A kind of fearful love brimmed in her eyes. ‘I will take care of you,’ she said.
‘No,’ said Muzzlehatch, ‘let him find his way. He will never forgive you if you take him now. Let him be a man, Juno dear – or what he thinks to be a man. Don’t suck his blood, dear. Don’t pounce too soon. Remember how you killed our love with spices – eh? My pretty vampire.’
Titus, white with indecision, for to him Juno and Muzzlehatch seemed to talk a private language, took a step nearer to the smiling man who had turned his head across his shoulder so that the little ape was able to rest its furry cheek along its master’s.
‘Did you call this lady a vampire?’ he whispered.
Muzzlehatch nodded his smiling head slowly.
‘That is so,’ he said.
‘He meant nothing,’ said Juno. ‘Titus! O, darling … O …’
For Titus had whipped out his fist with such speed that it was a wonder it did not find its mark. This it failed to do, for Muzzlehatch, catching Titus’ fist as though it were a flung stone, held it in a vice and then, with no apparent effort, propelled Titus slowly to the doorway, through which he pushed the boy before closing the door and turning the key.
For a few minutes Titus, shocked at his own impotence, beat upon the door, yelling ‘Let me in, you coward! Let me in! Let me in!’ until the noise he made brought servants from all quarters of the great mansion of olive-green glass.
While they took Titus away struggling and shouting, Muzzlehatch held Juno firmly by her elbow, for she longed to be with the sudden young man dressed half in rags and half in livery, but she said nothing as she strained against the grip of her one-time lover.
THIRTY- TWO
The day broke wild and shaggy. What light there was seeped into the great glass buildings as though ashamed. All but a fraction of the guests who had attended the Cusp-Canines’ party lay like fossils in their separate beds, or, for various sunken causes, tossed and turned in seas of dream.
Of those who were awake and on their feet, at least half were servants of the House. It was from among these few that a posse of retainers (on hearing the shindy) converged upon the room, switching on lights as they ran, until they found Titus striking upon the outside of the door.
It was no good for him to struggle. Their clumsy hands caught hold of him and hustled him away and down seven flights into the servants’ quarters. There he was kept prisoner for the best part of the day, the time being punctuated by visits from the Law and the Police and towards evening by some kind of a brain-specialist who gazed at Titus for minutes on end from under his eyebrows and asked peculiar questions which Titus took no trouble to answer, for he was very tired.
Lady Cusp-Canine herself appeared for one fleeting minute. She had not been down to the kitchens for thirty years and was accompanied by an Inspector, who kept his head tilted on one side as he talked to her Ladyship while keeping his eyes on the captive. The effect of this was to suggest that Titus was some kind of caged animal.
‘An enigma,’ said the Inspector.
‘I don’t agree,’ said Lady Cusp-Canine. ‘He is only a boy.’
‘Ah,’ said the Inspector.
‘And I like his face, too,’ said Lady Cusp-Canine.
‘Ah,’ said the Inspector.
‘He has splendid eyes.’
‘But has he splendid habits, your Ladyship?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Lady Cusp-Canine. ‘Why? Have you?’
The Inspector shrugged his shoulders.
‘There is nothing to shrug about,’ said Lady Cusp-Canine. ‘Nothing at all. Where is my Chef?’
This gentleman had been hovering at her side ever since she had entered the kitchen. He now presented himself.
‘Madam?’
‘Have you fed the boy?’
‘Yes, my Lady.’
‘Have you given him the best? The most nutritious? Have you given him a breakfast to remember?’
‘Not yet, your Ladyship.’
‘Then what are you waiting for!’ Her voice rose. ‘He is hungry. He is despondent, he is young!’
‘Yes, your Ladyship.’
‘Don’t say “yes” to me!’ She rose on tip-toe to her full height, which did not take her long for she was minute. ‘Feed him and let him go,’ and with that she skimmed across the room on tiny septuagenarian feet, her plumed hat swaying dangerously among the loins and briskets.
THIRTY- THREE
Meanwhile, the powerful Muzzlehatch had escorted Juno out of the building and had helped her into his hideous car. It was his intention to take her to her house above the river and then to race for home, for even Muzzlehatch was weary. But, as usual when he was at the wheel, whatever plans had been formulated were soon to be no more than chaff in the wind, and within half a minute of his starting he had changed his mind and was now heading for that wide and sandy stretch of the river where the banks shelved gently into the shallow water.
The sky was no longer very dark, though one or two stars were still to be seen, when Muzzlehatch, having
