‘I adore bad manners,’ said Lady Arrow, smiling at him with her long sallow face. ‘Yours are quite terrible, Murf, but I assure you mine are much worse.’ She turned to Brodie. ‘I think I’ll have more tea.’
‘No more bloody char,’ said Murf.
‘Brodie,’ said Lady Arrow, holding out her empty cup. Murf put his hands on his hips and glowered at her. She said, ‘Oh, do sit down and stop being such a ham.’
‘They’re coming back,’ said Murf to Brodie. ‘They’re not going to like this —’
Lady Arrow looked abstracted for a moment, then burst out laughing. Wonderful!
‘— and I ain’t sticking up for you this time. It’s your look-out.’
‘It’s this bloke that lives here,’ Brodie said, turning from Murf to Lady Arrow, who was beaming at the blank wall. ‘He won’t like it if he sees you here.’
‘I’d very much like to meet him,’ said Lady Arrow. Another competitor — who? And what hold did he have? But she was unconcerned. Brodie was slim, with a fawn’s small coy face, and short hair — so awkward and small-breasted she could have been a boy. It was a type Lady Arrow especially desired, the light uncertain body, the clear skin. She wanted Brodie in a boy’s beautiful suit and velvet tie, and to make love to her before an enormous mirror, undressing her slowly and hearing her clamour for breath as she slipped the clothes from her skin.
‘He’s got this bad temper,’ Brodie explained in a monotone, tucking her white arms against her side and hunching her shoulders. ‘Like he breaks things.’
Murf was close to Lady Arrow. He showed her the pegs of his teeth and said, ‘He’ll break your neck, lady.’
‘I’ve got a very strong neck, my boy,’ said Lady Arrow, and she thought: Brike your neck — they can’t hurt me, I own them. She was buoyant. Upstairs she had proven herself unassailable. The boy with dowels for teeth stood near her mouthing threats, but there was nothing more he could do, and she pitied his helplessness. ‘I would love another cup, Brodie.’
‘There’s no more tea,’ said Brodie.
‘Don’t deny me.’
‘Take a walk!’ cried Murf, working his shoulders menacingly.
‘Dear girl,’ said Lady Arrow, ‘I do believe he’s frightened you. But you have nothing to fear — you’ll see.’
Brodie was being obstinate, and Lady Arrow saw she would have to fight to have her — she would win, but she didn’t want to destroy Murf. She hated the way Murf nagged — he looked so silly trying to threaten her with that face and those ears, the scrawny shoulders, the grubby waistcoat. She believed she could have knocked him over quite easily, but she only laughed. Seeing how she was enraging him she rose to give him room.
There were bangings at the back entrance, the slam of a door, the thud and pause of boots.
‘It’s ’ood!’ said Murf, and now he looked desperate. ‘Get out, get out!’
‘Take your filthy hands off me,’ said Lady Arrow. To free herself from Murf’s pushing she simply stood up. Then she was out of reach, and again she felt sorry for him. His anger was so futile. Perhaps it was futility, nothing more, that made him angry.
Brodie said, ‘Please go.’
‘I don’t think I shall,’ said Lady Arrow, but she had barely finished the sentence when she saw the door open and the hawk-faced man enter. He was tall, with stiff black hair and he almost frightened Lady Arrow with his squinting eyes. He wore a black raincoat and black boots, but what disturbed her most was that he said absolutely nothing. Through his posture and his fixed expression of sullen enquiry he communicated threat. She saw him as her equal, and in Brodie and Murf’s cringing she saw his hold over them. But she would not be sent away. This was her competitor for Brodie. She was glad he looked strong, and yet to win was no victory — the advantage was hers. He shut the door and stared at her.
‘I told her to get out,’ said Murf, his voice becoming a quack. ‘She wouldn’t go. Brodie let her in. But don’t worry — she don’t know anything —’
‘Shut up,’ said Hood, without turning to look at Murf’s little gestures, his accusatory leaps at Lady Arrow. Hood bore down on her with his narrowed eyes.
‘This here’s Lady Arrow,’ said Brodie. ‘She’s a friend of mine.’
‘A very old friend,’ said Lady Arrow.
‘You said it.’ Hood smiled.
It took a moment for this to register. Then Lady Arrow straightened: she would make him regret saying that.
He said, ‘Anything I can do for you?’
‘Yes, you can tell Murf to stop accusing me of spying. He won’t listen to me.’
‘He’s just doing his duty,’ said Hood. ‘We don’t want strangers here.’
‘I’m hardly a stranger to Brodie,’ said Lady Arrow, slurring her words to load them with sexual intimacy. ‘But if you insist, I’ll go.’
‘I insist.’
‘It wasn’t Brodie’s fault at all. I invited myself. I didn’t realize you had such strict rules. But I quite understand. Under the circumstances, it would be rather awkward if you had people dropping in.’
‘Under the circumstances, I think you’d better get your ass out of here,’ said Hood evenly.
Lady Arrow smiled. ‘They warned me you were naughty.’
‘Piss off,’ said Murf, standing just behind Hood, seeming to shelter from the gaze of the tall woman.
‘Don’t get excited, squire,’ said Hood. ‘She’s going.’
‘What a pair of monkeys you look,’ said Lady Arrow. ‘But I know you’re perfectly harmless. You wouldn’t touch me.’
‘Wouldn’t I?’ Murf stepped forward and crouched as if preparing to pounce on her.
‘Easy, squire.’ Then he spoke to Lady Arrow. ‘What are you waiting for?’
‘I’d like a word with you before I go. I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve been introduced.’
He told her his name, then he said, ‘I don’t have anything to say to you.’
‘Perhaps not, but that’s beside the point. I have something to say to you. Do you think we could be alone?’
‘No,’ said Murf. ‘Tell her to get out.’
‘Run along!’ said Lady Arrow impatiently. ‘Brodie, be an angel — do take him away.’
Brodie said, ‘Come on, Murf. Let’s go.’
Murf appealed to Hood: ‘Don’t listen to her. I caught her snooping, but she didn’t see nothing. She’s Brodie’s mate — I didn’t want her here, but Brodie said —’
‘Upstairs, squire,’ Hood said softly. He had not moved. He had entered the room and folded his arms; his posture was unchanged, nor had his eyes shifted from the tall woman’s face. Murf muttered a complaint, and he kicked at the floor, but he did not reply directly to Hood. He screwed up his face at Lady Arrow, then turned and swaggered out of the room, still muttering. Brodie shrugged and without a word followed him. Her abruptness hurt Lady Arrow, who until that moment had expected the girl to return with her to Hill Street. She wanted her and she resented whatever hold this dark man had over her.
But she said, ‘How very Victorian you are — what a stern parent. You remind me of my father. You walk in and they flutter like doves. I suppose they accept it because they know so little, but when they know that you have no right to order them about they’ll hate you. I’m sure you don’t understand Brodie at all.’
‘If that’s all you have to say, you can go.’
‘Mister Hood, I believe in freedom.’
‘That’s fine with me, Mrs Arrow.’
‘Never call me that — Susannah, if you like,’ she said, and went on in a different tone. ‘Freedom must be taken, snatched if necessary, whatever the cost. Do you think a woman like me has no interest in such things?’