and they would all be free of her. As he sat rocking at the oars, Cridge even felt a surge of hope that he might be freed, soon, from his other servitude, his stretch of time with Mrs Routledge. But the feeling soon died away again. Mrs Routledge would only be succeeded by another jailor, as terrible and tyrannical as herself. Cridge had always been dominated by women, starting with his mild saintly mother (who had frightened him nearly to death all the same), going on through progressively more violent and demanding schoolmistresses to employers capable of destruction and vehemence beyond the scope of imagination. He expected, in the end, to be taken on in some humble capacity by a woman as vast and all-engulfing as the sea itself, and to drown in fear under her commanding gaze. He decided to try and adopt a morecheerful attitude at this point in his gloomy thoughts, and looked up expectantly at the fast-sinking piece of land. There was no sign of life there, and he tried to remember how the passage in the book had gone. Perhaps Johnny had committed the murder without him. He rowed with short, tentative strokes back to the narrow beach where the characters had disembarked.
Mrs Houghton was having difficulty with her flashback. She wanted Johnny and Melinda to remember the romantic occasion of their lovemaking and to re-enact it in their minds, but they seemed tired and bored and were behaving self-consciously, as if they were capable only of producing a faint parody of their earlier emotions. She wrote:
They were a long way from the crowds and demonstrations of the last months. Their commitment was to each other now, and the sea that lay around them, the wide sky that stretched unchanging over them showed the extent of their impotence to alter the world, the necessity to understand each other and the materials of the world they hoped to change. They had been too urban, too concerned with theory and too little with the everlasting reality of things. A seagull flew overhead, and they clung to each other briefly.
Johnny unzipped his trousers and lunged towards Melinda, who pretended to encourage him, then turned away in disgust.
With an angry tut, Mrs Houghton scored out the last sentence and glared at her characters. Johnny zipped himself up and laughed. Melinda gave an echoing giggle. Then Mrs Houghton saw that Johnny was holding a knife.
âWhat on earth are you both doing? Whatâs that knife for? Iâm very disappointed at your lack of commitment, you know. This kind of half-hearted behaviour simply will not do ⦠Please pull yourselves together at once.â
âI want out,â Johnny said succinctly. He stepped towardsMrs Houghton and held the knife over her head. It must be said for the novelist that she did not flinch: she looked at him calmly instead, and a slight, maddening smile hovered at the corners of her mouth. Unperturbed, she wrote:
They fell apart again, but both knew they could not remain long apart from each other. If they could be one, here where sea and sky merged, if they could find a place for themselves in the Universe, their blood flowing together, their minds at peace â¦
Cridge appeared at the little beach between the two grassy humps and dragged the boat over the strip of shingle on to dry land. Behind him, the sea had risen considerably and Mrs Houghton saw to her annoyance that only a few minutes were left before the scene of the rescue. Anyway, it wasnât supposed to happen as smoothly as thisâMelinda was to cry out, deep in Johnnyâs arms, at the rising tide, and Cridge was to come quite unexpected just when it seemed the lovers were indeed about to merge with the surrounding seascape. She waved at him vigorously.
âGo back at once, Cridge! Not yet!â
Cridge paused, looking to Johnny for instructions. The arm holding the knife began to descend slowly. Melinda gave a little scream of fear and pleasure.
He went into her, gently at first (Mrs
Mrs Houghton was having difficulty with her flashback. She wanted Johnny and Melinda to remember the romantic occasion of their lovemaking and to re-enact it in their minds, but they seemed tired and bored and were behaving self-consciously, as if they were capable only of producing a faint parody of their earlier emotions. She wrote:
They were a long way from the crowds and demonstrations of the last months. Their commitment was to each other now, and the sea that lay around them, the wide sky that stretched unchanging over them showed the extent of their impotence to alter the world, the necessity to understand each other and the materials of the world they hoped to change. They had been too urban, too concerned with theory and too little with the everlasting reality of things. A seagull flew overhead, and they clung to each other briefly.
Johnny unzipped his trousers and lunged towards Melinda, who pretended to encourage him, then turned away in disgust.
With an angry tut, Mrs Houghton scored out the last sentence and glared at her characters. Johnny zipped himself up and laughed. Melinda gave an echoing giggle. Then Mrs Houghton saw that Johnny was holding a knife.
âWhat on earth are you both doing? Whatâs that knife for? Iâm very disappointed at your lack of commitment, you know. This kind of half-hearted behaviour simply will not do ⦠Please pull yourselves together at once.â
âI want out,â Johnny said succinctly. He stepped towardsMrs Houghton and held the knife over her head. It must be said for the novelist that she did not flinch: she looked at him calmly instead, and a slight, maddening smile hovered at the corners of her mouth. Unperturbed, she wrote:
They fell apart again, but both knew they could not remain long apart from each other. If they could be one, here where sea and sky merged, if they could find a place for themselves in the Universe, their blood flowing together, their minds at peace â¦
Cridge appeared at the little beach between the two grassy humps and dragged the boat over the strip of shingle on to dry land. Behind him, the sea had risen considerably and Mrs Houghton saw to her annoyance that only a few minutes were left before the scene of the rescue. Anyway, it wasnât supposed to happen as smoothly as thisâMelinda was to cry out, deep in Johnnyâs arms, at the rising tide, and Cridge was to come quite unexpected just when it seemed the lovers were indeed about to merge with the surrounding seascape. She waved at him vigorously.
âGo back at once, Cridge! Not yet!â
Cridge paused, looking to Johnny for instructions. The arm holding the knife began to descend slowly. Melinda gave a little scream of fear and pleasure.
He went into her, gently at first (Mrs
Similar Books
