looking at her salad.
âI said I could have bread any day,â Joseph reminded them.
âI wonder,â said Vesey, staring at the children, yet at the same time spreading butter with a cynical deliberation, âI wonder if Harriet and I will be playing hide-and-seek with you tonight.â
âThe meat has over-excited them,â Harriet thought. She had always heard that it inflamed the baser instincts.
âI liked you-know-what,â said Joseph.
âWe had ice-cream. I hope that was all right,â Harriet said quickly.
âThere was money over from the shoes,â Vesey explained.
âBut there could not have been,â Caroline said. âThe money was your motherâs. You should not exceed what you are allowed.â
âThe ice-cream was not the best part of the day,â said Joseph.
âHe was a good boy having his hair cut,â Harriet said hurriedly.
âI was a good boy eating my din-din,â Joseph said in a baby voice.
âMother,â said Deirdre, âwe save a lot of money being vegetarians, donât we?â
âOnly in doctorsâ bills,â Caroline replied. âWhy do you ask?â
âI noticed macaroni-cheese was only eightpence.â
âAnd here was I feeling sorry for you that they had no vegetarian dish,â Caroline said, and laughed.
âVesey bought some nice shoes,â Harriet interposed.
âYes, we must look at them after tea.â
âThey are grey,â Deirdre said.
Caroline frowned. âHow do you mean â grey?â
âThey are grey suede,â Vesey said quietly. He looked down sideways at the tablecloth, leaning back in his chair as if fatigued.
âGrey suede,â said Caroline.
âYes.â
A little silence fell; or rather, was drawn down. Caroline picked up her cup and drank tea steadily. Her cheekbones were scarlet.
âArenât grey shoes nice?â Joseph asked.
Caroline smiled as she replaced the cup very quietly in its saucer.
âNice?â she repeated in her amused, indulgent voice. âI donât think âniceâ or ânastyâ enter into it.â
Vesey flicked a crumb across the table, then another.
âMore salad, Joseph?â Caroline asked.
âIâm not hungry.â
âWhat did you say?â
âIâm not hungry.â
âNo, thank you.â
âOnly a little bit then,â he said. He lifted up his plate innocently.
Vesey, his eyes half-closed, nodded, as if at some private thought, which pleased him.
âThat was touch and go,â said Deirdre as they strolled through the fields.
âOnly because you made it so,â Harriet said coldly.
âYou want to have your cake and then blame others that you have eaten it,â Vesey added.
âOnly it was meat,â Joseph said.
âAnd you find the danger of blaming more exciting than the other part,â said Vesey.
âAs if I care,â Deirdre said, wiping tears away with her fingers.
âYou are not to be out of our sight until you go to bed,â Vesey said. âSince you are not to be trusted. If you go off on your own without a responsible person â either Harriet or me â the consequences will be such that I could not answer for.â
âYou canât be with us for the rest of our lives,â Joseph muttered.
âSpeak up, Joseph,â Vesey said. âI am afraid that we didnât have the pleasure of hearing what you said.â
âI said you canât be with us for ever,â Joseph said bravely, staring ahead as he walked across the field.
âAh, correct! Time will part us; other commitments will engage me. Yet no matter where you are, you will be continually reminded of me, feel my presence as strongly beside you as you feel it now. Strange, that! Very, very strange! Remember, my dear Joseph.â
âI donât believe you.â
Deirdre put her arm across
Learning to Kill: Stories