Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark

the pantry. I got them from that
boyfriend who’s a steward on the first class TWA.’
    â€˜Irene, what a treasure the Klopstocks have lost in you
by their death!’ says Lister.
    Irene looks modestly at her crumby plate.
    Clovis yawns and leans his elbows on the table and his
head on his hands. ‘I’m worn out,’ he says. ‘I’ll be glad to get to bed.’ He
gets up, goes into the pantry and returns with a tray on which are set a plate
of large green grapes, a bowl of water in which to dip them and a tiny pair of
scissors with which to snip them off their twigs. He places them before Heloise.
‘Long live the Baroness!’ he says.
    Heloise pats her stomach.
    Mr Samuel then goes to open the back door. He can be
heard saying, ‘You’ll have to wait. Victor Passerat’s not available just
yet.’
    â€˜We’ve lost the keys of the car,’ says the woman’s
voice.
    â€˜Well, look for them.’
    â€˜The ground’s all wet. We’re soaked through. Can’t we
come in and telephone to a garage, or something?’
    â€˜Sorry, strangers aren’t permitted.’
    â€˜What can we do? We can’t get in the car, and we can’t
get out of the gate. The porter won’t open it for us.’
    â€˜Take a stroll in the grounds,’ advises Mr Samuel.
    â€˜It’s wet. We’ll get caught in another downpour. This is
a terrible place.’
    â€˜You should always,’ says Mr Samuel, ‘avoid terrible
places.’
    Returning to the servants’ dining-room he says,
‘Amateurs. Where’s my camera? It’s just possible I could get a few shots of them
to fit in an educational film I’ve got going. The young have to be taught about
the average aberrant in the street.’
    He takes his camera to the window and focuses.
    Lister, dressed smartly for the day’s work, stands at the
open front door like a gloomy shopkeeper looking at the dark, rumbling sky as
Theo comes up the drive on his bicycle. Theo makes a questioning sign, pointing
round to the back of the house. ‘No, come here,’ says Lister.
    Theo tremulously parks his bicycle against the dripping
hedge and walks the rest of the way.
    â€˜I called for you, Theo, because there is something
strange to report,’ Lister says. ‘Come right in.’
    The others are coming downstairs, with sleeplessness in
their movements and on their faces. The servants are dressed in their morning
overalls. Behind them come Mr Samuel in a knee-length blue bath-robe and Mr
McGuire in a black and white striped dressing-gown.
    â€˜What’s going on?’ says Mr Samuel.
    Theo says, ‘There’s something peculiar been going on all
night.’
    â€˜Do you like the job, Theo?’ says Lister.
    â€˜Yes, Lister,’ he says.
    â€˜Well, you can keep it. Only remember that nothing
peculiar has been going on, as indeed it hasn’t. I want only to inform you here
and now that the light is on in the library as it was last night when we went to
bed with orders not to disturb the Baron Klopstocks and their guest and,
furthermore, this morning the door is locked from the inside and there is no
response.’
    â€˜What’s happened?’ says Theo. ‘You know, my Clara has had
dreams, terrible dreams. Have you knocked hard enough?’
    Lister goes to the library door, tries the handle, shakes
it, then knocks loudly. ‘Sir!’ he says. ‘Madam!’
    â€˜We’d better break it down,’ says Theo, looking at the
others one by one.
    â€˜I have orders not to disturb,’ Lister says. ‘We shall
call the police.’
    â€˜Clara will be frightened,’ says Theo.
    â€˜Tell her to confide in the police about her dreams, and
get it off her chest,’ says Lister. ‘The more she says about her dreams when
questioned, the better. As far as you two in the lodge are concerned we have
been such stuff as dreams