"What about socks?"
"Clean socks."
He sighed, hard done by. "Do I have to put my Space Lego away?"
"No, of course you don't have to. Leave it where it is. Just come, or Daddy'll start getting impatient."
She led him, lagging, to his bedroom, then sat on his bed and stripped off his T-shirt.
"Will there be any other children there?"
"Hamish."
"He won't want to play with me."
"Henry, you're such a ninny about Hamish. If you don't behave like a ninny, he'll like playing with you. Take off your jeans and your trainers."
"Who's going to be there?"
"Us. And Vi. And the Balmerinos. And Lucilla because she's come home from France. And her friend. He's called Jeff. And Pandora."
"Who's Pandora?"
"Archie's sister."
"Do I know her?"
"No."
'"Do you know her?"
"No."
"Does Daddy know her?"
"Yes. He knew her when she was a little girl. Vi knows her too."
"Why don't you know her?"
"Because she's been living abroad for a long, long time. She lived in America. This is the first time she's come back to Croy."
"Does Alexa know her?"
"No. Alexa was only a tiny baby when she went to America."
"Does Pandora know your gramps and grandma at Leesport?"
"No. They live in Long Island, and Pandora lived in California. That's right over the other side of the United States."
"Does Edie know her?"
"Yes. Edie knew her when she was a little girl as well."
"What does she look like?"
"Heavens above, Henry, I've never met her, so I can't tell you. But you know that picture in the dining-room at Croy? Of the pretty girl? Well, that's Pandora when she was young."
"I hope she's still pretty."
"You like pretty ladies."
"Well, I certainly don't like ugly ones." He screwed up his face, making a monster grimace. "Like that Lottie Carstairs."
Despite herself, Virginia had to laugh. "You know something, Henry Aird, you'll be the death of me. Now, hand me your hairbrush, and then go and wash your hands."
From the foot of the stairs, Edmund called, "Virginia."
"We're on our way!"
He waited for them, dressed for the occasion in grey flannels, a country shirt, a club tie, a blue cashmere pullover, his chestnut-polished Gucci loafers.
"We should go."
Reaching his side, Virginia kissed him. "You're looking handsome, Mr. Aird. Did you know that?"
"You're not looking so gruesome yourself. Come along, Henry."
They got into the BMW and drove. They stopped for a moment in the village, where Edmund went into Mr. Ishak's and emerged with the bulky wodge of the Sunday newspapers. Then on to Penny-burn.
Vi heard them coming and was ready for them, on the point of locking her front door. Edmund leaned over to open the door for her and she got in beside him. Henry thought she was looking very smart and told her so.
"Thank you, Henry. This is the pretty scarf your mother brought me from London."
"I know. She brought me a cricket bat and a ball."
"You showed me."
"And she brought Edie a cardigan. Edie loves it. She says she's keeping it for best. It's sort of pinky blue."
"Lilac," Virginia told him.
"Lilac." He said the word over to himself because it had a pleasant sound. Lilac.
The powerful car left Pennyburn behind and sped on up the hill.
Arriving, they found Archie's old Land Rover parked in front of the house. As Edmund drew up alongside and the Aird family disgorged from his car, Archie appeared at the open front door, come to greet them. They made their way up the steps.
"Well, here you are."
"You're looking very formal, Archie," Edmund told him. "I hope I'm not undepressed."
"Been to church. Read the lesson. I thought about changing into something a little less stuffy, but now you've arrived, so there isn't time. So you'll have to take me as I am. Vi. Virginia. Lovely to see you. Hello, Henry, good morning. How are you? Hamish is in his bedroom getting cleaned up. He's set his Scalectrix Road Race up on the floor of the playroom. If you want to go and have a look at it…"
The suggestion, casually made, was adroit and caught Henry's attention, as Archie knew it would. He had no qualms about his son, who had been warned that Henry was coming, and had it made clear to him that he was to behave towards this small guest in a hospitable fashion.
As for Henry, it took only an instant to remember that Hamish, provided there was nobody else around to claim his attention, could be quite good company, even though Henry was four years younger. And Henry hadn't got a Scalectrix Road Race. It was one of the things he was thinking of putting on his Christmas list.
His face brightened. He said "All right" and set off at a fast clip, up the stairs, leaving the grown-ups to their own devices.
"Brilliant," murmured Vi, as though to herself. And then: "What sort of a congregation did you have this morning?"
"Sixteen, including the rector."
"I should have been there to swell the throng. Now I'm going to have a conscience for the rest of the day…"
"But it's not all bad news. The Bishop's come up trumps and ferreted out some obscure trust, set up years ago. He thinks he can wangle a sizy sum from that, which would pay off the balance of the bill for the electrics…"
"Wouldn't that be splendid?"
"But," said Virginia, "I thought that was why we had the church sale____________________"
"We can always divert funds…"
Edmund made no comment. It had been a long morning, deliberately filled with small and insignificant tasks that nevertheless had been demanding his attention for some weeks. Letters written, accounts paid, a query from his chartered accountant clarified and answered. Now, he found himself dealing with a growing impatience. At the far end of the wide hallway, the double doors of the library stood invitingly open. He looked forward to a gin and tonic, but Archie, Virginia, and Vi, loosely grouped at the foot of the stairs, had become absorbed by churchly problems. In these Edmund had little interest, having always taken great pains never to become involved.
"… of course, we do need new kneelers."
"Vi, paying for the coke for the boiler is more urgent than new kneelers…"
The real reason for their coming to Croy appeared to have been forgotten by his wife and his mother. Stifling his irritation, Edmund listened. And then did not listen. Another sound caught his attention. From the library came the tap of high heels. He looked up, over the top of Virginia's head. Saw Pandora emerge.
Watching, assessing the situation, she paused, framed by the open doorway. Across the long space that divided them, her eyes met Edmund's. He forgot his impatience, and found words flowing through his brain as though he had been abruptly asked to produce some sort of a report and was frantically searching for, and then abandoning, suitable adjectives with which to state his case: older, thinner, attenuated, elegant, mondaine, amoral, experienced. Beautiful.
Pandora. He would have seen her, recognized her, known her anywhere in the world. Still those wide and watchful eyes, the curving mouth with its provocative mole at the corner of her upper lip. The features, the bone structure were untouched by the years that had passed, the profusion of chestnut hair still youthful.
He felt his face freeze. He could not smile. As though he were a gun dog pointing at a bird, the quality of his stillness, his silence, obscurely reached the others. Their attention wandered, their voices died away. Vi turned her head.
"Pandora."
The church and its affairs were abandoned. She moved away from Virginia's side, across the polished parquet, her back view erect, her arms outflung, her bulging leather handbag dangling by its strap from her elbow. "Pandora, my dearest child. What a joy. What a delight to see you again." *
"… but Isobel, you can't possibly have us all for dinner. That's far too many."