The Heart Of The Matter
ards the bridge over the river that still c
by myself,' Wilson said, panting a li
ie said, 'It's m
rds them balancing a pail of water on her head; a child naked except for a red bead necklace round the waist played in a little dust-paved yard among
behind us?' Mrs Scobie said. 'And a few hundred yards up
was gathering inside the boom; tiny boats moved like flies between the ships; above them the ashy trees and the burnt s
This is what I thought it
nd loves the pla
e eyesight. He sees what he likes to see. He doesn't se
ees you,'
oesn't, because I've
u aren't
Oh yes
ing his face into a careful careless whistle. But he cou
ke,' Louise said,
He stood aside to let a labourer go by. He
'we get to the best point of all -
tumbling on again along the ridge track. He had no small
h green slopes falling down towards the great flat glaring bay - when she wanted
Who's
My hus
I'd heard you call him somethi
hates it. I try not to when other peo
a little further - to
ise said, 'before dark. The ra
k will be downh
or for equality. In his romantic, humble, ambitious mind he could conceive only a relationship with a waitress, a cinema usherette, a landlady's daughter in Battersea or with a queen - this was a queen. He began to mutter again at her heels - 'so good' - between pants, his p
breath again against the wooden wall of the small abandoned
s like the steam left only a moment ago by a passing train. On the forever-closed guichet somebody had chalked a crude phallic figure. Wilson cou
'Th
ank God, I shall b
You are not
sending me to
s was so unexpected that it was like a t
w better than he did that his face was not made to expres
He'll
said - he, he, he chiming back in his
be happier
e could
's quite easy really when you get the hang of it. 'He'll be happier without me,' she repeated. An ant moved from the woodwork on to her neck and he leant close to flick it away. He had no other motive. When he took his mouth away from hers
carrying on the conversation
down into his right eye and he brushed it away; on the guich
if it hadn't been for the mone
'Wh
nd fro - of Father Rank's laugh coming up along the path. 'Good evening, good evening,' Father Rank called. His stride lengthened and he caught a foot in his soutane and
see who we wer
he did. What d
biggest gossi
t things that m
s doesn't
doesn't,' she sai
with you, Louise,'
the second t
hat makes any difference
rse I like y
ou wouldn't ca
you got ano
'Ed
now where you are. Suddenly you are calling someone Bear or Ticki, and the real names s
don't you
m. I told you. I'm go
you, Louise,'
old are yo
Thirty
hirty-two, and I am
doesn't
ic. It does matter. It matters much more than lo
and then tore up the sky, climbing vertically: the wind pressed the two
long will
Half a
me down. They stood inside the station and heard the water hurled upon
is grim,' L
God's sake, Wilson,' she said, 'don't let's have a petting party.' She h
rry ... I di
. 'I like you, Wilson,' she said, 'but I'm not a nursing sister who expects to be taken whenever she fi
love you
e told me. Do you think there
hen are you going to
icki can rai
a lot. Perhaps you
age somehow. He
ife ins
, he's t
it to you myself. But I'
t mice in here, Ticki
o remember the features of someone he had once known who had gone away. One would build them up i
l do anyth
'A moment ago you sai
ut he has a terrible se
cried furiously out, 'Keep still
e anything funny happened to me. I'll remember this for months, for months.' But it seemed to Wilson that he would reme
ures moved to and fro carrying packages. 'What's up now?' Louise exclaimed, and began to run down the road. Wilson panted after her. Ali c
' he said, and grinned
. 'I thought I'd have to write a note,' and Wilson saw that in fact he had already begun one.
earth's happ
ot to get of
wait for the tra
'
I come w
y, dear. I'll have to take Al
hat's h
trouble over y
'Seri
'
. It was madness to le
ry, Wilson. Help yourself. Get a bottle of soda
ng will you
r tomorrow, with any luck. Why don'
be all right h
oy and leave you Ali, but
Ali, dear. It will be like th
r,' Wilson said. 'I'm sorry I
e sheltering in the old station. Very sensible of you. He got a drenching
your glass, sir?
ever takes mo
n. Stay and keep Louise company for a bit. I've got to
You're too old, Ticki, for this. Drivin
ness, tact, you can't let a young man handle it.' He took another drink of wh
r forgive Pembe
ngs if we knew the facts.' He smiled unwillingly at Wilson. 'A policeman sh
I could be
word books Wilson saw her mouth tighten just as a moment ago he had seen Scobie flinch at the name of Ticki, and for the first time he
od-bye,
ood-bye
on. See he has enough
ll above and the taste of lipstick. For exactly an hour and a half the mark of his mouth had been the last on hers. He felt n
e had taken more whisky than he was accustomed to, and perhaps that was w
They watched him climb laboriously in, and she went sadly on, 'Is
tch. 'They don't even give him a good driver,' she said. 'The good driver will have taken Fraser and the rest
and read it aloud. My dear, I have had to leave for Bamba. Keep t
erton,' she rep
ho's Pe
but when Butterworth went sick, they left him in charge. Anybody could have told them there
w, hadn't I?' Wilson said
we've been alone five minutes in a house with a bed in it. Alone, of cours
I could be
ether there's a rat in the bedroom? I don't want the small boy t
ll be very
I don'
face-powder in the room - it seemed to him the most memorable scent he had ever known. He stood again by the door taking the whole room in - the child's photograph, the pots of cream, the dress laid out by Ali for the