“Well, I suppose they do naturally. I know that my sisters never had the least idea what I was driving at. They were always giggling among themselves.”
“And your mother?” asked Mrs. Vachell.
“My mother was a wonderful woman,” Evan replied. His tone made it clear that discussion was barricaded along that road.
“I don’t want to persuade you to discuss her, but please answer one question truthfully. Suppose you had done something that you knew she would dislike, not because it was wrong in itself, but because she had no experience of a wish to do it herself; let us take for an instance that delightful story I heard about your taking a German’s watch to pieces and what you did with it.”
“Who told you that story?” he asked, frowning.
“The Staff Captain’s wife told my husband. It amused him and it amused her, because she has had parents who educated her between them; they didn’t believe in female sheep and male goats.”
“I find all that sort of telling of stories very offensive,” said Evan. “But if they choose to hear it it is nothing to me. There is no harm in it.”
“But your mother would have held a different opinion if she had known?”
“Why are you asking these questions, Mrs. Vachell?” She saw disappointment in his face, and knew she must pick her way delicately.
“Because you were good enough to give me some of your confidence in a difficulty and I was trying to make you understand what I think is a point of great importance to you and Evangeline and Ivor. What I say is that you were not perfectly brought up as you think, because you grew up with the idea that what was all right for you as a man would offend your mother as a woman, even to hear about. That means that all through your life you could only enjoy her society within limits, and you were either obliged to worry out every difficulty alone in your head, or else to chance it among outsiders who had not a quarter of the interest in you that she had. You must have felt very lonely, or you wouldn’t have shown me so much confidence as you have. Have you ever tried Evangeline as a confidante? She has not been brought up with many prejudices—not enough you think. And one thing more. Don’t you think that Ivor is better off than you were at his age? I am sure he is less harassed with problems and he will have a better brain than his father, because it won’t have been prematurely worn out.”