He turned his back on her; he wouldn’t promise, but he wouldn’t tell. He would have nothing to do with their secrets, the responsibilities they were determined to lay on him. He was only anxious to forget. He had received already a larger dose of life than he had bargained for, and he was scared. ‘A 2A Meccano set, Master Philip.’ He never opened his Meccano set again, never built anything, never created anything, died, the old dilettante, sixty years later with nothing to show rather than preserve the memory of Mrs Baines’s malicious voice saying good night, her soft determined footfalls on the stairs to the basement, going down, going down.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

THE SUN POURED in between the curtains and Baines was beating a tattoo on the water-can. ‘Glory, glory,’ Baines said. He sat down on the end of the bed and said, ‘I beg to announce that Mrs Baines has been called away. Her mother’s dying. She won’t be back till tomorrow.’

‘Why did you wake me up so early?’ Philip said. He watched Baines with uneasiness; he wasn’t going to be drawn in; he’d learnt his lesson. It wasn’t right for a man of Baines’s age to be so merry. It made a grown person human in the same way that you were human. For if a grown-up could behave so childishly, you were liable too to find yourself in their world. It was enough that it came at you in dreams: the witch at the corner, the man with a knife. So ‘It’s very early,’ he complained, even though he loved Baines, even though he couldn’t help being glad that Baines was happy. He was divided by the fear and the attraction of life.

‘I want to make this a long day,’ Baines said. ‘This is the best time.’ He pulled the curtains back. ‘It’s a bit misty. The cat’s been out all night. There she is, sniffing round the area. They haven’t taken in any milk at 59. Emma’s shaking out the mats at 63.’ He said, ‘This was what I used to think about on the Coast: somebody shaking mats and the cat coming home. I can see it today,’ Baines said, ‘just as if I was still in Africa. Most days you don’t notice what you’ve got. It’s a good life if you don’t weaken.’ He put a penny on the wash-stand. ‘When you’ve dressed, Phil, run and get a Mail from the barrow at the corner. I’ll be cooking the sausages.’

‘Sausages?’