Page 110 of A Good Heart is Hard to Find
So I stood my ground, staring at him as he grew closer, noting the grey in his fair hair and the increased stockiness of his build. His impressive head, a demented John the Baptist set on a body not quite magnificent enough, was ruddy with rage, the eyes blazing a madlight blue.
Despite the full daylight and there being no cupboards anywhere in the near vicinity, my knees began to shake and I was filled with a sensation of intense panic.
‘Perverter of the Innocent! Spawn of Satan, sent to lead the Pure Lamb to eternal damnation!’ Pa ranted, the volume increasing as he strode closer.
Francis and Ma made no attempt to hinder or remonstrate with him, of course– it was always pointless, even when he was sober. Ma looked smaller. Frailer. Her curly hair was quite silver now.
She didn’t look at me directly, but hovered nearby, hands folded and eyes meekly downbent, even when I said beseechingly: ‘Ma!’
Pa came to a halt in front of me and pointed an accusing finger. Bolts of lightning didn’t shoot out of it, but I flinched anyway.
‘You have stolen heraway with your foul wiles! What have you done with your sister, Jane?’ he demanded.
Whateverdidhappen to Baby Jane?
‘Hello, Pa,’ I said, reasonably steadily. ‘I haven’t done anything with Jane – she’s in London staying with George and Phily. How are you? And Ma?’ I added politely, as though we were acquaintances rather than twenty-years-estranged family members.
Francis, looking resigned,cast his eyes up to heaven. ‘I did tell you, Pa! She’s gone to London to keep Phily company, and Gerald is there now, too. You can speak to her on the phone later.’
‘You’re all in a conspiracy to hide her from me!’ he declared, rounding on him. ‘Has she fooled you too, this fiend disguised as your sister?’ Froth was beginning to fly and he advanced on me, fingers twitching and face working.
Shocked by the unbalanced rage I took an involuntarystep backwards, for clearly Pa had tipped right over the edge. Sober or drunk, he’d never been quite this ranting and unreasonable before, even over the phone.
‘I knew the moment I set eyes on the infant – Seed of Satan, planted inyourwomb, Sarah!’ He swivelled and pointed at my unfortunate mother, who cowered. ‘To remind you of your evildesires all your days!’
‘No, no, Samuel, I didn’t – I couldn’t!’ she whimpered. ‘A throw-back! My grandmother Rosie was—’
‘Silence!’ he roared.
In the ensuing hush I heard the gravel scrunch under approaching feet, and then Dante’s arm was around me. I half-turned and clung to him like a wet extra fromLorna Doone, my knees crumpling.
Pa stared at him. ‘Who is this man? He is too young tobe your paramour – unless, evil child, this isanother? Is this the fornicator who has paid for your services, as I am told? Can no—’
‘You must be Cass’s father, Mr Leigh? I’ve heard all about you – and all of it true, it seems,’ Dante interrupted, in a voice incisive enough to cut steel. ‘I am afraid you are trespassing on my property, and unless you want me to forcibly eject you from it youwill have to behave in a reasonable manner.’ He glanced at Francis and added in a quieter voice: ‘Doesn’t he have any medication to calm him down when he’s like this?’
I don’t rememberanyonespeaking to Pa like that. I gazed at Dante in wonderment, and so did Francis. Ithinkit was wonderment.
He half-smiled down at me and added: ‘And I would like to say that I am not a fornicator, and thatmy intentions towards her are perfectly honourable.’
Well, there’s a disappointment, I thought.
Pa rallied and said in slightly modified tones of outrage:‘So she has fooled you, too? Unhappy man! But I will waste no more time: tell me where my innocent child, my Jane, is hidden, and I will take her and go from this vile place.’
‘Jane?’ Dante raised one eyebrow. ‘Cass’s twin sister? I met hersome time ago when she called in here on her way to London. To stay with her sister-in-law, I think she said.’
‘Is this the truth?’
‘I keep trying to tell you, Pa – I got Phily on the phone this morning and she said that Jane was there,’ Francis interrupted and got a glare for his pains.
‘It’s true, Pa,’ I said. ‘She’s in London.’
Pa looked from one to the other of us. ‘If it is not true,then judgement will fall on all your heads!’ he roared. ‘But I weary – I must go home to my flock and wait for my Jane to come home! I must leave the house of the Whore of Babylon—’
‘Do you mean Orla?’ I blurted, startled.
‘She who dresses as a strumpet for the temptation of men.’
‘That’s Orla.’
