‘I want to talk to you,’ Kit said.
‘Couldn’t it wait until morning? I’m practically dropping.’
He took the remains of the day from my arms and dumped them on a chair. ‘You’re still cross about Violet, aren’t you?’
‘What about Violet?’
‘About me flirting with her – I admit that I did – the other night. I told you! I was sorry for her.’ He looked injured. ‘Have I so much as glanced in her direction since?’
‘I should say not. Though I’ve no idea how you behave with her when alone. Nor do I care. It’s none of my business.’
‘If that’s true why this chill in the air? This brisk smiling that doesn’t touch the measuring eyes?’
‘I’ve been too busy to do my sparkling, head-on-one-side Doris Day imitation.’
‘I’m surprised a beautiful girl like you is so insecure. Though perhaps I ought to be flattered.’ He let his hand run from my shoulder down to my chest and started to trace the zigzag pattern of my Fair Isle jersey across my breasts.
I took a step back. ‘Don’t!’
‘Look, the poor woman’s crippled by illness, bullied by her mother and neglected by her husband! Everyone flirts. It’s a social duty. It doesn’t mean a thing. I only wanted to cheer her up.’ Kit put on an expression of contrition but the picture of him standing outside Violet’s room grinning with satisfaction bloomed in my mind. Suddenly I was angry.
‘From what Maud said this evening about Violet’s state of mind you seemed to have failed signally. Perhaps it was a mistake to take on quite so many of Finn’s connubial duties.’
He looked taken aback. ‘Meaning?’
‘I was standing by the linen cupboard when you brought her upstairs. I couldn’t help overhearing. I was changing Maud’s sheets while you and Violet were … flirting next door.’
Kit’s face changed. ‘My God!’ He struck his forehead with the heel of his palm and groaned. ‘Now I understand.’ He walked over to the window, then came back. ‘Bobbie, I don’t suppose you’ll believe me if I tell you I didn’t particularly want to – to make love to her, but it’s the truth.’
‘I don’t care whether you did or not. You can make love to whom you please. Since your sense of social duty operates so strongly perhaps you’d better pleasure Violet again.’
He looked downcast. ‘I don’t blame you for being upset. It was a stupid thing to do. But she wanted it so badly. It would have been cruel to refuse.’
He appeared so dejected I almost felt sorry for him. But then I remembered Violet’s unhappiness that evening. ‘You don’t seem to mind being cruel now. That’s why I’m angry: not because you so nobly sacrificed yourself to Violet’s needs but because you’ve made her miserable. Now you ignore her and make transparently lame excuses to avoid carrying her up- and downstairs. You must have seen that she’s been on the verge of tears for the last two days. You won’t believe me, I know, but I consider how you’re treating her now is much, much worse than making love to her.’
Kit looked away towards the window and pressed his lips together, thinking. Then he spread his hands in a gesture of culpability. ‘You’re right. I’ve behaved badly. But I could tell you were angry, though I never guessed … I must say, in the circumstances you’ve put a good face on it. I didn’t want to dig myself in deeper with her. I’m sorry, very sorry to have hurt her but it’s you I love. You have such power over me.’ He put up his hand and caressed my cheek with his finger.
‘That would be unfortunate – if I believed it.’ I forced myself to smile. ‘Don’t let’s quarrel. It’s all very unimportant. And you’ve been so generous with your help. We wouldn’t have managed without you.’
‘When I was making love to her I was thinking only of you.’
‘I hope that’s not true. It’s insulting to Violet and makes you seem … well, never mind.’
‘Do you think I’m a liar?’
I thought for a moment before replying. ‘We all lie when it suits us.’
