Clubbed to Death by Ruth Dudley Edwards Read Free Book Online Page B

a full-time degree at London University. I do nothing except work here, go to lectures and study.’
    ‘Couldn’t you get a grant?’
    ‘I didn’t qualify. My father earns too much money and he was not prepared to subsidise me to do what he thought was a ridiculous waste of time.’
    ‘But I thought Indians were always terribly keen on education for their children?’
    ‘My father would have paid for years and years to have me become a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer. He was appalled that I wanted to study English and history, both of which he thought not only pointless but a danger to my identity. He thinks I’m Indian because he is. I think I’m English because I was born here.’
    ‘Have you fallen out over it?’
    ‘Yes, for the moment I’ve been cut off. And that’s a relief to me really. It saves me getting involved in all that endless round of relatives. And when I get a first-class degree, which I hope to do, I’ll be forgiven because I’ll bring status to the family. There will then be an outbreak of peace until I refuse to get involved in an arranged marriage.’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t let it get me down. I regard the situation as part of the normal growing-pains of an immigrant Asian family.’
    ‘You’re very philosophical.’ Amiss took off his jacket.
    ‘Comes of being a Hindu. Even a lapsed one. What about you?’
    ‘Well, I have a degree, but I have no idea what career I want, if any, and for the moment I’m taking undemanding jobs and writing poetry.’
    Amiss hated lying to this nice youth: he changed the subject rapidly.
    ‘Sunil, do I gather from that jug and bowl that we wash in our bedrooms with cold water?’
    ‘Not necessarily. We have a choice. On this floor there is one bathroom, but there are twenty of us. The good news is that there are two lavatories. So I wash in the morning here and bathe when the others have all gone out. You can have the cold water here in the bedroom tomorrow morning if you like. I’ll be getting up early anyway. I’ve got an essay to finish.’
    ‘But how can you get to your lectures? Surely they clash with work.’
    ‘Because Gooseneck is actually very decent to me.’
    ‘Well, if he’s so decent,’ said Amiss, as he donned the pyjamas he had specially bought for the purposes of room-sharing, ‘why does he allow us to be fed so badly?’
    ‘That’s nothing to do with Gooseneck. That’s the provender committee. They decide on all the menus for members, guests and staff alike. ’ He got into bed.
    ‘Well how can a whole committee be composed of shits?’
    ‘That’s not difficult in ffeatherstonehaugh’s. But this is a special case. The chairman is that old brute Fagg.’
    ‘What does he look like?’
    ‘He’s the one who’s always covered in snuff. You can tell where he’s been by the trail. And his pockets clank with snuffboxes. He carries about fourteen of them. Occupies most of his day really, pulling them all out, sniffing at what’s inside, choosing the one for the moment. That’s when he’s not stuffing himself with breakfast, lunch and dinner and occasionally calling a meeting of his cronies to think of more ways of misusing the club funds and treating the servants as he believes they should be treated.’
    ‘But doesn’t the chairman of the club object?’
    ‘Very tricky business politically. Would you mind turning the light out, Robert? I’m knackered. A new chairman came in a few months ago. By accident they chose someone who was half-way human. And he brought in a secretary who was at least three-quarters human. They were trying to introduce changes and then the secretary goes and kills himself and we’re back with the Commander, God help us.’
    Amiss switched off the light and climbed into bed.
    ‘Do you have a copy of the constitution and rules of the club?’ he asked. ‘I’d like to see them – just out of curiosity.’
    ‘Sorry,’ said Sunil. ‘They wouldn’t be available to servants. Anyway, I use