Breaking the Chain Read Online Free PDF

emerging from the water only fifty yards away, with a dripping fish in its talons.
    ‘Look!’ he cried. ‘An osprey!’
    ‘What a marvellous sight! I’ve never seen one before,’ Phoebe exclaimed, staring after it, before turning amazed eyes on him. ‘Wasn’t that a real treat? D’you reckon it’s a good omen?’
    ‘Omen?’
    ‘For us! To see one on our honeymoon. It’s got to be really lucky, don’t you think?’
    Duncan smiled at her. ‘If it p-pleases you,’ he said, patting her affectionately on the top of the head. He felt almost paternal towards her.
    At the end of the day, it was always very pleasant to go back to the camp site and lie side by side in his tent, waiting for the kettle to boil on the camping gas stove. It had been warm and dry all day, but now he felt sweaty. The air seemed thick and the sky ominously yellow. Perhaps there was a storm in the offing.
    ‘What’s for supper?’ he asked.
    ‘Paella out of a packet and baked beans,’ Phoebe said, rather apologetically, ‘followed by tinned peaches and condensed milk, washed down with cider.’
    It sounded disgustingly attractive to Duncan, rather like a dormitory midnight feast. It reminded him of some of the happier times in his school days, and he said so.
    ‘Were you a boarder at a public school then?’ Phoebe asked. ‘Poor you. How old were you when you were sent there?’
    ‘Seven.’
    ‘But that’s awful! It’s really cruel. Did you hate it?’
    ‘I g-got used to it.’
    ‘Did all your brothers go too?’
    ‘All except B-Brendan; he r-refused, and Herry. Herry went briefly, but he was e-e-expelled.’
    ‘What for?’
    ‘Some p-prank or another.’
    Phoebe was surprised to find that she liked fishing, or rather that she was happy watching Duncan fish. The surroundings were so tranquil and beautiful. She enjoyed seeing the leaves of the white and yellow water lilies, flipping upwards in the breeze, the sentinel heron fishing from the distant bank, and an anxious brown mallard with her clockwork ducklings muttering along the water margins. The air smelled of damp woodwork and distant hay. Phoebe didn’t like the actual catching of the fish or the process of disengaging them from the hook, but apart from that it was a restful and companionable way to spend time, and she was really enjoying her book. Then there was the osprey; what a thrill! Even Duncan, who didn’t usually let himself go, had reacted excitedly to seeing that. He had been a bit condescending afterwards though, when she had said it was an omen. She was beginning to find that he could be quite patronizing at times, and old-fashioned; pompous even. Whoever used the word ‘prank’ nowadays? And he’d refused to enlarge upon it and tell her what Herry had actually done. No, she thought, I mustn’t be so critical. It’s just the difference in our backgrounds and upbringing, and after all, he is fourteen years older than me …
    Phoebe wasn’t going to let anything spoil this week. She twisted her new 18-carat-gold wedding ring round and round her finger and wondered whether Duncan would try to make love to her that night. The night before he had been put off by the proximity of some other campers, but today they had packed up and gone, and there were no others as close, so perhaps he would feel less inhibited. He surely wasn’t ashamed of doing it, was he? They were married, after all! Phoebe would like to have discussed the subject with him, but she was discovering that he was surprisingly difficult to talk to, face toface. Of course she had to make allowances; anyone who stammered as badly as he did would naturally avoid having to talk too much. It wasn’t really surprising. She resolved to be kind to him, and more understanding.
    The first rumble of thunder sounded as they finished washing up after supper. Heavy splashy drops of rain began falling, and campers all over the site hastily bundled their possessions under fly sheets or into vehicles, out of