Part XIX: Coda
When Angelus joined them in the carriage with the tickets, Will was shoving the hand-luggage up into the overhead rack and rather pointedly showing the label on his own valise to Dru.
‘See: “W. S. Aurelius.” It wouldn’t say that if it wasn’t true. I am a proper Aurelian.’
‘No you’re not, little boy, that’s why you have to—’
‘Drusilla,’ Angelus said firmly, ‘stop interfering now, there’s a good girl.’
She turned wide, innocent eyes on him. ‘But, Daddy—’
‘Dru,’ Darla said from her seat, apparently deeply engrossed in a copy of Baedeker, ‘Will is Angelus’s property – it is for him to tell him what to do. You know that, dear.’ And then the two women exchanged a look that made Angelus turn away very quickly, before he was obliged to admit that he’d noticed.
‘What will happen in the cathedral now, do you think?’ Will asked.
‘Oh, not a great deal, I imagine,’ Darla said. ‘They will decide that the poor schoolmaster went insane and killed old Harry before cutting his own throat, or some such nonsense, and then they will all politely forget about it.’
‘Humans are very, very silly,’ Dru said.
‘Good thing we aren’t human then, love.’
The porter walked down the platform, slamming the carriage doors shut with echoing bangs. Beyond the sprawl of the new red brick villas that clung about the railway station, Angelus could see the solid black shape of the cathedral, its spire a dagger pointing to the fire streaked sky. They were ringing the bells for evensong.
A whistle blew, the train jolted and started to move, and Angelus turned back to his family.
‘Stop playing with the bags and sit down, Will. Have you got your cap?’
‘Yeh.’ Will threw himself down with a thump and pulled Dru on top of him. ‘See,’ he whispered to her, ‘I’m a proper Aurelian cos I’m Angelus’s, that’s why he always makes such a fuss about my cap.’ And he did something with the hand hidden in the folds of her skirt that made her laugh aloud and then squeal as he pulled her into a kiss. Darla, who would normally object loudly to such play, merely looked on fondly. Angelus clipped his ear, for form’s sake, and he desisted with a not unhappy sigh and settled back, Dru snuggling into the crook of his arm, legs sprawled out close enough to the opposite seat that Angelus would doubtless get to shout at him later for putting his feet up.
‘Glad to be going back to London, my boy?’
‘Yeh. You never wrote to the minions though.’
‘We’ll surprise them. Shake Harold up a bit – it will do him good.’
‘I think town will do us all good,’ Darla said.
‘Street urchins,’ Dru said firmly.
‘Decent pubs,’ Will said.
‘Someone to eat who doesn’t taste of hay.’ Darla smiled at Angelus and blew him a kiss. ‘We can always find you a stable, darling, if you decide you’re missing the country life.’ It was probably as close as she would come to thanking him.
Angelus looked out of the window again. The spire was still just visible, a distant shape across the water meadows. He reached into his pocket and brought out a small but thick book, which he tossed at Will. ‘Well we’ve got two hours until we get there. You can start with chapter one.’
‘Oh, bloody hell. Why can’t I ever just relax like everyone else?’
‘Because you’ll only start to fidget and then Darla will want me to thrash you. Read it, learn it, I’ll test you on it later.’
‘’s not bloody fair.’ Will examined the spine of the book in disgust. ‘Officium et Praecepio Ordo Aurelio. There’s an order of Aurelius? Never heard of it.’
‘Oh you will, my boy, you will.’
Will opened the book with a scowl, muttering something that Angelus pretended not to hear, and tilted his face against Dru. She purred and snuggled a little closer, but he seemed to be reading. For now at least.
Across the carriage, Darla smiled at him then bent over her own book.
Angelus let out a long sigh, propped his feet up on the opposite seat, closed his eyes, and let the rocking of the train lull him to sleep, smiling.