Give Us This Day by R.F. Delderfield

not qualified to tell you that yet, Grandfather. It began only last March, when he met this woman at the launching of his first trading vessel in Scotland. It is still only July, is it not?"
      "But you must have some idea."
      She said, pacing slowly across to the window, "All I can tell you is this. When George came to us, as a young man at Essling, he was very gay and nothing mattered to him. Nothing but laughter and picnics and kissing the girls. My sisters, Sophie, Valerie, and Gilda, they were his companions at that time, without a serious thought in their silly heads. But then George became interested in Grandfather Maximilien's invention. It changed him. After that, when Grandfather was stricken, he stopped being a boy and we married and he brought me here, as you remember?"
      "I remember. You and that damned engine."
      "You put him to work, and he pleased you very much, I think. But later you quarrelled over the engine, and we went to Manchester to live."
      "I remember it all very well. What's all that got to do with George gadding off with the wife of one of his best customers?"
      "It has everything to do with it. George has been hard at work for thirteen years. You have a saying for it, 'Nose to the milestone'."
      "Grindstone."
      "Ah, so. Perhaps he thought it was time to laugh again before he grew old. The way he laughed when he first came to Vienna."
      "But he's thirty-three now, and has a wife, four children, and a damned great business to watch over. Why can't he do his laughing at home?"
      She was still holding the magazine and glanced at it. "Husbands are not horses," she said, so gravely that he suddenly felt like laughing himself. "That horse she is sitting so well was a colt once, but somebody took it and trained it and broke it to the bridle. You cannot do that with men like George. One day, for a little time, they will want to frisk again and it is better to let them. At least until they are tired."
      He thought, grimly, I never did underestimate her. She's got her head screwed on and no mistake…! He said, kissing her, "You're very wise, my dear. I was always fond of you but never more so than now. Would you like me to handle this my way, so long as I keep in mind what you just said?"
      "You do what you think is right, Grandfather. George has no right to neglect the business you gave him so generously. As for me, you must understand it is a matter of waiting."
      "I understand that," he said, "and I'll promise you something into the bargain. This is between you, me, and George, and I'll make damned sure I tread warily, and that he never discovers we confided in one another. Will you bring the children over on Saturday and stay until Monday?"
      "Thank you, but no," she said. "I would not like George to return to a house empty of everyone but the servants."
      She showed him the door, and the cabby hastened to settle him comfortably, but he brushed him aside impatiently. "Catch that nine-ten to Bromley and I'll tip you a florin. Miss it and it'll be sixpence."
      Suddenly he felt his years.

Four

    Reconnaissance

    A s a tacitician, Adam Swann was decisive, seeing what required to be done and doing it without preamble. As a strategist, working on a long-term plan, he could be both cautious and diabolically tenacious.
      In his army days, he had a reputation among senior officers as a good man to send out on reconnaissance. His eye seldom missed much of importance. His sketch-maps were models of neatness and accuracy, and it was much the same in the world of commerce. Before he cashed in a looted necklace of rubies, representing his entire working capital, he rode the full length of England, making meticulous notes on local industries, road and railway communications, terrain, and a hundred and one other things likely to be invaluable to a haulier. His eye for detail was excellent and his memory phenomenal. He had a few sound precepts from which he never