‘There you are, Bobbie!’ Liddy was standing in the doorway. I was grateful for the interruption. ‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Danny’s asleep. I’m dying to talk. Oh, good! You’ve found my shoes. They’re Mum’s really but obviously she’ll never be able to wear them again so she gave them to me.’ She took the suede shoes from the pile and balanced one on her hand, lifting it high, admiring it. Then she kicked off her school loafers, buckled on the shoes and walked round the dining-room table, hands in the pockets of her grey school skirt, hips thrust forward in imitation of a mannequin’s walk. ‘Aren’t they ace? They’ll be perfect for London.’ She giggled. ‘I wonder what Danny’ll say when he sees them. I expect he’ll think they’re shockingly decadent. He’s so strait-laced. But really he’ll be massively turned on by them. Men can’t help themselves, can they?’
She slouched over to Kit and stood close to him, lowering her chin so that she was looking up at him through her eyelashes. Despite the school uniform she looked suddenly ten years older and irresistibly magnetic. It was inevitable that he should think of Violet, as I did. He sent me a glance in which I read the message that he was only as other men, defenceless before the tyranny of women. Seeing that she did not have his full attention, Liddy threw back her head and pouted provocatively.
‘Oh, no, miss!’ Kit pretended to look stern. ‘I’m proof against your wiles. Schoolgirls are out of bounds.’ She frowned. ‘However alluring.’ She smiled. ‘Now stop trying to pretend you’re a femme fatale and tell me: who is Danny? How did he hurt his arm?’
‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’
‘I certainly should.’
‘Well, then.’ Liddy lifted her chin. ‘You must promise on everything you hold sacred that you won’t reveal what I’ve told you to another soul!’
Kit made a fist and lifted two fingers. ‘Scouts’ honour.’
‘He’s on the run from the IRA.’
‘You’re having me on!’
‘It’s true!’ Liddy seemed delighted to have Kit’s full attention at last. ‘And from the Garda!’
‘No!’
‘Yes!’
Liddy gave Kit the details of Danny’s story. ‘He’s most tremendously in love with me,’ she declared triumphantly at the end of the recital.
‘Of course he is.’
‘And I’m in love with him!’
If she expected Kit to be jealous she was disappointed. ‘Naturally you are. A good-looking, sensitive, high-minded boy, in danger every minute from deadly enemies, wounded by a bullet: what could be more romantic? I’m practically in love with him myself. I’m sure Bobbie’s heart is already given to young Danny. Isn’t it?’
He smiled at me.
Liddy looked uncertain. She dropped her seductive manner. ‘You always tease about everything. I suppose because you’re English you don’t understand the trouble he’s in.’
‘Perhaps not. But if it’s that bad I’m sure he won’t involve you in it a minute longer than he can help. When’s he planning to leave?’
‘He’s talking about going tomorrow but I shall persuade him to stay longer.’
‘We must hope he won’t be as persuadable as you think.’
‘He will be.’ Liddy smirked. ‘I’m going to make it impossible for him to drag himself away.’
‘Ah, I can guess just how you’re going to do it.’ Kit laughed and pinched her chin. ‘You little minx! What a treat he has in store!’
‘I’m sorry to bring you down to earth, Liddy,’ I said sharply, ‘but have you done your homework?’
The moment Liddy had departed, grumbling, Kit stopped smiling. ‘I think someone should have a word in Danny’s ear before Liddy releases her battery of charms. Or it might be simpler just to ring the police.’
‘You promised you wouldn’t!’
‘Don’t be naïve, Bobbie. The people who’ll be looking for Danny are far more dangerous than she or you realize.’
‘You seem to know a lot abo
ut it suddenly.’
Kit ignored this. ‘They’ll shoot him if they catch him. He’d be safer under lock and key in prison, though even there he can be got at. But the important thing is to get him out of here as soon as possible.’
I felt alarmed when I saw Kit was deadly serious. ‘He’s not strong enough to go on the run. I suppose one of us could drive him to Dublin and put him on the ferry tomorrow?’
‘Don’t be a fool. If they found out we’d helped him we’d be in trouble ourselves. Violence comes as naturally to these people as brushing their teeth.’
‘We can’t just throw him out to what may be his death.’
‘You’d prefer to have the house burned down? Or to be taken prisoner yourself? Tortured for information, perhaps?’
I began to feel afraid. ‘How do you know these things?’
