A Mortal Sin by Margaret Tanner Page A

measure. Paul knew he was being summed up, yet it was done in such a skilful way as to be inoffensive.
    “Tom will be home either tonight or tomorrow. Can never tell when he will breeze in, but he knows how much Christmas and the family mean to his mother, so he won’t let us down. He’s rather a rolling stone, always wanting to try something new.”
    Paul got up to inspect the pictures on the mantel. His eyes were drawn to a large colored photograph of Daphne when she was about eight, sitting between two boys; the small one would be Rob, the older, fair boy probably Tom. Another photo showed Daphne as a toddler, and in the corner stood a sepia photograph of two young men in army uniform.
    The women returning with a fresh pot of tea interrupted his inspection.
    “You’ll have another cup, Paul?” Daphne smiled into his eyes. “Stop eating all the cake, there won’t be any left for Dad,” she scolded her brother.
    “Nothing to eat thanks, Princess I’ll spoil my dinner.”
    Paul refused the cake also, not Rob, he devoured it like a starving man. Paul drained his cup and stood up.
    “If you would excuse us, come on, Daphne?”
    “Well, what do you think?” She asked as they strolled hand in hand towards the back of the house.
    “They’re nice, I like all three of them.”
    “I’m glad.” She rubbed her cheek against his bare arm. “Mum thinks you’re very English.”
    “Oh.” He nearly told her he was in fact born in Australia, but stopped himself in time. He was too scared of the ramifications of illegitimacy to risk unburdening himself right now.
    The apricot trees in the orchard were loaded with plump, ripe fruit. He lifted Daphne up and sat her on the top rail of a wooden fence, bringing her face on a level with his own. They fed each other plump, ripe apricot halves.
    “Love you,” he said softly.
    “I love you too.”
    “I’ll speak with your parents as soon as I can about us, but I suppose they must guess something is in the wind.”
    “Mum does anyway.”
    Seeing the shadows in Daphne’s eyes he knew that even now, she felt unsure of his love. He couldn’t find the words to reassure her, so he held her close. “I’ll never hurt you, Sunshine. You have to believe me. I only wish we could go away and get married straight away.”
    “Wait until after Christmas to talk with Dad.”
    “I planned to say something tonight when we got your parents alone.”
    “It’s only a couple of days. Speak to Dad on Boxing Day. I always feel flat then. Mum says there’s a Christmas Eve dance at the North Wang hall.”
    He grimaced.
    “If you don’t want to go, we won’t, but I’d like to show you off to all my friends. We could go the midnight service afterwards.”
    “Midnight service?”
    “At Holy Trinity,” she said.
    “Oh.”
    “It’s Church of England. You aren’t Roman Catholic are you, Paul?”
    “No, I’m Church of England.”
    “You don’t want to go to church with me?”
    “If you want to go we will, but I thought I picked you up from a Methodist church.”
    “I am a Methodist, but lots of my friends up here are Church of England, and I used to go with them sometimes. Mum’s Methodist, and Dad’s Church of England, but he never goes. He’s bitter about them for some reason, believes in God but not in churches.”
    “I share his sentiments.”
    “Paul.”
    “Mm.” He nuzzled her throat.
    “You’ve never told me much about your family.”
    “There’s not much to tell. My mother,” his mouth twisted, “is a very social person. An utter snob in other words.”
    “Paul!”
    “It’s true. She’s never shown any interest in me. My father, well the old man’s not so bad. Ruthless as hell if you cross him, though. He got a knighthood a few years back.”
    He watched fear darken her eyes, and her lips started trembling.
    “It won’t make any difference to us,” he reassured.
    “I’m frightened, our backgrounds are so...”
    “Shh.” His lips cut her off. “We