The Pyramid by William Golding

Author:William Golding [Golding, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780571267378
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 1967-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

On Saturday morning, next day, I went resignedly with my mother to the Town Hall. We entered from the big doors at the west end, and three people were waiting for us. Mr. Claymore and Imogen were seated at a small table on the stage. I was mercifully saved from an official introduction because when I followed my mother who was walking busily up the hall, the latch of my violin case came undone and I spilt the lot on the floor. Retrieving this took me all my time, so that I was standing, bow in one hand and violin in the other, before anyone paid any attention to me. I looked at Imogen and she gave me her wonderful crinkly smile but said nothing because Mr. Claymore was talking, with his voice that sounded always to me like a finger nail scratching frosted glass.

“He’s here, Evelyn. We shan’t need to do more than run through just that bit of dialogue, shall we?”

I thought hazily at first that this itself must be part of the play because the figure that emerged from the wings on my left was in costume.

“Mr. De Tracy,” said my mother. “This is my son, Oliver, Oliver, dear, this is Mr. Evelyn De Tracy.”

Mr. De Tracy bowed very low but did not say anything. He simply smiled down at me from the stage and waited. He was very tall and thin. He wore check trousers without cuffs and a jacket so longskirted it came almost to the knee. He also wore a wing collar and a black stock above an embroidered waistcoat. I wondered what such a figure was doing in Hungary or Ruritania. It was good of him to act as well as produce.

But Mr. Claymore was getting restless, which was surprising on a Saturday morning. He went to press on Thursday night. My mother turned to me.

“Are you in tune, dear?”

I got round the green baize curtain that separated the orchestra from the audience and took an A from the piano. While I tuned, Mr. Claymore talked to Mr. De Tracy.

“Shall I do this, Evelyn, or will you?”

I noticed then a curious thing about Mr De Tracy. He shook. He did not alter the expression on his long face which always wore a moony smile, an invariable smile with lips slightly parted, but his long body shook, three or four shakes and was still again. This shaking included his legs, which had a tendency to move sideways at the knee.

“You, Norman, I think. What a professional you’d have been!”

Mr. Claymore swelled.

“Just to save you trouble, Evelyn old man.”

“And an old pro like me is always willing to learn, Norman. You have an undoubted flair.”

Mr. Claymore smiled with gratification.

“I don’t deny that I’ve sometimes wondered—However. Let me think for a moment.”

He thought, receding chin on white hand. Mr. De Tracy continued to gaze down on me with his moony smile. His eyes were large and like a pair of old billiard balls, with minute pupils so that the balls seemed both to be marked for Spot.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.