THE BONDAGE OF LOVE (28 page)

another, with Mark's clear tenor voice now rising above the rest, Fiona gazed at him, thinking how she now wished he wasn't going away, until her common sense told her he had fallen back to his former self only for the simple reason that he was going away.

During the days that followed, the house fell back into what Fiona thought of as its usual pattern before she had experienced Mamie's tantrums,

Sammy's near tragedy, and Mark's insufferable manner.

At least once a week, sometimes twice, Katie, Willie and Sammy went to the Centre and continued with the fencing, karate and jujitsu, but, in the main, their evenings were taken up with study. Katie was in her A level year. She had got ten 0 levels, which hadn't pleased Willie, who, later, had managed only nine. And even Sammy, who had missed quite a bit of schooling, had got nine. Still, he had taken it very well. He was quieter these days, was

Willie, and she felt she knew why. It had something to do with Daisy. Daisy had turned out to be a very attractive girl and she often turned up in a new rig-out from what she termed 'her private source'. But according to

something Katie had let drop, it seemed that she did not return Willie's ardour. In fact, she had even refused to go to the cinema with him, telling him bluntly she wasn't starting 'anything like that'. And for this attitude, Fiona was doubly thankful.

She liked Daisy, found her very refreshing, very amusing, but as a

prospective wife for Willie? Oh, dear! Even she could see what Willie was blind to:

it wasn't just that Daisy was strong-willed, had a mind of her own, and, whatever happened, would go her own way, but that she knew her second son and she was able to realise that he would not be able to keep up with her,

mentally that is. And then there were her people;

and if there was ever an advocate for a family, Daisy was an advocate for hers. There would be no hiding behind a facade for Daisy. And as much as Fiona liked them, and yes, she did they were all good people in their own way, and she secretly admitted they and their ways would be acceptable to Bill and to Sammy, and even to Katie she, too, was herself, and whereas she had accepted Sammy and even loved him, she could not see herself loving Daisy as a daughter-inlaw. Still, as Daisy was showing no designs this way, she needn't worry. And Willie would get over her; he was young yet. Young? In another few months he would be seventeen.

It happened to be a Tuesday night and Willie was sitting before the

drawing-room fire, nursing a cold. He hadn't been to school for the past two days, and Sammy had come straight home from school to keep him company and, at the same time, to get a bit of work in. He would really have liked to be with Katie at the Centre, where they were practising turning the routine into an exhibition piece for the pantomime that they were putting. on for

Christmas. As it was, he was to take the six- fifteen bus into the town and meet Katie at Laburnum Walk. From there they would both go to Bill's club, where he was at a meeting which should be over by seven o'clock, and he would pick them up from there.

For the past few weeks, if Katie had been going to practice alone, she had always asked Sammy to come and meet her. He hadn't asked the reason why, of a sudden, she wanted to be met, but he put it down to her not liking to come along Laburnum Walk. Although there was a lamppost at each end,

the middle section tended to be dark.

The name Laburnum Walk had been given to the short cut flanked on both sides by high garden walls overhung by the branches of laburnum trees.

Katie wasn't afraid of walking through Laburnum Walk; she had never been afraid of the dark; but she admitted to herself she was becoming afraid of being waylaid by Roland Ferndale, who had taken to pestering her when she was by herself. It had first happened at a charity disco.

Sammy, Willie and Daisy were all there and she herself had been dancing with one of the members of the jujitsu class. He was only about fifteen, but when he was shouldered roughly aside by a tall fellow, Katie, for a moment, had thought he would react by throwing the big fellow on his back. And likely he would have done, had she not shaken her head at him. Then she was staring at the swaying figure in front of her, but only for a minute, for when he lifted his hand with the intention of taking her arm, she knocked it aside and, turning her back on him, walked from the floor.

For the remainder of the evening, whenever she passed him, he would scowl at her as he had done that night when she had refused a lift from him in no uncertain manner. And twice she had noticed him sitting in a stationary car when she came out of school. However he had not made any move to contact her. The last time she had encountered him was by the park gates, but, that night, she was with Daisy and the boys. Nevertheless, although it was

getting dark, she knew he was staring at her. She had heard a rumour he had been engaged but had broken it off, or rather she had, whoever she was.

