Mingled With Venom

nearest his age) and then Parsifal.’

‘On the other side of the table,’ said Maria, ‘next to you we’ve put Garnet, then Fiona and next to her are the two children. The boy Quentin will be opposite his mother so that she can keep an eye on him, and Rupert is to be next to the little girl to fulfil the same purpose. The children go to a very good boarding-school, so they should not be too uncouth. Bluebell is to neighbour Rupert and that concludes the seating arrangements.’

‘Oh, well, I suppose it will have to do,’ said Romula. ‘You seem to have given thought to the matter.’ She looked older than her seventy-five years, a cossetted, selfish woman dependent upon others just as much as they were dependent upon her. ‘I would have preferred to have Fiona next to me rather than Garnet.’

‘It would make the party less symmetrical, madre, that’s all, but just as you wish,’ said Fiona. ‘I have no desire to sit between Garnet and a fidgety little boy, I assure you.’

‘Oh no, let be, let be. Who is this Gamaliel? Is he Jewish? Will the food suit him? I believe they have fads.’

‘Oh, no, he is not Jewish, madre,’ said Fiona, when she had exchanged glances with Maria. ‘He is an orphan whom Parsifal and Blue adopted some years ago.’

The introduction of Gamaliel when he arrived provided something of a sensation.

‘But he’s black!’ Romula exclaimed, leaning heavily upon her silver-topped ebony stick and gazing astoundedly upon the comely youth.

‘Black is beautiful,’ said Gamaliel. ‘Do you not think so, dear old Mrs Leyden? I like old ladies. They also are beautiful.’

‘You are a very astonishing young man,’ said Romula. ‘I will have you next to me at table.’

The rearranged seating at table proved not unsatisfactory so far as most of those present were concerned. Fiona and Maria saw no reason for giving the music teacher a place next to Romula, so Maria remained on her right with Barnaby next and Diana on the other side of him.

Fiona was opposite him and next to her sat Garnet, so that she was between him and Gamaliel who, although mindful of the table manners which Bluebell had been at pains to teach him, still managed to entertain his hostess in his own way.

‘Have you ever been mugged, dear old lady?’ he enquired. ‘After dinner I will show you what to do if it ever happens to you. Also I have a manual on karate. I will lend it to you and then you will be safe under any circumstances. I will teach you the killer chop. You may not use it in competitions, of course, but it can be a very good thing to know.’

‘Does your pupil make the progress you would wish, Mr Orme-Head?’ asked Diana in the voice she kept for what might be termed state occasions.

‘Oh, yes, indeed,’ the shock-headed young man replied. ‘She works hard, practises assiduously and is unusually gifted.’

‘How nice,’ said Diana, dismissing him in her mind (despite his handsome appearance) as a stuffed shirt and abandoning her intention of flirting with him. This had been intended to stimulate Garnet, who appeared to be having an absorbing conversation with Fiona, punctuated, to Diana’s envious fury, by laughter.

Meanwhile, Gamaliel was consolidating his position with the giver of the feast.

‘Do you believe that women are superior to men?’ he asked Romula.

‘No. I think the sexes complement one another.’

‘Women are superior. They give birth.’

‘Well they most certainly could not do that without the help of men in the first place.’

‘The Virgin Mary did, if you believe the story. Suppose I had not been born? What a tragedy! Do you think white is superior to black?’

‘Mrs Leyden will be in trouble if she says so,’ said Maria with heavy humour. ‘You might invoke the Race Relations Board, Gamaliel, and they are a sensitive body.’

‘Ham, Shem and Japheth were brothers. Black, yellow and white, but Ham seems to come first and he was black,’ said Gamaliel. ‘Three kings came from the east, too, black, yellow, white. They brought gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold comes first. Gold is black. Black is beautiful.’

‘Get on with your dinner, or you will be less than equal with the rest of us; you will be all behind,’ said Maria.

‘So you believe all men are equal,’ said Gamaliel, obediently shovelling food into his mouth. ‘Does God believe that?’

‘Of course He does,’ said Maria stiffly.

‘Then God must be cross-eyed. All men are not equal. I am not equal. I am a prince. Mrs Leyden is not equal. She is very rich. Muhammad Ali is not equal. He is the best boxer in the world. Who wants to be equal? Only those who cannot be superior.’

‘Then I think I must be one of those,’ said Maria.

‘Your black boy is only keeping madame amused, I hope. She is not likely to take him up to any serious extent, is she?’ said Ruby to Parsifal. ‘She likes playthings, and that is what he is.’

Parsifal, always diffident and unsure of himself, wondered whether to ask the obvious question and then discovered that there was no need.

‘I began by being one of her playthings myself,’ Ruby went on, ‘but I don’t mind that, so long as I get what I want in the end.’

‘And what is that?’

‘A first class musical education and then, when I am ready, a proper launching. She has the money and I have the talent. People think I suck up to her for what I hope she’ll leave me when she dies, but it isn’t that. I only need