Sarah collected her knitting and went to see about supper.
Ned came down to supper and sat silently hunched over his plate. William was uncommonly silent too, and Sarah felt a little sulky as she filled the plates and passed them down. She could not help wishing for once that she had a sensible man like John Shand in the house. William was all right, of course; but he was in a queer mood. He had been having queer moods lately. And he was seeing a good deal too much of that young Mrs Hector. What had happened to-night, she wondered.
After supper, as Ned was sliding out of the door, William called: ‘Ned!’
Ned paused suspiciously.
‘Won’t you play me a game of chess!’
‘No, I’m busy.’
Ned pulled the door behind him with his usual force but the usual slam did not result, for William had caught hold of it.
‘What are you busy at? Mathematics?’
Ned thrust his head in and jerked a thumb at Sarah.
‘Needn’t think you’re going to copy her,’ he said.
‘I was only asking,’ said William gently, ‘because I’m interested. I know you’re a wonder at mathematics.’
‘She thinks she knows everything,’ said Ned, still glaring at Sarah.
But he did not go.
‘I’m not doing mathematics; I’m writing a story,’ he shot out suddenly.
‘A story?’ William was pleased.
Sarah shrugged and began to collect the dishes.
‘A story,’ said Ned emphatically. ‘About the world as it should be. Every house in all the towns empty. Nothing but cats and dogs. No women.’
His eye was still fixed on Sarah’s back as she vanished into the kitchen. Then he looked doubtfully at his brother.
‘I’d like to see it,’ said William eagerly. ‘May I come up?’
‘What d’you want to see it for, all of a sudden?’
Ned’s face was twisted with suspicion; his eyes had a dull, guarded look.
How thin the poor fellow’s getting! thought William, and he put his hand on Ned’s shoulder.
‘My dear lad,’ he said, ‘my dear Ned, just because you’re my brother.’ He let his hand lie, endeavouring to convey his affection through the contact.
Ned shook it off furiously.
‘Who do you think I am?’ he shouted. ‘Jesus Christ?’
He spat venomously in his brother’s face and slammed the door.
THREE
Elizabeth was still lying on her bed when Hector came home. She could see a patch of the night sky through the window. She had long stopped sobbing, and in the centre of the black cloud which encompassed her world a nucleus of calm weather was forming. She stared at the patch of sky; there was enough moonlight to illumine it faintly; clouds seemed to be marching over it to an unheard processional music, punctuated now and then by a star. What a fool she was, she thought. The love between Hector and herself was as enduring as those stars behind the fugitive clouds.
Her heart leapt as she heard him come in. He had not stayed at the Club, then; he had come back to her. She half turned, listening; his feet seemed to be mounting the stairs into her very bosom.
‘Elizabeth!’ he said, opening the door. His voice was humble. She sat up and held out her arms in the darkness.
‘My darling, my darling,’ she said.
With inarticulate murmurs they caressed each other. The bliss of relaxation began to steal over Elizabeth, the peace of reunion, but Hector was still clutching her tight and pressing his face against her. She stroked his cheek.
‘How could you do it, my love?’ she asked.
‘I was just mad with jealousy,’ said Hector, still clinging. ‘Jealous of that damned snivelling sky-pilot. I couldn’t help it, Elizabeth; it just came over me, and I felt mad.’
She kissed him on the forehead.
‘But you know, don’t you, that you needn’t feel jealous of anybody?’
He shook his head vehemently.
‘But you do know,’ she insisted. ‘You’re a part of myself. I simply couldn’t fall in love with anybody else.’
‘I’m always afraid of losing you,’ said Hector, his voice muffled in her dress. ‘I’m no highbrow; I can’t talk about books and things; and some day you’ll turn me down…. I deserve it,’ he went on, lifting his head. ‘When I think of all the girls I’ve turned down I feel that you’re going to be my punishment for the lot.’
Elizabeth’s spirits were rapidly rising; she shook him a little and said: ‘Oh, you silly ass!’ Then she kissed him full on the mouth. They lay for some time without speaking.
‘All the same,’ said Elizabeth at last, ‘I’m glad you didn’t stay at the Club drinking yourself dottier.’
‘I didn’t go to the Club,’ said Hector, twisting and untwisting a piece of her hair. ‘I – you won’t forgive me if I tell you, but I must tell you.’
Elizabeth drew away a little. She had forgiven him; she didn’t want confessions; she was beginning vaguely to dislike Hector’s insistence on lengthy confessions.
‘What does it matter?’ she said. ‘The only thing that matters is this.’
‘It does matter.’ Hector’s voice was sombre. ‘You don’t know what an out-and-out rotter I can be. I went down the back lane with Mabel, and I was feeling so mad, and she was jawing at me about behaving myself better, and I knew what a little bitch she was, and her arm was always coming up against mine, and – well, I just took hold of her and kissed her as hard as I could.’
‘What?’ said Elizabeth incredulously. ‘Mabel? Did she let you?’
‘She liked it all right, you bet your life! She pretended she didn’t. But I was — Oh, hell, when I’m in that state I know, I tell you, and I just knew she was itching for it.’
‘Well,’ said Elizabeth, ‘is that all?’
Her voice was quite cool.
‘That’s about all,’ said Hector.
He was beginning to feel relieved. Elizabeth wasn’t going to cut up rough after all.
‘I swore I’d paint the town sky-blue scarlet unless she asked me in for a drink, and I gave her a lot of slosh about her influence over me and all that, until she nearly purred. So I went in with her and had a drink, and we danced a bit —’
‘Have you been there all this time?’
Hector stopped in surprise at the sudden sharpness of the question.
‘It’s not so very late,’ he said. ‘John —’
Elizabeth pushed him away and sat up sobbing:
‘That’s all you care, is it? That’s all you care. You go out leaving me heart-broken, and then you go fooling with Mabel for hours and hours, leaving me – leaving me —’
All the rage and self-pity that had apparently vanished was closing over her again.
‘I had to tell you, don’t you see?’ Hector kept on repeating. ‘I have to be sure you won’t turn me down.’
He felt rather helpless; he had not expected her to be quite so jealous. He said so.
‘I’m