Part 39 (1/2)

I dropped it yesterday evening.

' She added rather wildly: ”T Was silly enough to put it on the little

drum table by the window, I expect the wind caught it.

' Sarre was sitting back in his chair, watching her, his eyebrows raised just a little.

He didn't comment upon her contradiction but said in a placid voice:

”Well, shall we have a look at it?

Probably I can find someone to mend it.

' He turned to Al before Alethea could think of anything to say.

”On the drum table in Mevrouw's bedroom--would you fetch it, please?

' Al, who had been hovering by the sideboard with his ears stretched,

was gone with a brief: ”Will do. Guv,” and was back again while Alethea was still trying to decide what to say next; too late she had realised that she had told two lies when one would have done, and the blandness of Sarre's expression gave her the uneasy feeling that he might have come to the same conclusion. But his expression didn't change when Al put the poor crushed thing on the table beside him.

He picked it up, examined it carefully and then set it down again.

”T should hardly describe it as broken,” he observed in a thoughtful

voice.

”Pure guesswork, of course, but I should imagine that it has been stepped on-several times. ' He looked at the children, who sat without a word, staring back at him.

Alethea could see that they had no intention of saying anything.

What was more, she suspected that Sarre wasn't going to ask them if

they knew anything about it, because that wouldn't be his way; he would wait with monumental patience until they told him what they knew of their own accord.

Well, three can play at that game, she told herself bracingly, and when he asked: ”What do you think, Alethea?

' she said at once: ”T have no idea.

' She looked at him defiantly as she spoke and he smiled a little so

that she added: ”I'm very sorry.

I was careless, and it was kind of you to give it to me.

' He said still thoughtfully: ”You cried about it, Alethea, didn't

you?

' She had forgotten the children for the moment.

She said unhappily: ”Yes, I did.

You see, I. .

it meant something to me.

' He stared at her hard.

”Yes?

' He glanced at his watch.

”T must go.

' He picked up the little ruin and got up.

”T'll be home this evening, perhaps for tea, my dear.

' He touched the children lightly as he left the room, but he hadn't

given her the usual swift kiss she had come to expect.

When the front door had closed behind him Alethea got up too.

”Are you both ready?

' she asked the children.

”It's almost time for you to go to school.