Kit shrugged. ‘I read the newspapers. I talk to people. You’ll have to believe me when I say it’s not safe to have that boy here.’
‘I agree he must go as soon as possible. For Liddy’s sake, if no one else’s.’
‘Liddy?’
‘You heard what she said about persuading him to stay. I suppose she means to sleep with him. We can hardly chaperon them every minute of the day.’
‘Don’t tell me you’re worried about Liddy’s virtue?’
‘I’m worried about her happiness. She’s just a child.’
‘A very precocious one. She’s seventeen. How old were you when you lost your virginity?’
‘Well … older.’ Truthfulness compelled me to add, ‘The same. Seventeen, nearly eighteen, actually.’
‘There you are.’
‘But it was much too young. I didn’t know what I was doing. I want something better for her.’
‘She’s not your daughter. She won’t thank you for interfering. Anyway, we needn’t waste time discussing Liddy’s maidenhead. I’m just concerned to get rid of the boy.’
‘We can’t ring the Garda. We invited Danny into the house. Implicit in that invitation was a guarantee that he could trust us.’
Kit sighed impatiently. ‘Quixotic notions of hospitality don’t apply. This isn’t a game of tennis. It was a bloody fool thing to do. I wonder at Constance. You, of course, could have no idea of the implications. But she must be fully aware of what these people are capable of. Unless she plans to get Eugene to recite them into a stupor.’
‘She feels sorry for Danny. So do I. He’s as anxious not to cause trouble for us as you could want. And no one knows he’s here.’
‘You hope. The grounds are crawling with IRA sympathizers.’
‘Are they?’ I turned to look out of the window but it was too dark to see anything. ‘Let’s wait until the morning. Danny needs a good night’s sleep. Then we’ll make plans.’ I was on the point of asking him to promise that he would not take any action without telling me when I remembered that as far as Kit was concerned promises could be broken in the name of expediency.
‘All right. But it’s against my better judgement.’
‘There’s nothing to keep you here. You could go back to London tonight.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong. There’s everything to keep me here.’ His face, which had been cold and hard while we were talking about Danny, softened. ‘I’ve got to make you see that that business with Violet wasn’t important.’
Before I could tell him I knew it, but that it made no difference, the door opened again.
‘Bobbie! There you are.’ Jasmine’s shining black hair hung loose over a pale yellow silk dressing-gown which hung open to reveal a nightdress dripping with expensive lace. Teddy had been generous with underclothing during the first months of their relationship. Jasmine’s bare feet displayed toenails polished gold. Her face, with its high cheekbones and exotic slanting eyes, was enchanting. Suddenly I saw the solution to several problems. ‘There are birds in the corridor outside the bathroom.’ Jasmine’s expression was appalled. ‘They’re flying up and down, swooping over my head. I’m afraid to go to the loo.’
‘Not birds, Jazzy,’ I said mercilessly. ‘Bats!’ I put my hands over my ears as Jasmine exercised her lungs. ‘Kit, would you escort Jasmine to the bathroom? I’ve got some clearing up to do.’
‘Listen, everyone.’ Constance was sitting at the kitchen table, a letter in her hand.
We were hurrying through breakfast to get on with our allotted tasks. At least, some of us were hurrying. Others were complaining about the necessity of wasting the best hours of the day at stinking school.
‘Shut up, Liddy. Of course you’re going. Listen, it’s from Mr O’Brien!’ Constance’s eyes grew bright. ‘He’s going to give us seventy-five per cent of the cost of a new roof! I think I’m going to cry. I never thought I’d live to see Curraghcourt put on its legs again! He estimates twenty-seven thousand pounds in total. Such generosity! The darling’s going to give us twenty thousand pounds!’
‘It’s not his money,’ Kit pointed out. ‘But I agree it’s munificent. Where’s the other seven thousand to come from?’
‘I don’t know.’ Constance scanned the letter. ‘Oh! Oh dear! I hadn’t quite taken that in. We’ve got to come up with that much to qualify for the grant. Hell and damnation! Where are we going to get it? It’s a bit late in the day to find you’ve got a stomach ache, Liddy.’
