Acquired Tastes by Simone Mondesir Page A

and were mature enough not to require the psychological prop of a sanction for their union from either church or state.
    However, not long after they arrived at the university, a rumour that Gruber had a formidable wife back in Vienna who refused to divorce him and, moreover, had run Zelda out of town had stealthily begun to circulate. No one at Heartlands had ever dared ask Zelda whether the rumour was true, partly out of fear of her and partly because the idea of anyone daring to run Zelda out of town was inconceivable. Zelda herself, when given to complaining about Heartlands, which was often, explained that she would never have accepted a post at such a lowly university if it had not been for her elderly father whose rapidly ailing health had forced her to return to England to care for him. And it was true: she and Gruber did share a large and rambling manor house with her ninety-four year-old father, ten miles outside Heartlands. It was unfortunate that the woman who cleaned the manor house also cleaned for another lecturer. Over coffee one morning she had let it be known that she had accidentally seen blueprints for converting the manor house into a block of luxury timeshare flats, and she was convinced that Zelda had only come back to England to wait for her father to die so she could move the builders in.
    Unlike most of the other academics, Alicia liked Zelda, and refused to listen to unkind gossip about her. She liked Zelda's elderly father too, and often visited him, even when Zelda was not there, taking him homemade steak and kidney pies and bread and butter pudding, which he loved. He was very sprightly for a ninety-four year-old and flirted outrageously. He loved to pinch her bottom if she ever turned her back to him. When Alicia laughingly told him off, he would wickedly protest that he had learned the habit defending king and country in the First World War in France. Nobody could possibly want a sweet old man like that to die, least of all Zelda. Of that, Alicia was certain.
    But the expression in Zelda's eyes as she looked up at Vanessa in the Senior Common Room, made Alicia's certainty waver for a moment. For a moment it was the same look she had seen in the eyes of a leopard on a wildlife programme, just before it went in for the kill, but then it was gone and Zelda was sipping her sherry and smiling benevolently.
    'Such a good turn out tonight.' Zelda indicated the room with her glass. 'You should come to St Ethelred's more often, Vanessa dear, we do so
adore
having distinguished guests like yourself to dinner.'
    Vanessa smiled frostily and drank down half of her whisky.
    Alicia checked her watch. It was getting awfully late, if only Fergus would arrive. She began to debate with herself as to whether she should go and phone him, he could be very forgetful at times.
    She turned to let Vanessa know she was going to use the phone in the bursar’s office, but before she could speak, there was a loud crash and the room fell silent.
    'Who the hell put that table there? Damn fool place to put a table, if you ask me. Shirley, a large whisky and none of your short measure nonsense.'
    The crowd in front of Alicia and Vanessa parted like the Red Sea as every head craned to see what was going on. Vanessa glimpsed a barrel-chested man with a head of wild, rust-red curls and a beard to match, trying to disentangle himself from a side table he had knocked over. He appeared to be unable to perform the simple task of lifting his leg up and out from between the cross bars, and instead was dragging the table along with him as he walked.
    'Drunk again,' Zelda said loudly, so that it would carry. 'I know he's your friend, Alicia dear, but he really is the limit. He ought to be banned from polite society.'
    There was a murmur of agreement.
    Alicia's cheeks burned. 'I'm sure it was just an accident,' she protested faintly. 'It's so crowded in here, perhaps he didn't see …'
    Fergus finally managed to get his leg free and gave