The Throwback Read Online Free Page B

thought,presented a prospect that had lost him too many housekeepers already and was unlikely to appeal to Mrs Sandicott.
    ‘I think they would understand,’ he prevaricated. But Mrs Sandicott was not to be fobbed off with understandings. ‘I have my reputation to think of,’ she said. ‘I would never consent to staying alone in a house with a man without there being some legal status to my being there.’
    ‘Legal status, ma’am?’ said Mr Flawse and took a swig of brandy to steady his nerves. The bloody woman was proposing to him.
    ‘I think you know what I mean,’ said Mrs Sandicott.
    Mr Flawse said nothing. The ultimatum was too clear.
    ‘And so if the young couple are to be married,’ she continued remorselessly, ‘and I repeat “if”, then I think we should consider our own futures.’
    Mr Flawse did and found it an uncertain one. Mrs Sandicott was not a wholly unattractive woman. Already in his dozing fantasies he had stripped her naked and found her plump body very much to his taste. On the other hand wives had disadvantages. They tended to be domineering and while a domineering housekeeper could be sacked a wife couldn’t, and Mrs Sandicott for all her deference seemed to be a strong-minded woman. To spend the rest of his life with a strong-minded woman was more than he had bargained for, but if it meant getting the bastard Lockhart off his hands it might be worth the risk. Besides there was always the isolation of Flawse Hall to tame the strongest-minded woman and hewould have an ally in Mr Dodd. Yes, definitely an ally in Mr Dodd and Mr Dodd was not without resource. And finally if he couldn’t sack a wife nor could the wife leave like a housekeeper. Mr Flawse smiled into his brandy and nodded.
    ‘Mrs Sandicott,’ he said with unaccustomed familiarity, ‘am I right in supposing that it would not come averse to you to change your name to Mrs Flawse?’
    Mrs Sandicott beamed her assent. ‘It would make me very happy, Mr Flawse,’ she said, and took his mottled hand.
    ‘Then allow me to make you happy, ma’am,’ said the old man, with the private thought that once he’d got her up to Flawse Hall she’d get her fill of happiness one way or another. As if to celebrate this forthcoming union of the two families the ship’s band struck up a foxtrot. When it had finished Mr Flawse returned to more practical matters.
    ‘I must warn you that Lockhart will need employment,’ he said. ‘I had always intended to keep him to manage the estate he will one day inherit but if your daughter has twelve houses …’
    Mrs Sandicott came to his rescue. ‘The houses are all let and at rents fixed by the Rent Tribunal on long leases,’ she said, ‘but dear Lockhart could always join my late husband’s firm. I understand he is clever with figures.’
    ‘He has had an excellent grounding in arithmetic. I have no hesitation in saying so.’
    ‘Then he should do very well at Sandicott & Partner, Chartered Accountants and Tax Consultants,’ said Mrs Sandicott.
    Mr Flawse congratulated himself on his foresight. ‘Then that is settled,’ he said. ‘There remains simply the question of the wedding.’
    ‘Weddings,’ said Mrs Sandicott, emphasizing the plural. ‘I had always hoped that Jessica would have a church wedding.’
    Mr Flawse shook his head. ‘At my age, ma’am, there would be something incongruous about a church wedding to be so closely followed by a funeral. I would prefer a more cheerful venue. Mind you, I disapprove of register offices.’
    ‘Oh, so do I,’ Mrs Sandicott agreed, ‘they are so unromantic.’
    But there was nothing unromantic about the old man’s reluctance to see Lockhart married in a register office. It had dawned on him that without a birth certificate it might be impossible to marry the swine off at all. And besides there was still the fact of his illegitimacy to be concealed.
    ‘I see no reason why the Captain shouldn’t marry us,’ he said finally. Mrs