not have been possible for her to be more direct, and he understood perfectly. There must have been an interminable silence, but the same negative resourcefulness that had frustrated every attempt to force him to go back to school won out over affection and scruples.
“You know, Annie May, with the way this country is going I doubt but America will be the end of us all yet.”
No door was ever closed more softly or with more finality. She did not go to New York at Easter but married old Paddy Fitzgerald, a cattle dealer, in an arranged match.
The only change afterwards in the Shah’s life was that he went to the local cinema on his own and took to visiting the houses of his sisters and brother more often, especially on Sundays.
Only his fellow card players in the poker school ever had the temerity to test the wall of stolidity he presented to the world.
“Did you see that Annie May McKiernan got married to old Paddy Fitzgerald?” was slipped in with seeming casualness as cards were dealt.
Feet sought other feet beneath the table. His reaction could not be predicted. There was none. All the cards were played and the winnings gathered in.
“I’m afraid you missed out there,” was risked as new hands were dealt. “You didn’t move quick enough when you had the chance.”
“If she had waited another few years she’d have been safe,” he said at last.
The whole table erupted in laughter, but he did not evensmile as his gaze travelled evenly from face to face and back to his hand.
“Diamonds are trumps,” he said, and the intensity of the game resumed. “Let the best man win.”
He and Ruttledge had always got on well together, and it did no harm that they shared the same first name. When Ruttledge abandoned his studies for the priesthood, his uncle had been supportive at a time when the prevailing climate had been one of accusation and reproach. “Let them go to hell,” the Shah had said, and offered money for further study—he who had never been to school long enough to learn to read or write—before Ruttledge decided to go to England, joining the masses on the trains and the boats.
Not until some time after they had come to live by the lake, Kate having returned to London to find new tenants for her flat, did he learn how deep his uncle’s dislike of marriage ran, how ideal he considered his own single state to be.
He couldn’t have been better company the previous Sunday, wishing Kate a safe journey to London with obvious affection. The very evening of the day Kate left, Ruttledge was surprised to see the Mercedes roll up to the house. The Shah remarked on the gardens and the improvements to the place, but not until he was seated comfortably was the purpose of the visit revealed.
“It must be a great relief to you, now, that Kate is in London,” he offered in a tone of heartfelt congratulation.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it relief.”
“Tell us more,” the Shah said indulgently and began to shake in silent laughter.
“She has business in London but I don’t feel any relief that she’s gone.”
“I know,” the Shah agreed, wiping away tears with his fists. “I know full well. We all have to make those sort of noises from time to time.”
“They are not exactly noises.”
“That’ll do you now. That’ll do,” he raised his hands for silence and relief.
“I thought you liked Kate. I thought the two of you got on.”
“Kate is the very best. You couldn’t get better than poor Kate.”
“I don’t know what you are on about, then.”
“Listen,” he said. “If you talk to the wall tonight—answer me this while you’re at it—is the wall going to answer you back? Am I right or wrong?”
“You’re right. Except I haven’t much interest in talking to the wall.”
“Now you see,” he said contentedly, though it wasn’t clear what had been seen, and when Kate returned he welcomed her back as if he had missed her every single day she had been away.
So regular
“You know, Annie May, with the way this country is going I doubt but America will be the end of us all yet.”
No door was ever closed more softly or with more finality. She did not go to New York at Easter but married old Paddy Fitzgerald, a cattle dealer, in an arranged match.
The only change afterwards in the Shah’s life was that he went to the local cinema on his own and took to visiting the houses of his sisters and brother more often, especially on Sundays.
Only his fellow card players in the poker school ever had the temerity to test the wall of stolidity he presented to the world.
“Did you see that Annie May McKiernan got married to old Paddy Fitzgerald?” was slipped in with seeming casualness as cards were dealt.
Feet sought other feet beneath the table. His reaction could not be predicted. There was none. All the cards were played and the winnings gathered in.
“I’m afraid you missed out there,” was risked as new hands were dealt. “You didn’t move quick enough when you had the chance.”
“If she had waited another few years she’d have been safe,” he said at last.
The whole table erupted in laughter, but he did not evensmile as his gaze travelled evenly from face to face and back to his hand.
“Diamonds are trumps,” he said, and the intensity of the game resumed. “Let the best man win.”
He and Ruttledge had always got on well together, and it did no harm that they shared the same first name. When Ruttledge abandoned his studies for the priesthood, his uncle had been supportive at a time when the prevailing climate had been one of accusation and reproach. “Let them go to hell,” the Shah had said, and offered money for further study—he who had never been to school long enough to learn to read or write—before Ruttledge decided to go to England, joining the masses on the trains and the boats.
Not until some time after they had come to live by the lake, Kate having returned to London to find new tenants for her flat, did he learn how deep his uncle’s dislike of marriage ran, how ideal he considered his own single state to be.
He couldn’t have been better company the previous Sunday, wishing Kate a safe journey to London with obvious affection. The very evening of the day Kate left, Ruttledge was surprised to see the Mercedes roll up to the house. The Shah remarked on the gardens and the improvements to the place, but not until he was seated comfortably was the purpose of the visit revealed.
“It must be a great relief to you, now, that Kate is in London,” he offered in a tone of heartfelt congratulation.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it relief.”
“Tell us more,” the Shah said indulgently and began to shake in silent laughter.
“She has business in London but I don’t feel any relief that she’s gone.”
“I know,” the Shah agreed, wiping away tears with his fists. “I know full well. We all have to make those sort of noises from time to time.”
“They are not exactly noises.”
“That’ll do you now. That’ll do,” he raised his hands for silence and relief.
“I thought you liked Kate. I thought the two of you got on.”
“Kate is the very best. You couldn’t get better than poor Kate.”
“I don’t know what you are on about, then.”
“Listen,” he said. “If you talk to the wall tonight—answer me this while you’re at it—is the wall going to answer you back? Am I right or wrong?”
“You’re right. Except I haven’t much interest in talking to the wall.”
“Now you see,” he said contentedly, though it wasn’t clear what had been seen, and when Kate returned he welcomed her back as if he had missed her every single day she had been away.
So regular
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