The Big Footprints by Hammond Innes

Author:Hammond Innes [Innes, Hammond]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

HAMMOND INNES

should have gone with him, don’t you? You think I’m to blame. But it wouldn’t have made any difference. He never listened to me.’ Her hands were clasped tight together, the fingers locked. ‘Well, say something, can’t you?’

‘What is there to say? You’re here, and that’s all there is to it.’

‘You don’t understand, do you?’

‘No, I don’t,’ I said. ‘If you’d have been with your father, if you’d gone with him-‘

‘He’s not my father.’

I stared at her, shocked as much by the tone of her voice, the emotional violence of it, as by the denial. ‘But when we were at the Lodge …’

‘He gave me a name, brought me up - but he’s not my father. Surely you must have guessed.’ And when I shook my head, she said, ‘Alex is my father. Now do you understand?’ She seemed to expect some comment, but when I didn’t say anything, she said angrily, ‘Well, don’t just sit there staring at me. He’s my natural father and I don’t know what to do. A situation like this - I need help.’ She was staring at me, her eyes unnaturally bright. ‘Well, Christ! Can’t you say something?’ And then she laughed, a trembling note near to hysteria. ‘No, of course. Keep your mouth shut, don’t get involved. Don’t even bloody well think about it.’ Her eyes shifted to the forest. ‘All very well for you. But that man out there - you don’t know him like I do.’

She was silent for a moment, and then, in a quiet voice tinged with bitterness: ‘I thought - at that Con-

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