly light-hearted level. The other definite characteristic she had associated with him -- his easy manners -- were altogether so much a part of him, she noted, that they showed no variation in this change of mood. As she watched him holding back overhanging branches from Miss Brereton`s path, now and then bending attentively towards her to catch something else she had said, she could not help feeling a small pang of something which could only be described as jealousy. This was not an emotion Charlotte normally experienced! and she tried to occupy her mind in yet another direction by reasoning herself into a proper understanding of so extraordinary a symptom: Clara`s beauty she had always acknowledged, and with the warmest admiration untinged by any suspicion of envy. Sidney Parker was a worthy admirer for such a perfect heroine, so the spectacle of them enjoying an earnest tete-a-tete should have been particularly satisfying to any unprejudiced observer. Arriving at this very logical conclusion, Charlotte was then forced to admit, in common honesty, that she was at present far from an unprejudiced observer. She was both a reluctant and a resentful one. Any prospect of her own pleasure in this walk now seemed most unlikely! and she would gladly have exchanged a silent Henry Brudenall for an articulate Sidney Parker. But that surely was no foundation for jealousy? Dissatisfaction yes, assuredly. She felt justified in a feeling of general ill-usage; and she was still busily reasoning away the more disturbing emotion of jealousy into the purely transient sensations of dissatisfaction and disappointment, when they emerged from the wood. Sidney appeared quite willing to keep their party intact for the moment and his own flow of spirits and ready chat were sufficient to lend conviviality to the entire group. Charlotte was thoughtful, and neither of the others replied to him with any marked enthusiasm, but he addressed his remarks impartially to all with a persistent good humour which she could not but admire. "Now is this your idea of a genuine seaside village, Henry?" he asked as they reached the outskirts and stepped from worn track on to cobbles. "Here is old Sanditon proving a point I have often made to my brother. Here the sea is not only invisible -- even its sound and smell are shut off in all but the worst of weathers. Sea views, I maintain, are only for urban folk who never experience its menace. The true sailor prefers to be land-locked rather than face the ocean." "I would certainly agree with that," replied Mr. Brudenall. "The sea is an old enemy of his. Why should he wish to gaze on io I can also understand that he would prefer to build his house Iike a ship. All of these, waving his hand along the street, "look as snug and cramped and battened down as any brigantine." Charlotte had never heard him speak so normally before. She had begun to think he was incapable of talking pleasantly, of taking any interest in his surroundings and making sensible, dispassionate comments on them. She stared at him. But neither Sidney nor Miss Brereton seemed to find this present reasonable conduct any odder than his previous dejection. "Yes, one can feel this is a village which has grown naturally over the centuries; that this has always been peopled by real sea-farers, said Miss Brereton, continuing the conversation without apparent effort, They wandered on through the streets of the old village, narrow and winding against wind and storm, with their thick-walled haphazardly built cottages in complete antithesis to Mr. Parker`s modern rules of design, deportment and situation. Even such inland farming towns as Charlotte knew were dependent on busy market days and could never have afforded to cramp themselves in the confined space of old Sanditon. She also noticed the houses boasted tidy shrubs in iron-bound barrels instead of gardens, brass ships` bells instead of door-knockers, more weather vanes on their rooves and more shutters at their windows than the usual village. To Charlotte`s surprise, Sidney fell into step beside her as they walked on down the street and persisted in addressing himself so pointedly in her direction as to make her suspect he was now intent on retaining her as his companion. She could hardly understand this conduct and warily eluded several attempts to detach her from the others. On leaving the village behind, however, they faced quite a steep walk up the hill before crossing the down towards the new buildings; and though they were following the main road again and there was not the slightest need for any division into walking pairs, Sidney had soon effected it again. But this time Charlotte decided to let him know she realised what he was about; and when they reached the first outcrop of rocks on their ascent, she remarked drily, "Surely we can now dispense with all these pauses to admire the scenery, the birds and the smoke curling up from chimneys? I cannot think we are any longer in danger of catching them up." "Quite true," agreed Sidney, as ready to laugh at himself as at others. "I had just thought out a masterly halt to enjoy this fresh southerly breeze and the approaching tang of salt air now coming to us from over the hill. I believe I have neglected the wind so far, have I noo But I am willing to renounce it if you prefer to get on faster." Rather disconcerted by this brazen admission, Charlotte said flatly, "Thank you, I do prefer it," and stalked on up the hill. "How humiliating to discover my stage directions are not being appreciated," he said, keeping pace with her. "You could at least have pretended you were pleased by my singling you out to walk with. It is more natural for a young lady to be flattered into overlooking the actual steps by which such matters are arranged." "But I see no necessity for arranging anything at all, replied Charlotte. Mr. Brudenall is much less abstracted and more polite when we are all together in the same group. He is then forced to pay some slight attention to the general conversation instead of tramping about lunging at nettle heads with a stick." Sidney was much amused by this character sketch of his friend. "Did you find him so impossible on your walk through the woods?" "I made no headway at all," she admitted. "I suppose there must be some way of communicating with him if one perseveres long enough," she added charitably, "but he never replied to any of my remarks." He laughed outright at this. "Is he also responsible for all that mud on your gown?" "Oh, quite unintentionally, I am sure," said Charlotte, glancing down at her ruined hem. "They are most remarkable splashes, l agree. Too large, you would think, for anyone to ignore; but Mr. Brudenall never even noticed them." "Oh dear. I hope they will wash ouo" "Of course they will wash out," she said with some asperity. "My gown is perfectly ordinary cambric." "I am very relieved to hear it. But I was almost confident it must be so, I was sure you would never commit the