Fall of a Philanderer Read Online Free Page B

knapsack weighed down by your packed lunch and tea,” said Daisy. “Do sit down. I’m Mrs. Fletcher and this is my daughter Belinda and her friend Deva Prasad.”
    â€œI’m Donald Baskin. How do you do, ladies. Are you staying here for long?”
    â€œTwo weeks,” Belinda informed him. “My father’s coming on Saturday. We put the hermit crab in a rocky pool. It had seaweed in it and snails, and sea amenomes and little fishes.”
    â€œPomatoschistus microps, I expect; the common goby. Good, I’m sure your hermit crab will live a long and satisfactory life.”
    â€œMr. Baskin,” said Deva, her dark eyes round, “are you really going to walk all day, every day?”
    â€œI am indeed, Miss Prasad. You see, I work in London and it’s a great treat to me to walk in the beautiful countryside.”
    â€œOh,” she said doubtfully. “We went for a long walk this morning and my legs got very tired.”
    â€œAh, but if you walk every day, you soon stop getting tired.”
    â€œOh. Mrs. Fletcher, are we going to walk every single day, when it’s not raining?”
    â€œI expect so, Deva. I thought we’d go up the cliff tomorrow. Now let Mr. Baskin eat his lunch in peace.”

    â€œThat’s all right.” He helped himself to a home-baked roll still warm from the oven, and Belinda passed him the butter. “And this is all right! I haven’t had a chance to look about the town yet. The person who recommended Mrs. Anstruther’s to me mentioned a hotel called the Schooner Inn. Do you know it, Mrs. Fletcher?”
    â€œI’ve heard of it,” Daisy said cautiously, “but until today it’s been raining since we arrived, so we haven’t done much exploring. The town’s tiny, though, more of an overgrown village, so I’m sure you can’t miss it.”
    â€œAh. I thought I might pop in for a drink later. What have you girls been doing while it’s been raining?”
    â€œPlaying games,” said Deva. “Mrs. Anstruther has lots. Do you know how to play pachisi? It’s an Indian game but it’s called Ludo in England.”
    â€œYes, I know it.”
    â€œWhat about Halma?” asked Belinda. “It’s best to have an even number of people, so poor Mummy didn’t play.”
    Mr. Baskin grinned at Daisy, obviously guessing she had not been heartbroken at her exclusion. “I’ll be happy to challenge all comers at Halma this evening,” he proclaimed. “If that will suit Mrs. Fletcher?”
    Daisy agreed. After the morning’s exertions and an afternoon on the beach, the girls shouldn’t have enough energy to argue over every move, even if Baskin’s presence didn’t deter them. In the event, he played so brilliantly that he made Bel win one game and Deva the second, without either suspecting a thing. A clever man, Daisy thought, admiring his manoeuvres. She wondered if he would have given her the third game, had they played any longer. However, he went off for his drink.
    â€œIsn’t he a nice man, Mummy?”
    Daisy would have agreed wholeheartedly had it not been for his question about the Schooner Inn. Not that she had the slightest objection to his popping into a pub for a pint or a g-and-t or whatever
his favourite tipple might be. But she fancied his frank bonhomie had suffered a slight eclipse when he mentioned the place.
    After Mrs. Hammett, however unlikable, had added her warning to Mrs. Anstruther’s, on top of Daisy’s uneasiness with the man himself, anyone in any way associated with George Enderby was to be mistrusted.

3
    T he sun shone again next day. Once again high tide covered the beach, and Daisy had less difficulty than she expected persuading the girls to walk in the cool of the morning. They took the track leading away from the town, up onto the high cliffs.
    The track soon became a narrow path across wiry,