The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini and other Strange Stories Read Online Free Page A

her ‘little office’. In it she dealt with household matters, telephoned her friends and kept her favourite books, together with the few mementoes of her life before she had married Pearmain. Along the window sill were seedlings germinating in trays and cuttings in pots. On the walls were framed family photographs.
    ‘I guess this is your favourite room too,’ said Heather.
    ‘Yes.’
    Heather nodded with satisfaction and surveyed the room carefully. Alice felt that an intimate part of herself was being scrutinised by strange eyes. It was uncomfortable and she tried to distract Heather by pointing out the view over the garden. Heather paid no attention to this. She was observing the family photographs, the kind of books Alice read; she was absorbing information and making deductions. Then she noticed against the wall by the door a carved oak cabinet, standing on bulbous legs, black with age.
    ‘That’s an interesting old piece,’ she said.
    ‘Yes,’ said Alice, putting on her condescending voice again. ‘It’s what they call a muniment cupboard. For storing documents.’
    ‘Yes, I know,’ said Heather, one of whose previous enthusiasms had been restoring antique furniture. ‘Is it genuine seventeenth century?’
    ‘Quite possibly. I’m sure the central panel is. Rather wonderful, don’t you think? Adam and Eve in the garden.’
    The front of the cupboard was a single rectangular piece of wood which opened down to the horizontal, like the lid of a desk. There it was held in place by a light metal chain. Unopened it presented to the viewer a panel in crude, vigorous low relief inside a broad border of carved leaves. The scene in low relief depicted Adam and Eve, naked, standing on either side of the tree. Round the tree was twined a serpent which was almost as big as the tree itself. It was looking intently at Eve who held a large apple in her hand, hesitantly, as if she wanted to return it to the snake.
    ‘Forgive me,’ said Heather. ‘I know this sounds strange, but your cupboard kind of looks out of place in this room.’
    ‘Ah, there speaks the Feng Shui expert!’ said Alice. Heather was beginning to find this very ordinary looking woman with her twinkling dowager manner intensely annoying. Like most people with little sense of humour Heather was suspicious of those who possessed it, especially when the humour seemed to be directed against her. Alice, sensing from her tight smile that Heather might not enjoy being teased, modified her manner.
    ‘As a matter of fact,’ she went on, ‘it belongs here more than I do in a sense. It was the only piece of furniture left behind by the previous occupants, and they left it here because it was there when they came. Before that the house was owned by an old bachelor called Mr Abney who lived here with a housekeeper. This is going back before the war. There are still people around who remember him. Not fondly, I’m afraid. No particular reason, just that he was eccentric. “Queer” was the word used, though, of course, in the old traditional sense of odd. Not, you know . . .’
    Alice stopped herself. She knew she had been rattling on in her usual way without noticing if Heather was listening or not. She often did this to her husband, but it was embarrassing with a stranger. Heather, however, was watching her intently.
    ‘Don’t stop. This is fascinating!’
    Alice resumed her story more self-consciously. ‘Well, all I was going to say is that I’m pretty sure that the cupboard was old Abney’s, because when I opened it up, inside I found all these . . . “pamphlets”, I suppose you’d call them. They’re still there.’
    She turned the key in the lock of the cupboard and let down the Adam and Eve panel. Inside was a double arcade of pigeon holes separated by little wooden Tuscan pilasters. Each of the pigeon holes was stuffed with yellowing paper booklets.
    ‘I’m afraid I’ve never bothered to clear them out,’ said Alice apologetically. ‘I