The Only Problem by Muriel Spark

Author:Muriel Spark [Spark, Muriel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-07-15T18:04:01+00:00

‘How is it possible,’ Ruth said, ‘that the police think the gang might turn up here, now that this story’s all over the papers, on the radio, the television? It’s the last place they would come to. Clara’s safer here than anywhere. How can they think —’

‘The police don’t think so, they only say they think so.’

‘Why?’

‘How do I know? They suspect me strongly. They want the baby out of France. Maybe it’s got something to do with their public image.’

‘I don’t want to go,’ said Ruth.

‘I don’t want you to go,’ said Harvey, ‘but I think you should. It’s only for a while. I think you must.’

‘Are you free to come, too? Harvey, let’s both get away. ‘On paper, I’m free to go. In fact, they might detain me. The truth is, I don’t want to leave just at this moment. Just bloody-mindedness on my part.’

‘I can be stubborn, too,’ said Ruth; but she spoke with a fluidity that implied she was giving way. ‘But, after all,’ she went on, ‘I suppose you didn’t ask me to come here in the first place.’

Harvey thought, I don’t love her, I’m not in the least in love with her. Much of the time I don’t even like her very much.

Anne-Marie had put some soup on the table. Harvey and Ruth were silent before her, now that she wasn’t a maid but a police auxiliary. When she had left, Ruth said, ‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep this down. I’m pregnant.’

‘How did that happen?’ Harvey said.

‘The same as it always happens.’

‘How long have you known?’

‘Three weeks.’

‘Nobody tells me anything,’ Harvey said.

‘You don’t want to know anything.’

Had Ruth stopped taking the pill? Was it his child or Nathan’s? She didn’t guess his first thought, but she did his second. ‘I never slept with Nathan, ever,’ she said. ‘His mind’s on Effie — That’s one thing I didn’t mention to the police.’

‘Take some bread with your soup. You’ll keep it down better.’

‘You know, I’d rather not go back to England. Now that Edward’s having this amazing success —

‘What success?’

‘He’s having an astonishing success on the West End. That play —’

‘Well, how long have you known about this?’

‘Three weeks. It’s been in the papers, and he wrote —’

‘Nobody tells me anything.’

‘I think it funny Edward hasn’t rung us up to-day. He must have seen the papers,’ Ruth said. ‘Maybe it scared him. A scandal.’

‘Where would you like to go?’ Harvey said.

‘Have you got anyone in Canada I could take Clara to?’

‘I have an aunt and I have an uncle in Toronto. They’re married but they live in separate houses. You could go to either. I’ll ring up.

‘I’ll go to the uncle,’ said Ruth. She started to smile happily, but she was crying at the same time.

‘There’s nothing to worry about,’ Harvey said.

‘Yes there is. There’s Effie. There’s Edward.’

‘What about Edward?’

‘He’s a shit. He might have wanted to know if I was all right. He’s been writing all the time I’ve been here, and phoning every day since we got the telephone put in.

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