for final. Apart from being a married man, we work in the same office. Then besides being a member of the church I'm in different societies in the town. What you're offering is most generous, I realise that, but I just cannot accept, I cannot be a hypocrite. You know for a fact that if I hadn't drunk so much on Christmas Eve the ... the incident would never have happened.
Now'--he undid the top button of his waistcoat, then did it up again, before adding, "If you'll be good enough to return my watch I'll be grateful, and ... and we can ..."
"And we can forget it ever happened." She was on her feet confronting him now, her eyes almost black, her mouth tight. "
"You know what you are, you're a weak-bellied, pious bastard. That's what you are. Now you listen to me, Mr. Blenheim. What if I have a baby?"
He had heard about people blanching, but now he was experiencing it.
He felt the blood draining from his face down
through his stomach. Even his words seemed white as he whispered,
"You're not...?"
"I don't know yet. It could happen quite easily; I wasn't prepared.
I'm over me time, so I don't know. "
Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Hosts . "As things stand I think I'll just hang on to your watch, sort of mind it for a little while longer."
"I want my watch, and I want it now."
"Oh, Mr. Blenheim, stop shouting; somebody might hear you next door. I know she's deaf but she has friends come in."
He was no longer feeling blanched; the blood was pounding in his head.
This was the kind of situation that other men got themselves into too.
From his own experience he had known of a number in his time; one had been a close friend, a churchgoing man and a visitor to the house.
Esther had liked him; she always thought Bill Caldwell such a genuine man. That was until he had got himself mixed up with a young married woman and the affair had ended in divorce. After that his name had never been mentioned again. Esther didn't hold with divorce; what God had joined together was a holy law with her. He had the wild idea of thrusting this blackmailing little tart aside and dashing into the bedroom and searching for his watch, and he might have done just that except that he knew that to prevent him she would come to grips with him, physically and he wanted no more of that.
He picked up his hat and, without looking at her again, made for the door; and when he reached it she called, "I'll write to you when I want to see you again."
As once before he had stood at the end of the Cut and wiped the sweat from his face, so now he stopped at the same spot again and stood gasping as if he had sprinted from the house. What was he to do? He should get advice, tell someone . and make himself out to be as she said, a weak-bellied pious bastard. And what if she should be .
He couldn't even think the word pregnant. He saw his whole ordered world in fragments about him. He saw the chaos after exposure. He saw the reactions of the individual members of his family. First Esther; the ground cut from beneath her, her ideals and lofty thinking sullied by the sordid affair. But the reaction he knew
vv llctL WUU1U U be? Wrath, yes, indignation, and of course the demand that the whole affair be hushed up for his daughter's sake; and for the remainder of his life he'd be under his thumb. And all this because he took a girl home in the snow. It didn't seem possible. If someone had put the situation to him as a hypothetical case he would have said the whole thing was highly improbable.
He got into his car and drove home . The house was quiet when he entered the hall and after he had hung up his things in the cloakroom he went into the sitting-room, where Esther was sitting reading. She laid down her book and stared into his face, saying, "You're looking pea ky again. Why did you work so late when you're not feeling too fit?"
"Oh, I'm all right." He went to the fire and held out his hands to the flames and asked, "Where's everybody?"
"Terry's gone to his
Now'--he undid the top button of his waistcoat, then did it up again, before adding, "If you'll be good enough to return my watch I'll be grateful, and ... and we can ..."
"And we can forget it ever happened." She was on her feet confronting him now, her eyes almost black, her mouth tight. "
"You know what you are, you're a weak-bellied, pious bastard. That's what you are. Now you listen to me, Mr. Blenheim. What if I have a baby?"
He had heard about people blanching, but now he was experiencing it.
He felt the blood draining from his face down
through his stomach. Even his words seemed white as he whispered,
"You're not...?"
"I don't know yet. It could happen quite easily; I wasn't prepared.
I'm over me time, so I don't know. "
Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Hosts . "As things stand I think I'll just hang on to your watch, sort of mind it for a little while longer."
"I want my watch, and I want it now."
"Oh, Mr. Blenheim, stop shouting; somebody might hear you next door. I know she's deaf but she has friends come in."
He was no longer feeling blanched; the blood was pounding in his head.
This was the kind of situation that other men got themselves into too.
From his own experience he had known of a number in his time; one had been a close friend, a churchgoing man and a visitor to the house.
Esther had liked him; she always thought Bill Caldwell such a genuine man. That was until he had got himself mixed up with a young married woman and the affair had ended in divorce. After that his name had never been mentioned again. Esther didn't hold with divorce; what God had joined together was a holy law with her. He had the wild idea of thrusting this blackmailing little tart aside and dashing into the bedroom and searching for his watch, and he might have done just that except that he knew that to prevent him she would come to grips with him, physically and he wanted no more of that.
He picked up his hat and, without looking at her again, made for the door; and when he reached it she called, "I'll write to you when I want to see you again."
As once before he had stood at the end of the Cut and wiped the sweat from his face, so now he stopped at the same spot again and stood gasping as if he had sprinted from the house. What was he to do? He should get advice, tell someone . and make himself out to be as she said, a weak-bellied pious bastard. And what if she should be .
He couldn't even think the word pregnant. He saw his whole ordered world in fragments about him. He saw the chaos after exposure. He saw the reactions of the individual members of his family. First Esther; the ground cut from beneath her, her ideals and lofty thinking sullied by the sordid affair. But the reaction he knew
vv llctL WUU1U U be? Wrath, yes, indignation, and of course the demand that the whole affair be hushed up for his daughter's sake; and for the remainder of his life he'd be under his thumb. And all this because he took a girl home in the snow. It didn't seem possible. If someone had put the situation to him as a hypothetical case he would have said the whole thing was highly improbable.
He got into his car and drove home . The house was quiet when he entered the hall and after he had hung up his things in the cloakroom he went into the sitting-room, where Esther was sitting reading. She laid down her book and stared into his face, saying, "You're looking pea ky again. Why did you work so late when you're not feeling too fit?"
"Oh, I'm all right." He went to the fire and held out his hands to the flames and asked, "Where's everybody?"
"Terry's gone to his
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