overturned the billiard table against him.' 'My God,' said Ducane softly. , You know what a billiard table weighs,' said Paula. Her voice was almost pedantic. Her gaze was focused on a particular pebble on the floor of the sea. 'The edge of the table came down on to one of Eric's feet, and the upper part of it crushed him against the wall. He began to scream. Richard and I tried to pull the table back. It was an extraordinary scene. We didn't say a word to each other, we just pulled at each end of the table. Eric went on screaming. Then the table shifted a little and he collapsed and Richard pulled him out into the open. He was practically unconscious with pain. I went and telephoned for an ambulance.' Paula was silent. 'What happened then?' said Ducane in the same almost whispering voice. 'I went with him to the hospital. The next time I saw Richard was outside the divorce court.' 'And was Eric much hurt?' 'He hadn't any serious internal injury,' said Paula in her exact voice. 'But one foot was completely crushed. He had to have it amputated.' She added, 'We pretended it was an accident, of course.' Ducane said after a pause. 'I see. What happened then?» 'Well, what happened then was that I abandoned Eric too. I couldn't go back to Richard, the idea didn't occur to me, and anyway he wrote to me about divorce the next day. I think he just couldn't stand it either, somehow. And I couldn't stay with Eric. His being maimed like that by Richard just snapped things off. I almost hated the sight of him, and I think he hated the sight of me. For a while everything became too terrible, one could scarcely bear to be conscious. I let go of Eric and he just moved away, sort of automatically. I went on seeing him, but it was like acting in some nightmarish play. Then he told me he was going to Australia. We were both relieved.' 'And then –?» 'And then he wrote from there to say he'd met somebody perfectly marvellous on the boat and was going to marry her. I was jolly relieved. Then I heard nothing till about four weeks ago when he wrote to say he hadn't got married after all and that the only thing he needed and wanted in the world was to see me and he was coming back. His boat's due next week.' 'You're frightened of him,' said Ducane. 'Yes. I always was a bit frightened of him. Funny, I was never frightened of Richard, though Richard's a violent man in a much more obvious way.' 'You said Eric was a demon.' 'Yes. It's odd, because he's a man one might easily see as absurd. I think I saw him as absurd at first, a sort of pompous play-actor. But he's got in some literal sense magnetism, an animal force, such as quite a stupid person might have. Not that Eric's stupid, but I mean this is nothing to do with the mind, at least not with the rational mind. It's a quasi-physical thing. Perhaps that's what attracted me. Richard is so cerebral, even his sensuality is cerebral. Eric was like a piece of earth, or maybe more like the sea. I always associated him with the sea.' 'Do you in any way want to see him?' 'No. But I've got to see him. I've got to – undergo it again.' 'I can see,' said Ducane, speaking carefully, 'that you feel you as it were owe him something. It's like a precise bond – ' 'Exactly. A blood bond. I think he believes that there's a spell that only I can break. There's a sickening awfulness in his life which only I can remove. This is why I've got to face him and face him alone.' 'Do you really believe that you could do anything for him? Given that you don't love him? Or do you think it possible you might begin to love him again?' 'No! I don't know if I could do anything. At times I think he wants somehow to punish me. There are days, hours, when I think he's coming back to kill me. Or it might be enough if he could find some way of humiliating me. I just don't know what's going to happen. All I know is that whatever it is it's got to happen. Next week.' Ducane was frowning into the sea light. 'Who else knows this story?' , No one. Except Richard and Eric.' 'Why have you kept silent about it?' She hesitated. 'Pride.' 'Yes. And this is what's made it into something dreadful. You've been infected by the demon in Eric.' 'I know. The whole thing, the way it all happened, was shattering. And what it shattered most of all was some conception I'd had of myself, some wholeness. It's odd. That was why I never tried to stop Richard divorcing me. Something was utterly broken in me by that scene in the billiard room. Something which hadn't been broken by my going to bed with Eric. It was as if one's guilt had been made into a tangible object and rammed into one's guts.' 'You've got to relive this thing, Paula, and not just for Eric but for yourself. 'Maybe. But when Eric comes ' 'You must use your common sense about it. I understand how you feel. And obviously you've got to meet Eric alone. But I think you ought to meet him in a sane context. I mean with other people all round you. He must meet your friends and see that you have support, a world of your own. Now I shall be in London next week ' There was a quick crunching of pebbles and a shadow moved near them like a lizard. It was Uncle Theo. Theo looked pale and dry in the bright sun, the big rounded dome of his skull surmounting his shrunken doggy face like a helmet. He looked down on them with a puckered expression of slightly quizzical disgust. He said, 'Paula. Letters for you., Three letters fell on to the stones. He hesitated, as if awaiting a summons to stay, and then marched quickly off, stooping well forward from the waist and digging his feet noisily into the pebbles before Ducane could get out more than an 'Oh Theo – ' Paula looked after him. 'He seems so depressed these days. I wonder what on earth goes on inside his head? Poor Theo. John, I do wish you'd talk to him seriously. Make him tell you what's the matter. He'd talk to you.' Ducane gave a small snarling laugh. -'Oh!' Paula had just looked at the letters. 'There's one from Eric. He's at Suez.'
'Better read it quickly,' said Ducane. He turned away squinting into the sunlight, trying to discern the swimming children.
He noticed that it must be low tide since a bank of purple seaweed, only visible at that time, was making a darker blur in the clear greenish water, which had already receded by several feet since he and Paula had sat down. Theo's aimlessly purposeful figure diminished steadily.
After a moment Ducane heard a strange sound beside him. He turned to see that Paula had covered her face with her hand. Her shoulders shook. 'Whatever is it, Paula?' Paula went on shaking, and a low raucous sound came from behind the shielding hand. The other hand stretched out and tossed Eric's letter to him. Ducane read. SS Morania Suez My dear Paula, not to beat about the bush, this letter comes to tell you that I have met somebody perfectly marvellous on the boat and I am going to marry her. How very strange life is! I have always had a sense of being in the hands of the gods, but often they work in such unexpected ways! I knew I had to come back to England and I
