Page 8 (1/2)

'Because they're not capable o—' He stopped on hearing his oords

'Quite I don't see any har an ordinary boy'

He was on his feet again 'You haven't been listening to a word I've been saying, have you?'

Clare rose, too, glad that he was not taller than she 'Yes, I have, and I see the validity of your arguments It's you on't see the validity of mine You don't know Timothy, you don't know me I thank you for your advice and I'll consider it—'

'But you'll do nothing about it Don't offer ence Why don't you just say what youmy advice'

'Don't put words into my mouth'

'Why not? They seem to be more truthful than the mealy-mouthed prevarications you put there Perhaps you are jealous of your son, and this is why you deny him the chance of fulfilment Because your expectations for an artistic career-remain unfulfilled, so must his'

'How dare you? Who do you think you are?'

'David Deverenko I am somebody, Clare Malcolm, I have made this of myself I am allowed to be as I am I was not held back by an anxious mama, I was not reat talent—but she valued mine because it was of me, in , slender, square-tipped hands 'I have the tenses wrong, but the sentiment, the sentiment you cannot mistake You have no heart, Clare Malcolhtful inheritance What would your husband have wanted for him? The best? Or the mediocrity of 'wait and see'? How dare you? And who are you to decide?'

'I'm somebody, too,' she threw at him fiercely, her nose shiny from the perspiration of her small te—offending a ht to believe that his advice would be treated with the utmost respect But she couldn't let him overwhelm her with his force of will and personality; she owed it to Tiht cost her an agony of embarrassment in the process 'I may not be famous, or a wild success at a brilliant career, but I a that you can never aspire to be, Mr Deverenko—a mother I have bonds with Tim that you can't possibly understand I bore him in my body and I know hi He knows that I shall love hiht nohat he needsreassurance of that love People like you, Mr Deverenko, so eager to get their hands on hiifted in other ways, too, but you would ignore that in favour of your bias, music You didn't come here to ask, you cao'

'Clare—' The fiery Russian te

Clare walked to the door and held it open, just as Virginia cah with her best china laid on a tray

'Oh, were you coet me? Are you ready for your tea?'

'Mr Deverenko is just leaving'

'But…surely you can't have finished?' Virginia looked fro at Clare's paleness and the violinist's glower