Tonight, she had come out of the Centre with Daisy. Daisy would be making for home so they parted at the park, and she made for Laburnum Walk and Sammy.

When she turned into the cut she was aware of footsteps hurrying ahead of her as if somebody were anxious to get to the other end, and so when the sound stopped, she took no further heed.

"Well, hello!" When the arm was thrust out and blocked her way, she gave an audible gasp. She had no need to ask whose voice it was, so she cried, "You let me past, Roland Ferndale, else you'll get the worst of it in the end, I'm telling you."

"Big talk from a little girl." The tone was derisive. Then it changed.

"What is it about you that gets me, for you're nothing special, you know, are you? And your people neither. What is your father after all?

He's known as a loud-mouthed git. "

The push she gave him actually knocked him against the wall, which seemed to enrage him, for he gripped her shoulder and pulled her round, but in the swinging she jerked herself free. And now, jumping back with the practised step of the fencer, she brought her thick-soled lamb's-wool boot up, aiming at his groin. As he fell sideways, his flailing arm caught her shoulder again, and she in her turn, was knocked sideways against the wall. Now he was tearing at her coat, in spite of the nails clawing at his face and hair, and he continued to rip at her clothes.

The buttons flew from her coat and the top of her blouse; but when his hands grabbed at her breast, she really went berserk, and the same white hot fury was in her again as when she had seen the two naked figures on the bed and had thrown the heavy wooden bowl at them.

Automatically, her knee came up again and her hands clawed at his throat.

She was unaware that she was screaming.

Before his body crumpled her foot had caught him in the stomach. Then again she heard running footsteps. Now she was leaning against the opposite wall, gasping. She knew that there was blood running into her eyes and that her blouse was wet.

"My God! My God!" It was Sammy holding her up.

Taking a small torch from his pocket, Sammy flashed it down at the prone figure, and again he said, "My God!" And when he heard running steps and voices, he pulled Katie from the wall, saying, "Go on! Go on! Get out of this! Quick!"

For a moment he watched her stumbling away into the darkness before he bent down and, grip ping the man's collar, brought him into a sitting position.

In doing so, he felt the blood running over his hands. His face was in a mess. My God! What had she done to knock him out? Was was he dead?

"What's this? What's this? What have you done?"

He turned and peered at the dim faces of two men and a woman.

"I... I found him like this. He's been in a fight," he muttered.

"Been in a fight? My God! Look at his face. You mean, you've been in a fight too. Look at you! What have you done to him?"

Roland Ferndale's hand came up and gripped Sammy's wrist, and he muttered something.

"What did he say?" the woman said.

"It sounded like, you, you!" said one of the men. While the other, peering at Sammy, said, "You say you found him here?"

"Yes. Just... just a minute ago."

"Well, how is it that you're covered in blood too?"

"Oh." Sammy looked down at his hands. They were wet: he couldn't make out whether it was blood or not; but, of course, it was blood.

"Something fishy here," pronounced the woman.

"I think it's a police job," added one of the men, 'and an ambulance too, for that poor fellow won't be able to stand. Run back home, Carrie, and phone for an ambulance. We'll keep this one here. "

Sammy now got to his feet, protesting, "You send for the ambulance, missis, and the polis, but I tell you, I just found him here and straightened him up."

The man who now spoke to him was a burly type, well into six-feet and a good head above Sammy, and his voice was threatening as he said, "If you're going to make off, young man, you've got another think coming."

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For a moment Sammy wondered if he could throw the man. But no; he'd better wait until the polls came; they would understand. But when Ferndale comes round he'll find some excuse.

What would he tell them? That a young lass had done this to him when he tried to rape her. There was a point here; yes, what would he say?

A voice came to them now, calling, "There's a police car in the district, and they're sending an ambulance."

It was hardly a minute later the big man said, "There they are now."

