Death of a Burrowing Mole

‘I thought you were tired.’

‘I am. All right, then, let’s hit the hay.’

‘Well, dinner proved us to be four strong, silent men,’ said Bonamy.

‘Funeral bakemeats was more like it,’ said Tom. ‘Something has happened. Something has fouled up the works. I wonder whether Susannah is at the bottom of it?’

‘How your mind does run on that pulchritudinous wench!’

‘Veryan has got his beady eye on her, and Nick Tynant knows it. That’s my reading of the situation. They didn’t say a word to one another at dinner.’

‘But Veryan is married, isn’t he?’

‘What’s that got to do with it? Probably divorced, like everybody else nowadays. I’ll tell you what, though. I shall put in a few more days of this sweated labour and then I’m going on strike for the weekend.’

‘During which time one of the others will find our well.’

‘It will still be there when I come back.’

Tom’s impression that Veryan also was attracted to Susannah was underlined by Priscilla. She voiced her sentiments as the two girls got ready for bed.

‘Would you call Professor Veryan a lecherous old man?’ she asked.

‘Ni l’un, ni l’autre,’ Fiona replied.

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Not old, not lecherous.’

‘He must be fifty.’

‘You can’t call that old.’

‘I’ve seen him look at Susannah.’

‘She is well worth looking at. She ought to be painted or sculpted or something, before she begins to get a middle-age spread.’

‘I finished my sonnet.’

‘Any good?’

‘Probably not. I always think I’m better than Shakespeare when I first finish a poem, but the feeling wears off later.’

‘I should think that’s a very hopeful sign.’

‘Which half of it?’

‘Oh, all of it; first that you think you’re good, and then that you realise you aren’t.’

‘But I am good,’ said Priscilla, piqued. ‘Of course I’m good. I’m not as good as I’d like to be, that’s all, but it will come in time. I know it.’

‘If Professor Veryan ever did contemplate a pass at Susannah, I wonder how she would take it?’ said Fiona, reverting to the more interesting subject of conversation. ‘He is more eminent than Nicholas and I believe he has money.’

‘I wonder how long Susannah intends to stay out tonight? I hate the door not to be locked when I’m in bed.’

‘ “And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted”,’ said Fiona sardonically. ‘Don’t worry. It won’t happen to the likes of us. Lock the door, though, if you feel nervous. I’ll let her in when she comes back. I’m going to relax but I’m not sleepy.’

‘Oh, I don’t really mind about the door, so long as I’m not alone in the caravan. You are a tower of strength.’

‘I feel like one when I’m heaving stone blocks and shovelling rubble. I think we shall all need a break very soon. I intend to take one anyway, whether the Saltergates like it or not.’

‘It does seem as though the best thing to do, after all, is to find out whether the others or you have priority,’ said Lilian Saltergate that night.

‘Malpas is against such a course. He thinks it would solve nothing.’

‘The other thing would be to take a vote.’

‘Susannah is attached to our party, but she would vote with Nicholas and for Malpas.’

‘The two boys would vote with us, surely?’

‘Most unlikely, if Susannah voted with the other side. They admire her very much. Besides, Veryan feeds them and you know what is said about the way to a man’s heart.’

‘What are the chances of Malpas picking up a germ of some kind and having to retire from the scene? You could manage Nicholas if Malpas were not there.’ Lilian laughed as she said this.

‘It is so unreasonable of Malpas,’ said Edward, ‘If he knew – if he were certain – I might feel better about it, but he has no proof whatever that anybody is buried under one of my fortifications. He is prepared to sacrifice my definite, actual reconstruction for some purely experimental fiddle-faddle of his own. I’ve got to do something to stop him. The question is – what can I do?’