folly of wearing impractical clothes. Fragile materials -- such as taffeta -- should be kept strictly for the evening, do you not agree? But some muslins are not very sensible for walking either -- inclined as they are to snag and fray." Charlotte had no intention of discussing the various merits of female clothing with Sidney; but she was beginning to realise he was capable of evading any issue unless confronted with it quite bluntly. She returned a few commonplace replies, waiting till he had exhausted his own knowledge of the subject, and then took advantage of the first pause to say resolutely, "If you have no objection, I should now like to hear your reasons for dividing up our party so often. Why do you feel it is necessary to direct everyone about in this way?" "Why do you feel it is necessary to study them?" said Sidney, smiling. "I suppose we each of us have our own methods of dealing with others -- and our own special talents to exercise while enjoying their company. I direct. You observe. I have a certain sympathy with your point of view, you see. In its way, close observation of one`s fellow men must be a most rewarding pastime -- provided one fully understands everything one observes. So, if you tell me what you noticed during the course of our walk today, I will endeavour to explain my reasons for directing it along certain lines. Come, since we are having so free a discussion, let us go over all the odd points which may have puzzled you." With such an invitation, Charlotte very nearly asked the questions which had been puzzling her most: What private understanding did he have with Clara Brereton? And to what extent were they already acquainted? But she hesitated; and finding herself unequal to such frank and personal enquiries, approached the same subject by a more roundabout route. "I did find it slightly odd," she said slowly, "that you were holding such an earnest -- no, perhaps that is inaccurate -- such a very serious discussion with Miss Brereton, as you walked through the wood." "Ah yes," agreed Sidney. "But surely you could guess what l was doing? You see, I decided to take her fully into my confidence over Henry`s situation. I am sorry to have left you alone with him all that time. But indeed I had to make an opportunity -- I felt I must have some private conversation with Miss Brereton and explain how very tactfully one must treat Henry at the moment." No, I must admit that had not occurred to me. After your statement yesterday that Mr. Brudenall`s secret should go no farther than your own family, I naturally did not expect you would be divulging it to the first outsider you met." "But Miss Brereton is such a very charming girl -- such a warm, sympathetic person -- I was sure she would react entirely the way l hoped. She immediately offered her help in consoling and cheering him. And that," he added blandly, "is why I have divided up our party again now. I have a great deal of faith in her cooperation." He looked on ahead to where Miss Brereton was now deep in gentle converse with his friend. "It shows a very good impulse in her nature that she is willing to take trouble with Henry." Charlotte felt this as a personal criticism, blushed, hastily swallowed a rather ill-judged retort, and again felt the stirrings of that strange emotion, jealousy. "We do not all have the talent for drawing people out. particularly those in distress," Sidney continued in a solemn but rather too plausible manner she recognized from some of his earlier speeches that day in Sir Edward`s cottage. "I would be the first to admit my own failure in this direction. I can sometimes cheer but never console -- and cheerfulness alone has a very limited effect in these cases. There are just a few gifted with the engaging mildness of disposition to know exactly how to deal with the afflicted. And that appears to be Miss Brereton`s great talent." Charlotte thought there was more than an element of mischief in this pompous little homily. She glanced quickly at him, and observing the trace of a smile, decided he was also exercising his own special talent for diverting her from the subject. "l also observed during your walk through the woods," she said, returning to what she considered the main issue, "that Miss Brereton was doing a lot of talking too. "She was telling me of a very similar case to Henry`s which had occurred in her own family. That of course would account for the genuine interest she has shown. Sympathy usually has a foundation of -- ah -- common experience. Do you not find it so?" "I know nothing of the matter at all," said Charlotte coolIy. "Broken hearts, unrequited love and inconsolable misery are subjects which, most fortunately, I have only ever read about in books." She was suddenly conscious that she was in danger of sounding both peevish and ill-natured and of the very bad impression she must be creating. But Sidney only laughed, agreed she was indeed fortunate and continued to elaborate on Miss Brereton`s superior understanding -- provocation so highly resented by Charlotte that she made no attempt to reply, resolving to allow him all his own way for the rest of their walk. Sidney, who appeared to be unaware of either provocation or resentment, and could carry any conversation quite unaided, remained undeterred by her silence; but as Charlotte was usually more concerned with the impression a person created on her than the impression she might be giving to him, she found this new state of affairs most confusing; and she was uneasily aware of an odd distortion creeping somewhere into her field of vision. Sidney Parker, she decided, was as meddlesome as his sister Diana. He might justify his interference and delude himself into thinking he was directing his friend about for his own good, but there was an officious streak of vanity in all this which she could not like. He might believe he was rendering Henry Brudenall a service by manipulating and regulating his relations with everyone he met into a tactful, considerate pattern; but to her there was something both repugnant and improper in trying to modify the course of other people`s lives. She suspected that Sidney had been doing this for years -- making all his friends behave in the way he directed them -- till it had become a type of disease with him. Like all the Parkers, he had a charitable heart and many amiable feelings; but he allowed himself to be misguided by an overweening conceit into believing he could manage everyone`s affairs better than they could themselves. Only his high spirits, his charm of manner and his ready address saved him from being as ridiculous as his sister. But even as she reached this conclusion and made up her mind to disapprove of him, Charlotte could admit the success of his efforts to entertain her on this walk. She was very conscious that Sidney continually exerted himself to please and a little ashamed of her own failure to do likewise.
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