The Shell Seekers Read Online Free PDF

to move out. That was a blow to him. Twenty-three he was and he'd never paid a penny's worth of rent to her, ate her food and drank her gin and lived totally scot-free. It was a shock to Noel, I can,tell you, when he finally had to start paying his way."
     
    George sighed deeply. He had no higher opinion of Noei than he had of Olivia. And his mother-in-law, Penelope Keeling, had always been a total enigma to him. The constant astonishment was that any woman as normal as Nancy should have sprung from the loins of such an extraordinary family.
     
    He finished his drink, got up from his chair, threw another log on the fire, and went to replenish his glass. From the other side of the room he said, above the small sounds of clinking glass, "Let us suppose that the worst happens. Let us suppose that your mother cannot afford a housekeeper." He returned to his chair and settled himself once more opposite his wife. "Let us suppose that you can find nobody to take on the arduous task of keeping her company. What happens then? Will you suggest that she comes to live with us?"
     
    Nancy thought of Mrs. Croftway, perpetually in a state of umbrage. The children, noisily complaining about Granny Pen's endless strictures. She thought of Mrs. Croftway's mother, with her wedding ring cut off, lying in bed and banging on the floor with a stick. ...
     
    She said, sounding desperate, "I don't think I could bear it."
     
    "I don't think I could bear it either," George admitted.
     
    "Perhaps Olivia . . ."
     
    "Olivia?" George's voice rose in disbelief. "Olivia let any person intrude on that private life of hers? You have to be pulling my leg."
     
    "Well, Noel's out of the question."
     
    "It seems," said George, "that everything is out of the question." He surreptitiously pushed up his cuff and looked at his watch. He did not want to miss the news. "And I don't see that I can make any constructive suggestions until after you have had it out with Olivia."
     
    Nancy was offended. True, she and Olivia had never been the best of friends . . . they had, after all, nothing in common . . . but she resented the words "having it out," as though they never did anything but argue. She was about to point this out to George but he forestalled her by switching on the television and putting an end to the conversation. It was exactly nine o'clock, and he settled contentedly to his daily ration of strikes, bombs, murders, and financial disaster, topped off by the information that the next day was going to start very cold, and that during the course of the afternoon rain would slowly cover the entire country.
     
    After a bit, Nancy, depressed beyond words, got up out of her chair. George, she suspected, did not even realize that she had moved. She went to the drink table, replenished her whisky with a lavish hand, and went out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her. She climbed the stairs and went into her bed-room and through to her bathroom. She put in the bath plug, turned the taps on, and poured in scented bath oil with the same lavishness that she had employed with the whisky bottle. Five minutes later she was indulging in the most comfortable occupation she knew, which was to lie in a hot bath and drink cold whisky at the same time.
     
    Wallowing, enveloped in bubbles and steam, she allowed herself to dissolve into an orgy of self-pity. Being a wife and mother, she told herself, was a thankless task. One devoted oneself to husband and children, was considerate to one's staff, cared for one's animals, kept the house, bought the food, washed the clothes, and what thanks did one get? What appreciation?
     
    None.
     
    Tears began to well in her eyes, mingling with the general moisture of bath-water and steam. She longed for appreciation, for love, for affectionate physical contact, for someone to hug her and tell her she was marvellous, that she was doing a wonderful job.
     
    For Nancy, there was only one person who had never let her down.