Free Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym Page A

huffy, thought Mrs. Cleveland. Perhaps he’s annoyed about what I said. ‘You can have more tea if you like , dear,’ she said, not very encouragingly.
    ‘But I’ve had tea. Why should I want any more?’ he said impatiently.
    ‘I don’t know. I just thought you might. You do sometimes want odd things, you know,’ she said. ‘Who did you have tea with?’
    Really, Margaret was exasperating sometimes, he thought, sitting down by the fire. ‘I had tea with Killigrew,’ he said defiantly. It was the first time, as far as he could remember, that he had ever told his wife a deliberate lie. It made him feel fine and important, a swelling, ranting Don Juan with a dark double life, instead of a middle-aged Fellow of Randolph, ignored or treated with contempt by his wife and daughter.
    ‘Oh?’ said Mrs. Cleveland. ‘How is old Mrs. Killigrew?’
    ‘I don’t know, just the same as usual, I imagine. We went to Fuller’s. We talked about Milton,’ he said, enlarging on the fiction. ‘Killigrew was quoting Paradise Lost . The beauty of the work is certainly lost through a mouthful of walnut cake. He looked ridiculous.’
    Dear Francis, thought his wife affectionately. Was it possible to recite Milton over the tea table and not look ridiculous? ‘Won’t you recite some now?’ she asked solemnly.
    ‘Whatever for?’
    ‘Don’t you remember … ?’ she began, but she stopped, because she was herself being ridiculous now. For there was surely something essentially ridiculous in remembering how Francis had once recited the whole of Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’ to her over tea in Boffin’s.
    ‘Did you see Aunt Maude and Miss Morrow in Fuller’s?’ she asked. ‘They may have been there when you were. I know they were going shopping, and they usually have tea there if they stay in town.’
    ‘Oh, no,’ said Francis confidently, ‘I didn’t see them.’ But the news that they might have been there made him a little uneasy. He couldn’t really remember noticing anyone, except Mrs. Furse and her three little boys, and the cafe had been very full. Supposing they had been there and had seen him with Barbara? One must consider that possibility. If they had seen him, Aunt Maude would be sure to tell Margaret. She would consider it her duty. And yet there was nothing wrong in taking Barbara Bird out to tea. Margaret had herself suggested that he should do something of the kind. It was only that he had told her that he was with Killigrew, and she would probably wonder why he had told a lie about it. He didn’t really know why he had. The whole thing was Margaret’s fault, he thought unreasonably. She oughtn’t to have turned him out and sent him to the Bodleian on a cold afternoon. And she ought to have told him as soon as he came in about Aunt Maude’s probably having been in Fuller’s. Then he would have been warned.
    ‘Did you see anyone else that we know?’ persisted Mrs. Cleveland.
    There she was, going on about it again, he thought, exasperated. ‘The whole of North Oxford was there, I should think,’ he said in an even tone. ‘It usually is in the vacation. So you can gather that I probably saw almost everyone we know.’

VII.  Mr. Latimer Gets an Idea
     

    ‘If I were you, Miss Morrow,’ said Miss Doggett to her companion, ‘I shouldn’t say anything to Mrs. Cleveland about what we saw in Fuller’s last week. You are inclined to be impulsive, you know, and well-meaning busybodies often do more harm than good in matters like this.’
    ‘Oh, no, I never thought of mentioning it,’ said Miss Morrow meekly, without attempting to protest against the injustice of Miss Doggett’s implications. ‘I shall certainly not say anything.’
    ‘I do not think it is really our business,’ said Miss Doggett. ‘We will let the matter drop,’ she added, having no intention of doing anything of the kind. It was quite possible that there would be further incidents in the story. It would be much