As I stood there in that thick oppressive urban dusk breathing the breath of fear, smelling the dunes of dust, I became aware of being looked at by a figure standing in the long unlighted landing window of the house I was studying. I could see the figure framed in the window and the pallor of the face regarding me. It was Rachel. We looked at each other in an awful immobility of quietness for about a minute. Then I turned away, like an animal from a human stare, and began to pace the pavement, to and fro, to and fro, waiting. The street lamps came on.
After about five minutes Arnold came out. I recognized his figure though I could not see his face. I began to walk back up the road toward the copper beech and he followed, then walked beside me in silence. A close-by lamp-post was illuminating one side of the tree, making the leaves a transparent glowing winy purple, and separating them out with clear shadows, each from each. We stepped into the rich gathered darkness underneath the tree, trying to see each other's faces.
Arnold said, «I'm sorry I got so excited.»
«O. K.»
«Everything's got much clearer now.»
«Good.»
«I'm sorry I said all those ludicrous things-about lawyers and so on.»
«So 'm I.»
«I hadn't realized how little had happened.»
«Oh.»
«I mean, I hadn't got the time scheme. I somehow gathered from what Julian said this afternoon that this whatever it is had been going on for some time. But now I understand it's only been going on since yesterday evening.»
«A lot has happened since yesterday evening,» I said. «You should understand, you seem to have been fairly busy lately yourself.»
«You must have thought Rachel and I were being ridiculously solemn this afternoon about very little.»
«I see you're playing it differently now,» I said.
«What?»
«Go on.»
«Now Julian has explained everything to us and it's all perfectly clear.»
«And what does it look like?»
«Of course she was upset and touched. She felt pity for you, she said.»
«I don't believe you. But go on.»
«And of course she was flattered-«What's she doing now?»
«Now? Lying on her bed and crying her eyes out.»
«Christ.»
«But don't worry about her, Bradley.»
«Oh, I won't.»
«I wanted to explain-She has now told us everything, and we can see that this is really nothing at all, just a storm in a teacup, and she agrees.»
«Does she?»
«She asks you to forgive her for being so emotional and silly, and she says will you please not try to see her just now.»
«Arnold, did she really say this?»
' «Yes.
I gripped him by the shoulders and pulled him with me a few steps so that the lamplight fell onto his face. He reacted convulsively for a moment, then stood still in my hold. «Arnold, did she say that?»
«Yes.»
I let go of him, and we both moved instinctively back into the shadow. His face leered at me, twisted up with will and anxiety and deep intention. It was not the pink angry hostile face of earlier. It was a hard determined face which told me nothing.
«Embarrassed?»
«Yes, and it will be most considerate of you to sheer off. Be kind to the child. Let her recover her dignity. Dignity matters so much to a young girl. She feels she's lost face by taking it all so seriously and she feels she's made a bit of an exhibition of herself. If you saw her now she'd just giggle and blush and feel sorry for you and ashamed of herself. She sees now it was silly to take it all so seriously and make a drama of it. She admits that she was flattered, it turned her head a bit, and it was an exciting surprise. But when she saw we weren't amused she sobered up. She understands now that it's all an impossible nonsense, well, she understands, in practical matters she's an intelligent girl. Do use enough imagination to see how she must feel now! She's not such a fool as to imagine you're suffering from any great passion either. She says she's very sorry and will you please not try to see her for a while yet. It's better to have a bit of an interval. We're going on holiday soon anyway, the day after tomorrow, in fact. I've decided to take her to Venice. She's always wanted to go. We've been to Rome and Florence, but never there, and she's got a thing about it. So we're going to take a flat, probably spend the rest of the summer. Julian's absolutely thrilled. I think a change of scene would help my book too. So there we are. I'm awfully sorry I got so worked up this afternoon. You must have thought me a solemn idiot. I hope you aren't angry with me now?»
«Not at all,» I said.
«I'm just trying to act rightly. Well, we all are. Fathers have duties. Please, please try to understand. It's kindest to Julian to play this quite cool. You will sheer off and keep quiet, please? She won't want any heavy letters or anything. Leave the kid alone and let her begin to enjoy herself again. You don't want to haunt her like a ghost, do you? You will leave her alone now, won't you, Bradley?»
«All right,» I said. «Yes.»
«I can rely on you?»
«Bradley, you do relieve my mind. I knew you'd act decently, for the child's sake. Thank you, thank you. God, I'm relieved. I'll run back to Rachel. She sends her love, by the way.»
«Who does?»
«Rachel.»
«Give her mine. Good night. I hope you have a good time in Venice.»
He called me back. «By the way, you did really destroy that letter?»
«Yes.»
I made my way home thinking the thoughts which I will describe in the next section. When I got back I found a note from Francis asking me to call on Priscilla. w.
I had so much loved and trusted Julian's instinct for frankness that I had not even had the sense to advise her to tone it all down a bit. I had not even, fool that I was, really foreseen how awful the thing would look to her parents. I had been far too absorbed in the sacredness of my own feelings to make the cold effort to be objective here. And what an idiot I had been, to go farther back, not to tone it all down myself! I could have broken it to her slowly, moved in on her gradually, wooed her quietly, hinted, insinuated, whispered. There could have been chaste and then less chaste kisses. Why did I have to sick it up all at once like that and put her in a frenzy? But of course this slow-motion idea was only tolerable in retrospect in the light of the knowledge that I now had of her love for me. If I had started to tell her anything at all I could not have stopped myself from telling her everything straightaway. The anxiety would have been too terrible. I did not now meditate upon, or even entertain, the thought that I might have been and ought to have been silent. I did not reject this idea. Only it seemed to belong to some very remote period of the past. For better or worse, that was no longer in question, and guilt about it did not form part of my distress.
I woke to the sound of dustbin lids being clattered by Greeks at the end of the court. I rose quickly into a world which had become, even since last night, much more frightful. Last night there had been horrors, but there had been a sense of drama, a feeling of obstacles to be overcome, and beyond it all the uplifting certainty of her love. Today I felt crazy with doubt and fear. She was only a young girl after all. Could she, against such fierce parental opposition, hold to her faith and keep her vision clear? And if they had lied to me about her was it not likely that they had lied to her about me? They would tell her that I had said I would give her up. And I had said it. Would she understand? Would she be strong enough to go on believing in me? How strong was she? How little in fact I knew her. Was it really all in my mind? And supposing they took her away? Supposing I really could not find her? Surely she would write to me. But supposing she did not? Perhaps, although she did love me, she had decided that the whole thing was a mistake? That would, after all, be a thoroughly rational decision.