When the last speechless hand-grip was completed, Papa, Mummie, and I were left in the hall, with empty glasses and the empty plates funerals are hungry work. Even in the most intense and private situations, good behaviour rules:
Their solicitor knows the score and tries to help, but Mummie and Papa are compelled to maintain the illusion of wealth and society, so their irresponsible spending continues unchecked. They have lived way beyond their means, with a bad habit of stuffing every bill into a drawer. Inevitably, the family’s fortunes change. When a letter finally arrives, she is at first disappointed - until she finds a way to infuse each paragraph with hidden meaning. When Richard suddenly goes off to Africa, Aroon continues her delusion, sure he will return for her one day. She fails to see what’s obvious to the reader: Richard and Hubert are much more than friends. She wildly misinterprets his behavior towards her, and convinces herself they are lovers. Mummie remains aloof, and can’t hold back a sadistic glow when she realizes her husband is unable to ride.Īs Aroon grows into a young woman, she sets her sights on Hubert’s best friend Richard. When Papa is wounded in the war, his convalescence provides Aroon and Hurbert an unexpected opportunity to enjoy a new level intimacy with their father.
Papa loved his children on one level, but preferred riding, fox-hunting, and women to life at home. Mummie preferred to look the other way, rather than confront Papa’s infidelity. Aroon and her brother Hubert grew up in the care of a cool and distant mother and a philandering father. Daughter Aroon, now the ungainly, unmarried daughter, looks back on her childhood at Temple Alice and how expectations of “good behaviour” ultimately brought unhappiness and even tragedy. For certain families, keeping up appearances in public is of prime importance.
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