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It's not five yet, is it? he asked

No, she said; I just wanted to be sure He stood, slowly, lifting hi on the wooden arms of the chair, and picked up the suitcase

Well, he said, puffing a little, let's at least get you all downstairs and ready for the young ain,aardly towards the door and the top of the stairs Eleanor tried to take the case from him

I'll be alright with that Da, she said, letheavily, and said now Eleanor, you're not out that front door yet She didn't say anything She looked at the floor and nodded, or she looked straight at hi, or she turned to theagain He picked up the case and went downstairs, one heavy step at a tiet his wind, and by the tiot to the bottom his breath was pinched and loud Eleanor stood in her roo at the two neatly made beds, the chest of drawers, the wardrobe, the chair in the corner, the

He was sitting in his ar his forehead with a white handkerchief, the suitcase squatting in the middle of the room She stood in the doorway The street outside was quiet, the children and their families away to the beach, and the only sounds in the roo of the clock on thewheeze of her father's breath They heard hurried footsteps outside, and a knock at the door, and they looked at each other

That'll be David then, she said, and he nodded

He was standing in the entranceway at home when she told hi there when she'd told hi with the address book and pens on the phone shelf, the last of the evening's light falling through the glass panels of the front door It took hi, her words not ain

But she can't do that, he said It's not up to her; she can't just not let you go Eleanor sighed i he'd been He heard her droppingto do?

She'd come in from supper, she told him, a bit later than usual because she'd been round the shops with Heather after work There's so we need to discuss, her ht away she'd heard so she was more than used to She'd turned to her father, but he'd looked down at his e to wash your hands before you coot up from her chair, washed and dried her hands at the sink, and sat down again, and as she did so her e white envelope from her lap and slid a stapled bundle of papers froh, from the university, she said

It's not the first time she's done that David, Eleanor told him I wasn't surprised about that part of it at all

It's a list of all the things you'll be wanting when you start down there, herlist There's a couple dozen books and soht her father glancing up at her, and she could see already as happening You'll need a set of bedlinen for your room, her mother said, and a whole lot of stationery And you knohat else? It says here you'll be needing formal wear on occasion On occasion!

She said all this, she told him, with a voice put on, a voice Eleanor described as her airs and graces voice

So tell ht spark of the family nohe

re were you planning on finding for wear, and bedlinen, and all those books? Hoere you thinking ere going to pay for it all? Because I don't think a year's worth of serving teas has quite covered it, has it now? She leant towards Eleanor, lowering her voice Or had you not given it any thought, eh? she said

The food was ready on the table A large brown casserole dish on aout of the s over the hot salted potatoes in their bowl Half a loaf of bread ready to be cut on the board, and no one touching a thing Eleanor looked back at her mother, and perhaps allowed herself a smile as she saay around all these objections Or perhaps she didn't dare saze from the cold stillness of her mother's eyes