A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor, Caleb Crain Read Free Book Online Page B

looking at her salad.
    â€˜I said I could have bread any day,’ Joseph reminded them.
    â€˜I wonder,’ said Vesey, staring at the children, yet at the same time spreading butter with a cynical deliberation, ‘I wonder if Harriet and I will be playing hide-and-seek with you tonight.’
    â€˜The meat has over-excited them,’ Harriet thought. She had always heard that it inflamed the baser instincts.
    â€˜I liked you-know-what,’ said Joseph.
    â€˜We had ice-cream. I hope that was all right,’ Harriet said quickly.
    â€˜There was money over from the shoes,’ Vesey explained.
    â€˜But there could not have been,’ Caroline said. ‘The money was your mother’s. You should not exceed what you are allowed.’
    â€˜The ice-cream was not the best part of the day,’ said Joseph.
    â€˜He was a good boy having his hair cut,’ Harriet said hurriedly.
    â€˜I was a good boy eating my din-din,’ Joseph said in a baby voice.
    â€˜Mother,’ said Deirdre, ‘we save a lot of money being vegetarians, don’t we?’
    â€˜Only in doctors’ bills,’ Caroline replied. ‘Why do you ask?’
    â€˜I noticed macaroni-cheese was only eightpence.’
    â€˜And here was I feeling sorry for you that they had no vegetarian dish,’ Caroline said, and laughed.
    â€˜Vesey bought some nice shoes,’ Harriet interposed.
    â€˜Yes, we must look at them after tea.’
    â€˜They are grey,’ Deirdre said.
    Caroline frowned. ‘How do you mean – grey?’
    â€˜They are grey suede,’ Vesey said quietly. He looked down sideways at the tablecloth, leaning back in his chair as if fatigued.
    â€˜Grey suede,’ said Caroline.
    â€˜Yes.’
    A little silence fell; or rather, was drawn down. Caroline picked up her cup and drank tea steadily. Her cheekbones were scarlet.
    â€˜Aren’t grey shoes nice?’ Joseph asked.
    Caroline smiled as she replaced the cup very quietly in its saucer.
    â€˜Nice?’ she repeated in her amused, indulgent voice. ‘I don’t think “nice” or “nasty” enter into it.’
    Vesey flicked a crumb across the table, then another.
    â€˜More salad, Joseph?’ Caroline asked.
    â€˜I’m not hungry.’
    â€˜What did you say?’
    â€˜I’m not hungry.’
    â€˜No, thank you.’
    â€˜Only a little bit then,’ he said. He lifted up his plate innocently.
    Vesey, his eyes half-closed, nodded, as if at some private thought, which pleased him.
    â€˜That was touch and go,’ said Deirdre as they strolled through the fields.
    â€˜Only because you made it so,’ Harriet said coldly.
    â€˜You want to have your cake and then blame others that you have eaten it,’ Vesey added.
    â€˜Only it was meat,’ Joseph said.
    â€˜And you find the danger of blaming more exciting than the other part,’ said Vesey.
    â€˜As if I care,’ Deirdre said, wiping tears away with her fingers.
    â€˜You are not to be out of our sight until you go to bed,’ Vesey said. ‘Since you are not to be trusted. If you go off on your own without a responsible person – either Harriet or me – the consequences will be such that I could not answer for.’
    â€˜You can’t be with us for the rest of our lives,’ Joseph muttered.
    â€˜Speak up, Joseph,’ Vesey said. ‘I am afraid that we didn’t have the pleasure of hearing what you said.’
    â€˜I said you can’t be with us for ever,’ Joseph said bravely, staring ahead as he walked across the field.
    â€˜Ah, 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€˜I don’t believe you.’
    Deirdre put her arm across