The Remains of the Day - By Kazuo Ishiguro Page 0,87

the pavements of the village square outside, I am unable to prevent my mind from continuing to wander along these same tracks.

One memory in particular has preoccupied me all morning – or rather, a fragment of a memory, a moment that has for some reason remained with me vividly through the years. It is a recollection of standing alone in the back corridor before the closed door of Miss Kenton’s parlour; I was not actually facing the door, but standing with my person half turned towards it, transfixed by indecision as to whether or not I should knock; for at that moment, as I recall, I had been struck by the conviction that behind that very door, just a few yards from me, Miss Kenton was in fact crying. As I say, this moment has remained firmly embedded in my mind, as has the memory of the peculiar sensation I felt rising within me as I stood there like that. However, I am not at all certain now as to the actual circumstances which had led me to be standing thus in the back corridor. It occurs to me that elsewhere in attempting to gather such recollections, I may well have asserted that this memory derived from the minutes immediately after Miss Kenton’s receiving news of her aunt’s death; that is to say, the occasion when, having left her to be alone with her grief, I realized out in the corridor that I had not offered her my condolences. But now, having thought further, I believe I may have been a little confused about this matter; that in fact this fragment of memory derives from events that took place on an evening at least a few months after the death of Miss Kenton’s aunt – the evening, in fact, when the young Mr Cardinal turned up at Darlington Hall rather unexpectedly.

*

Mr Cardinal’s father, Sir David Cardinal, had been for many years his lordship’s close friend and colleague, but had been tragically killed in a riding accident some three or four years prior to the evening I am now recalling. Meanwhile, the young Mr Cardinal had been building something of a name as a columnist, specializing in witty comments on international affairs. Evidently, these columns were rarely to Lord Darlington’s liking, for I can recall numerous instances of his looking up from a journal and saying something like: ‘Young Reggie writing such nonsense again. Just as well his father’s not alive to read this.’ But Mr Cardinal’s columns did not prevent him being a frequent visitor at the house; indeed, his lordship never forgot that the young man was his godson and always treated him as kin. At the same time, it had never been Mr Cardinal’s habit to turn up to dinner without any prior warning, and I was thus a little surprised when on answering the door that evening I found him standing there, his briefcase cradled in both arms.

‘Oh, hello, Stevens, how are you?’ he said. ‘Just happened to be in a bit of a jam tonight and wondered if Lord Darlington would put me up for the night.’

‘It’s very nice to see you again, sir. I shall tell his lordship you are here.’

‘I’d intended to stay at Mr Roland’s place, but there seems to have been some misunderstanding and they’ve gone away somewhere. Hope it’s not too inconvenient a time to call. I mean, nothing special on tonight, is there?’

‘I believe, sir, his lordship is expecting some gentlemen to call after dinner.’

‘Oh, that’s bad luck. I seem to have chosen a bad night. I’d better keep my head low. I’ve got some pieces I have to work on tonight anyway.’ Mr Cardinal indicated his briefcase.

‘I shall tell his lordship you are here, sir. You are, in any case, in good time to join him for dinner.’

‘Jolly good, I was hoping I might have been. But I don’t expect Mrs Mortimer’s going to be very pleased with me.’

I left Mr Cardinal in the drawing room and made my way to the study, where I found his lordship working through some pages with a look of deep concentration. When I told him of Mr Cardinal’s arrival, a look of surprised annoyance crossed his face. Then he leaned back in his chair as though puzzling something out.

‘Tell Mr Cardinal I’ll be down shortly,’ he said finally. ‘He can amuse himself for a little while.’

When I returned downstairs, I discovered Mr Cardinal moving rather restlessly around the drawing room examining objects