Coombe
saw it all though he also saw that Feather did not know all she was
telling him. He could realize the gradually increasing pressure
and anger at tricks which betrayed themselves, and the gathering
determination on the part of the creditors to end the matter in the
only way in which it could be ended. It had come to this before
Robert's illness, and Feather herself had heard of fierce interviews
and had seen threatening letters, but she had not believed they
could mean all they implied. Since things had been allowed to go on
so long she felt that they would surely go on longer in the same
way. There had been some serious threatening about the rent and
the unpaid-for furniture. Robert's supporting idea had been that
he might perhaps "get something out of Lawdor who wouldn't enjoy
being the relation of a fellow who was turned into the street!"
"He ought to have done something," Feather plained. "Robert would
have been Lord Lawdor himself if his uncle had died before he had
all those disgusting children."
She was not aware that Coombe frequently refrained from saying
things to her--but occasionally allowed himself NOT to refrain.
He did not refrain now from making a simple comment.
"But he is extremely robust and he has the children. Six stalwart
boys and a stalwart girl. Family feeling has apparently gone out
of fashion."
As she wandered on with her story he mentally felt himself actually
dragged into the shrimp-pink bedroom and standing an onlooker when
the footman outside the door "did not know" where Tonson had gone.
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