brats, especially as the last thing they did at the dinner party was to make a hit with the giver of the feast.’
‘Millament couldn’t help knocking over her glass.’
‘Quentin couldn’t help spilling his soup. They are not usually clumsy or boorish at table. All the same, they hardly endeared themselves at a time when it mattered most that they should. Come and sit down again, Parsifal, and we’ll have a glass of sherry.’
‘Thank you, Diana, but I must be getting back. I have to stop and pick up some food from the hotel. Gamaliel has school lunch at soon after twelve, but he has permission to be at home today to study for his exams, and will be getting hungry.’
‘Well, will you make me a promise?’
‘To say nothing to Rupert about my visit here this morning?’
‘You are always so intuitive, Parsifal. No wonder you are a poet.’
Parsifal knew the compliment was a false one and that in reality Diana despised both him and his work, but he felt gratified, none the less, by her words. ‘I won’t say anything at all to Rupert unless he asks me a direct question,’ he said. ‘If that happens, I shall, of course, feel bound to give him a straight answer.’
Diana looked at him. ‘I think he’ll pay for Fiona’s keep if I put it to him in the right way. You’d be glad of that, so you need not threaten me,’ she observed.
Parsifal looked astonished. ‘Very glad indeed of it. It would ease matters all round. But, well—’ he began.
‘I know all about Rupert and Fiona. That’s why—I may as well speak frankly—neither Rupert nor I could possibly have her here,’ said Diana, still eyeing him.
‘It will be better for her and Blue’s mother to remain together. It was only a question of the expense,’ said Parsifal, still looking mystified by Diana’s sudden offer of help.
‘Think no more about that. It will be taken care of. If ever you go to prison, Parsifal, it will be for blackmail.’
‘Blackmail?’ said Parsifal blankly, more and more indicating that he was out of his depth.
‘Well, isn’t that what this visit of yours has meant?’
‘Certainly not, Diana! How can you suggest such an ugly interpretation of my call! I simply have no idea what you’re getting at.’
‘Sorry! I thought you were cleverer than you look,’ said Diana spitefully. ‘Are you calling at Headlands as well as coming here?’
‘Why should I do that?’
‘I thought perhaps your grocery bill was due.’
Chapter 5
Hallucination or Fact?
« ^ »
By walking through the woods to the cliff-top and then taking a track (well-marked thanks to Diana’s Easter- tide students earlier in the year) which followed the line of the coast, Parsifal took his homeward way intending to return by a longer route than the one he had used on his outwardjourney.
He had emerged from the tangle of trees and bushes which hid Campions from view when, hitching his haversack a bit higher, he remembered the sponge sandwich which was supposed to have been bestowed upon Diana.
He did not want to go back. Her spiteful reference to blackmail had put him out of countenance and he was still wondering how she knew that he sponged on Mrs Leyden. Meanwhile still in his possession was the edible gift. Bluebell, he knew, would be disappointed if it were not delivered. She had very few things to give away. He sighed, half at the thought of retracing his steps and carrying out his errand, half in sympathy with a wife who accepted poverty so unselfishly and with so much patience and good grace, and who had never reproached him over the years for failing to give her a child of her own or for being unable to keep her in the manner which, as Romula’s granddaughter, perhaps she had a right to expect.
Sighing, but conscious of where his duty lay, he turned about and made his way back through the tress. As he approached the back fence of Campions, he heard women’s voices and, from the fact that the dachshunds were not barking, he deduced that one of the voices belonged to Diana.
As he drew nearer he heard one of the women say, ‘There is no need for me to come in and sit down. I am not in the least fatigued. There is just one question I would like to put to you. Where did my grandson, Garnet Porthcawl, sleep last night?’
‘Good heavens, how should
‘I am not to be deceived or hoodwinked, Diana. You will answer me.’
‘But what business is it either of yours or mine where he slept?’
‘I would have supposed it was very much your business, since Rupert slept at my house and therefore was not at home last night to know what went on in his own.’
Parsifal decided that it was high time he made his presence known. He broke into song and stepped out briskly.
I will give my love an apple without e’er a core;
I will give my love a house without e’er a door;