Then, turning to Sammy, he said, "Well, young fella, now we'll find out what's what, won't we?"

"Yes," snapped Sammy, 'we'll all find out what's what. And it'll likely teach you not to jump to conclusions. As I've told you, I didn't do this. "

Before the policemen reached them the woman called, "We've come upon a nasty business, officer, a nasty business."

Neither of the officers spoke until a light was shone on the figure slumped against the wall, when one of them said, "Well, what's happened here?" And he turned to Sammy, and, taking in his blood stained light-grey overcoat and also his hands, he asked quietly, "Had a row?"

"No, sir, I haven't had a row. I came along here and I saw him in this condition. He was bent forward leaning over towards the ground, and I

straightened him up to get him to his feet. And then these," - he made a motion with his hand 'these people came along; and because they saw the blood on my hands, they jumped to the wrong conclusion. "

Without commenting, the policeman bent over Roland Ferndale and said, "Do you think you can stand up, sir?"

"My ... my head ... it's aching."

"Yes. Yes, I should imagine it is, sir. Come on, see if you can get to your feet."

One on each side of him now, the policemen hoisted him and he was propped against the wall;

and slowly he put his hand in his pocket and drew out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his eyes. Then he blinked in the strong light from the policeman's lamp. The light now was showing up two men, the woman and Sammy, and it was on Sammy that Roland Ferndale fixed his blinking gaze. And as he did so, he put his hand to his groin and his upper body came forward from the wall and he groaned.

The policeman was now asking him, "Have you any recollection of who attacked you, sir?"

Still with his body bent forward and one hand pressed against his groin, Roland Ferndale lifted the other hand in a shaky movement and pointed towards Sammy.

Almost instantly Sammy's shout echoed down the Walk, as he cried, "No, I didn't! You're a bloody liar, Roland Ferndale. You know I didn't."

"That's enough. That's enough." One of the policemen had pushed Sammy against the far

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wall, saying, "You know him then?"

"Yes. Yes, I know him, and he's a liar. I told you I came upon him."

"Oh, you came on him all right." It was the woman's voice piping in again.

"We saw what was happening when we came up. You were trying to loosen his grip on you."

Sammy was now yelling at her, "He was gripping my wrist to support himself.

I was trying to get him upright."

The second policeman now put his hand out and gripped Sammy's shoulder, saying, "That's enough of that. Stop your bawling."

"Take your hands off me!"

The policeman did not move his hand, but he said, "I will when I'm ready.

Come along."

The other policeman, in an undertone to his partner, the while nodding

towards Ferndale, said, "His flies are open." And, in a conciliatory tone, he said to Sammy, "Did he accost you, lad?"

"Accost me? No, he didn't! But I don't know about anybody else. And will you please now let go of me." He had turned to the other policeman, only to receive the reply, "As I said, I will when I'm ready, and after you've answered a few more questions at the station."

At the man's tone Sammy experienced what was not an unfamiliar feeling, that his father was again standing by his side, urging him now to put the man on his back, and so when he was pulled roughly from the wall, he turned on the policeman, "Take your bloody hands off me, or I'll have you on your back."

"Enough of that, sir. D'you know whom you're talking to?"

"Yes. Two stupid buggers who cannot see any further than their noses.

Would I be standing straight and without a mark on my face if I had been fighting him? And he almost twice my size. Use your nap--' He didn't get

"napper" out before he was being pulled from the wall.

"Big fella, aren't you?"

"Yes, and if I had you one at a time, I would have you on the floor."

"Oh! Oh! Jujitsu-like?"

"Yes. Jujitsu-like."

The first policeman said to the other one, "Get through to the office and tell them to direct Ben this way. We've got one for the station and one for hospital."

"No. No," Ferndale was gasping.

"Home, not... not hospital."

"All right, sir, all right. We'll get you home." The officer turned to the two men and the woman, saying, "Will you give my partner your names and addresses please? Thank you for your help." Then turning back to Sammy, he said, "It's no use struggling, youngster; you're not going to throw anyone tonight, so you might as well relax."