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``Far too cold.''
``But they're bathing. I want to.''
``You must ask your mother.''
``I believe you're afraid. Can you swim?''
``Yes.''
``Well why don't you? Bet you can't.''
``All right. I can't.''
``Then why did you say you could. Fibber.''
They walked along the shingle. Wi
``Better come back and change.''
``It feels horrible. Let's go and have breakfast.''
The hotel did not, as a rule, cater for guests who breakfasted downstairs at eight o'clock on Sunday morning. It took a long time before anything could be got ready. There were no ices, much to Wi
``We went to a party.''
``You shouldn't have done that--not strictly, but I daresay no harm will come of it. Have you had your breakfast?''
``Yes, in the dining room with Wi
``But, Mr. Last, what are you thinking of? You've got to get evidence from the hotel servants.''
``Well, I didn't like to wake Milly.''
``She's paid for it, isn't she? Come, come, Mr. Last, this won't do at all. You'll never get your divorce if you don't give your mind to it more.''
``All right,'' said Tony. ``I'll have breakfast again.''
``In bed mind.''
``In bed.'' And he went wearily upstairs to his rooms. Wi
``Milly,'' said Tony firmly. ``Milly.''
``Oh,'' she said. ``What time is it?''
``We've got to have breakfast.''
``Don't want any breakfast. I think I'll sleep a little.''
``You have had breakfast,'' said Wi
``Come on,'' said Tony. ``Plenty of time to sleep afterwards. This is what we came for.''
Milly sat up in bed. ``O.K.,'' she said. ``Wi
Tony went into his room and took off his shoes, collar and tie, coat and waistcoat, and put on a dressing gown. ``You are greedy,'' said Wi
``Can I bathe?''
``Yes certainly, if you're quiet now.''
Tony got into bed beside Milly and pulled the dressing gown tight round his throat. ``Does that look all right?''
``Love's young dream,'' said Milly.
``All right then. I'll ring the bell.''
When the tray had been brought Tony got out of bed and put on his things. ``So much for my infidelity,'' he said. ``It is curious to reflect that this will be described in the papers as `intimacy.' ''
``Can I bathe now?''
``Certainly.''
Milly turned over to sleep again. Tony took Wi
``This little girl would like to bathe,'' said Tony.
``No bathing for children today,'' said the beach attendant.
``The very idea,'' said various onlookers. ``Does he want to drown the child?'' ``He's no business to be trusted with children.''
``U
``But I want to bathe,'' said Wi
The people who had clustered round to witness Tony's discomfort, looked at one another askance. ``Two breakfasts? Wanting to let the child bathe? The man's balmy.''
``Never mind,'' said Tony. ``We'll go on the pier.''
Several of the crowd followed them round the slots, curious to see what new enormity this mad father might attempt. ``There's a man who's eaten two breakfasts and tries to drown his little girl,'' they informed other spectators, sceptically observing his attempts to amuse Wi
``Well,'' said Brenda's solicitor. ``We have our case now, all quite regular and complete. I don't think it can come on until next term--there's a great rush at the moment, but there's no harm in you having your own evidence ready. I've got it typed out for you. You'd better keep it by you and get it clear in your mind.''
`` ... My marriage was an ideally happy one,'' she read, ``until shortly before Christmas last year when I began to suspect that my husband's attitude had changed towards me. He always remained in the country when my studies took me to London. I realized that he no longer cared for me as he used to. He began to drink heavily and on one occasion made a disturbance at our flat in London, constantly ringing up when drunk and sending a drunken friend round to knock on the door. Is that necessary?''
``Not strictly, but it is advisable to put it in. A great deal depends on psychological impression. Judges in their more lucid moments sometimes wonder why perfectly respectable, happily married men go off for week-ends to the seaside with women they do not know. It is always helpful to offer evidence of general degeneracy.''
``I see,'' said Brenda. ``From then onwards I had him watched by private agents and as a result of what they told me, I left my husband's house on April 5th. Yes, that all seems quite clear.''
Three
Lady St. Cloud preserved an atavistic faith in the authority and preternatural good judgment of the Head of the Family; accordingly her first act, on learning from Marjorie of Brenda's wayward behaviour, was to cable for Reggie's return from Tunisia where he was occupied in desecrating some tombs. His departure, like all his movements, was leisurely. He did not take the first available boat or the second, but eventually he arrived in London on the Monday after Tony's visit to Brighton. He held a family conclave in his library consisting of his mother, Brenda, Marjorie, Allan and the solicitor; later he discussed the question fully with each of them severally; he took Beaver out to luncheon; he dined with Jock; he even called on Tony's Aunt Frances. Finally on Thursday evening he arranged to meet Tony for di
He was eight years older than Brenda; very occasionally a fugitive, indefinable likeness was detectable between him and Marjorie, but both in character and appearance he was as different from Brenda as it was possible to imagine. He was prematurely, u
Rather more than half Reggie St. Cloud's time and income was spent abroad in modest archaeological expeditions. His house in London was full of their fruit--fragmentary amphoras, corroded bronze axe-heads, little splinters of bone and charred stick, a Graeco-Roman head in marble, its features obliterated and ground smooth with time. He had written two little monographs about his work, privately printed and both dedicated to members of the royal family. When he came to London he was regular in attendance at the House of Lords; all his friends were well over forty and for some years now he had established himself as a member of their generation; few mothers still regarded him as a possible son-in-law.