Pretty Lady Read Online Free Page B

mentally deficient to live among and associate with the rest of the community.
    â€˜Mary-Maureen is a different case entirely.’ Tired as she was, she could not allow it to pass without a fight. ‘Mary-Maureen was always a rough child. She was always getting over-excited and taking it out on the other children. There was violence in her from the beginning.’
    â€˜That’s what I mean –’ Vera closed in eagerly to make her point. ‘She should have been put away as soon as she got too big to control. It was her parents’ fault, as much as hers. Letting her roam around free and play with the children in the neighbourhood, as though she were a child herself. Of course children play rough and get over-excited – and push. It’s lucky the lights had been red and the cars hadn’t had time to get up any speed when she pushed that little girl into the traffic. Both her legs broken, wasn’t it?’
    â€œThat’s right.’ She tried to leave it there, but Vera wouldn’t have it.
    â€˜Well, then.’ Vera nodded sagely. ‘It just goes to show, doesn’t it?’
    â€˜To show what?’ She faced Vera squarely – she’d make her say it, and enough of this pussyfooting around.
    â€˜You ought to think of Sheila more.’ Vera backed off and attacked on the flank. ‘She’s getting on. Twenty-five, isn’t it? And not married. Nor likely to be, with Denny hanging about where any boys could see him when they came to call. It puts them off – to see someone like that in a girl’s family.’
    â€˜Denny is a part of the family. Sheila has always accepted that.’
    â€˜We’re not talking about what Sheila accepts, we’re talking about what a man will accept. You’re ruining her chances.’
    â€˜Sheila would never marry a man under false pretences, anyway. If Denny weren’t there, she’d tell the man about him. So it doesn’t make any difference. You should know that.’
    Vera’s exasperated sigh said that she did, that she didn’t know why she didn’t wash her hands of the whole lot of them and stop giving good advice that wasn’t appreciated. But they were her family, so she was driven to persist.
    â€˜That may be all very well for now, but you’re not getting any younger, you know.’
    â€˜Neither are you, Vera.’ She couldn’t resist that one.
    â€˜Just what I mean. And Denny’s what? Thirty? He’ll outlast us all. Poor Sheila will be saddled with him till her dying day – and he’ll probably outlast her, too. God help us, but it would have been better if it had gone the other way around.’
    She’d thought of that, too, God forgive her. It wouldn’t have mattered quite so much if Sheila had been the one lacking. Denny, being the older, could have got a good job and been able to look after her. Sheila could have kept house for him, done simple cooking and– What was the use of thinking about it? It hadn’t happened that way, and that was all there was to it. No, not quite all –
    â€˜You’ve been lucky, so far,’ Vera said. ‘Suppose Denny changed?’
    â€˜Why should he change?’ She was instantly defensive.
    â€˜Ah, they can, you know, as they grow older.’ Vera nodded, pleased at having got past her guard. ‘They all thought Mary-Maureen was harmless, didn’t they? And look what happened.’
    â€˜Denny is as gentle as a lamb. There’s no harm in him. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.’
    â€˜Maybe not – while you’re here to look after him. But what of when you’re not here? When Sheila has to bear the burden on her own?’
    What of it? There was a whole bottle full of the pills she had so painfully saved. And she’d get another whole bottle of them tonight. Sheila would understand. She closed her eyes against a twist of pain.
    â€˜You needn’t