Providence (22 page)

They took their places at the table, Maurice and Miss Fairchild at either end. I lacked the information, thought Kitty, trying to control her trembling hands. Quite simply, I lacked the information. She had the impression of having been sent right back to the beginning of a game she thought she had been playing according to the rules. And there was the rest of the evening to be got through. Professor Redmile was in ever more
radiant form. ‘I must confess, Miss Maule, that we were discussing you before you arrived. We were trying to work out which half of you was French.’ The Roger Fry Professor’s wife exploded into sudden high-pitched laughter. ‘It was Kitty’s mother,’ supplied Maurice. ‘Isn’t that right, Kitty?’ ‘My father was in the army,’ said Kitty Maule slowly. ‘He died before I was born.’ And picking up her spoon, she prepared to eat.