Free Stephanie by Winston Graham

… But you are such a gentle man, so mild, so good-mannered, so elegant; butter wouldn’t melt. But it must have melted at one time.’
    â€˜What d’you mean?’
    â€˜Well, that perfect array of medals in the case in the hall, you didn’t get them on a Christmas tree.’
    â€˜I was young and rash –’
    â€˜Maybe. But does character change all that much, just in the course of a few years?’
    â€˜In those days I was acting out of character,’ James said, but his daughter did not seem to hear.
    â€˜For instance. For instance, Daddy, when this man came over from Rio and stole your wife, did you not make a – make a fight of it? … Or did you? I was too young to remember.’
    James lit a cigar. ‘There is port but –’
    â€˜No, this is delicious. And I’m sure it won’t keep till tomorrow!’
    He said: ‘For a few years when I was young I got into the habit of fighting. It seemed to come easy to me. Maybe some old cutpurse lurks in the family genes. When it was over, then I put all that side behind me. Had to. In answer to your question, did I fight when your mother said she was going to leave me … I did my best to keep her, or my worst, if you look at it that way. Yes, I fought, but in a civilised way. it was all very civilised but very bitter just the same.’
    â€˜Thank you, Daddy. I’m sure you don’t want to go into details. I asked Teresa a couple of times but she’s only three years older and doesn’t have a much better memory of it than I have.’
    â€˜I’m afraid I’ve been a very lax single parent.’
    â€˜Lenient, yes. Except where grammar and syntax were concerned.’
    James laughed. ‘ Well, it seemed with two daughters on my hands, I couldn’t guide them morally, but I did expect ’em to write the Queen’s English.’
    â€˜I remember so well things you dinned into us. “ The verb to be never has an object.” “A relative pronoun must be next to its antecedent.” “ Tommy sits next to his uncle.” I wonder if Teresa remembers! I must ask her.’
    They finished the Coutet. James’s cigar was half-spent. Stephanie lit a cigarette. They had moved from the dining room to the drawing room where a fire burned. The girl stretched her legs gratefully. In this warm cosy atmosphere she was more easy than she had been for many weeks. All the grievous, heart-wrenching problems remained unsolved, but just now they were outside the walls of this house. Here was a sort of sanctuary.
    James said: ‘When a woman takes it into her heart and her head and her guts to fall in love with a man, there’s not much one can do to restrain her. You ought to know! When it happens, as in my case, it was another man, there are very few barriers one can put up. Even her love for her children didn’t quite weigh heavily enough in the balance.’
    â€˜I think you loved us more than she did.’
    â€˜That’s an assumption based on the event. I don’t think it follows.’
    â€˜It was a funny old visit Teresa and I paid her. They did their best to make us feel welcome; but it was all rather brittle. It’s a brittle city.’
    They sat silent for a while. ‘Well, just in case you don’t know it,’ Stephanie said, ‘I love you very much.’
    â€˜This must be the drink working on you,’ he said brusquely, seeing the tears in her eyes and feeling them in his own. ‘ In vino lachryma , as they say in dog Latin.’
    â€˜Talking of dogs, why don’t you keep one?’
    â€˜They make messes in the garden. But that isn’t why I don’t marry Mary Aldershot.’
    Stephanie crowed with laughter.
    â€˜Incidentally,’ James said, ‘ this concern for my welfare is quite exceptional. I must boast to Teresa about it, try to make her jealous.’
    â€˜How is