The Hunter and the Trapped Read Online Free PDF Page A

himself a whisky and soda and took it to the window, where, after pulling back the sunblind, no longer needed, he stood looking out at the roofs opposite and beyond.
    The sound of the front door bell made him start. It was too soon for Mrs. Stone. He frowned. A caller would be a bore. He was tired or rather he was emptied of any wish to communicate. Six patients had drained him in the course of that hot June afternoon. But he went at once to the door and opened it. His great friend, Hubert Dane, stood on the threshold.
    â€œWell!” he said. “You!”
    â€œI know,” Dane said, walking past him and making straight for the drawing room. “I know. You’re surprised. You might have been out. Why didn’t I ring up?”
    â€œWhy didn’t you?” William asked.
    â€œOnly decided to come in a few minutes ago, on my way to the Club.”
    â€œYou’ll stay now you’ve come, won’t you? Diana’s out at the moment, but she’s due back any minute.”
    He tried to speak as if he knew where she was, or as if it were not important in any case, but he thought he failed.
    Hubert glanced at him briefly and looked away.
    â€œI wanted to have a word with you about Penny,” he said and seemed to be unable to go on.
    William found him a drink and persuaded him to stop wandering about the room and sit down.
    â€œEver since Phil died …” he began vaguely.
    â€œI know,” William interrupted him. “You feel helpless. You don’t know how to cope with a teenage daughter. You feel inadequate. But surely Penny couldn’t be growing up nicer, prettier, more successful, more admired …”
    â€œShe’s fallen in love with a man twice her age whom I hesitate to call an out and out stinker because he happens to be a friend of yours.”
    â€œSimon Fawcett?” asked William immediately and stared defiantly at his friend, quite aware of the implication of his spot diagnosis.
    â€œSo you agree with me?” Hugh said, grimly.
    William reddened.
    â€œI don’t know,” he said crossly. “I’ve no right to criticise him. I’m sorry for him, in a way. He can’t help looking like a rather undersized dark god or angel. It’s bad luck on any man to have such an appearance, especially in this country, where male beauty has always been suspect and just now is synonymous with perversion. Fawcett is extremely popular at the college and is a very valuable member of the staff there. So I’ve been told.”
    â€œBy Fawcett or someone reliable?” asked Hubert.
    He spoke with such bitterness that William was shocked.
    â€œNot by Fawcett. What have you got against him?”
    â€œI’ve told you. Penny is head over ears in love with the blighter.”
    â€œAnd he?”
    Hubert got up and moved restlessly about the room again. “I don’t know. I don’t know , I tell you. But I’m desperately worried. If only Phil … She’d have been able …”
    â€œYes,” said William gently and went on, “Hasn’t Penny got any particular girl friends she’s likely to have confided in?”
    â€œYes. There’s Caroline Feathers. Very nice child, often comes to the house. What d’you suggest? That I ask whether my daughter has been seduced by a member of the college staff?”
    William said, slowly, “From what you say I should imagine she has not been seduced. She would not be miserable, as you imply she is, if her feelings were shared. On the contrary.”
    â€œShe ought to be miserable, either way,” said Hubert gloomily. “It’s an immoral age,” he added, going back to his chair and sitting down again with a heavy sigh.
    â€œI shouldn’t take it too seriously,” William said. “Did Penny tell you herself she was in love with this chap?”
    â€œNo, of course not.”
    â€œThen why are you so sure?”
    â€œBecause