‘Let’s see what there is in the poteen fund.’ I got up to find the jar. ‘How long have we got to raise the money?’
‘It doesn’t say.’ Constance referred again to the letter. ‘But if it was five years we’d never do it. No, Flurry. Hell and damnation is not acceptable and I never want to hear you say it.’
I was counting the muddy, crumpled notes that had been stuffed into the jar marked Isinglass. ‘There’s nearly a hundred pounds here! Yesterday there was less than twenty.’ I looked across to the hearth but it was unattended. ‘I wonder … suppose we started up another still? Or several? The idea of rivalling the Guinesses suddenly seems more than attractive.’
‘Remember, their business is legal,’ Kit pointed out. ‘You can hardly hope to start a thriving distillery without attracting attention.’
‘Why shouldn’t we get a licence to brew?’
‘The existing breweries will have a cartel.’ Kit was laughing at my earnestness. ‘And you wouldn’t be able to compete even if you could get one. Think of transport costs all the way from the land of bogs and mountains. You need to be near a busy port. And where would you put the machinery? You’d have to build a factory. You’d need capital. Which brings us back to the lack of seven thousand pounds.’
‘Oh, you’re right, of course. It was a stupid idea. But I can’t bear to be beaten for such a comparatively paltry sum.’
‘What about another poetry festival?’ suggested Constance. ‘If it hadn’t been for having to pay for the missing chairs we’d nearly have broken even last time.’
‘Morning, ladies, gents.’ Sam O’Kelly’s bony bashful face appeared through the back door looming over a large box. ‘Here’s Dicky Dooley’s goods. Is the childer ready?’
‘This is extraordinary!’ I examined the contents of the box. ‘What’s come over Dicky? Almost everything I asked for. And look how neatly the box has been organized! Jars on the bottom, packets on the top! What’s this?’ I picked up a note written in tidy capitals.
Dear Bobbie,
No more arrowroot but we expect it by Thursday. Ditto whole blanched almonds. I’m after ordering black peppercorns, remembering you said you couldn’t get them for love nor money. If there is anything else you require urgent a telephone call will suffice.
Yours affec.,
Larkie
‘Larkie’s taken a job at Dooley’s,’ Sam stated with an air of pride. ‘First thing she did was throw out everything that was growing whiskers. Dicky made a whillalu at first but when he saw the customers liked the shop the way she’d set it up, he quietened down. She’s making him send for a refrigerated unit to keep the flies off the dairy and cakes.’
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‘If you ask me, Dicky’s in luck,’ said Constance. ‘Tell Larkie we look forward to calling in next time we’re in Kilmuree. Run along, you children. Liddy, if I hear one more word about that stomach ache I shall lose my temper entirely. No, Flavia, there’s no time to kiss the cats goodbye. Besides, supposing they have worms? You’ve given them pills? In that case Bobbie will say goodbye on your behalf. Flurry, have you got all your things? What note? Oh, damn! I remember you saying something about it but I was busy icing buns. Give it to me, quickly.’ Constance cast her eyes over the note. ‘What does Miss Coogan mean? A Chinaman costume by Monday? Does she imagine I have nothing else to do but comply meekly with her caprices and make elaborate—International Week, I see. Most praiseworthy, of course, but how I’m to … All right, darling, don’t worry. I’ll manage somehow. Goodbye, darlings, be good, and don’t forget to—Goodbye!’
Constance sank down into her chair and poured herself another cup of tea. ‘Really, it’s the absolute limit. It couldn’t have been anything simple like an angel or a ghost. A Chinaman! I’ve no idea where to begin!’
‘Why not cut down an old dressing-gown?’ I suggested. ‘We could make a mandarin hat out of cardboard and long moustaches from strands of black wool.’
‘Oh, yes! That sounds fine! My trouble is I panic too easily. It’s just as well I’ve no children of my own. I’d be the most hopeless mother.’
Moonshine Page 69
