Francis Durbridge - Paul Temple and the Kelby Affair

It was early spring and low shafts of sunlight were penetrating the dusty corners of the library. Those intimations of summer that usually made him feel optimistic in March, that reconciled him to the rural remoteness of Melford House. But after the briefest glance at the larch trees opposite the window he was browsing again through Scott Reed’s diary. He didn’t hear Tracy Leonard come in.

‘The post has arrived,’ she announced. ‘There’s a reply from Ted Mortimer.’

It should have an index, of course. Kelby had instinctively turned to look up Chamberlain in the index. These amateurs, dabbling in history. Not that Chamberlain had any connection with the Delamore affair.

‘I said there’s a reply from Ted Mortimer.’

‘Mortimer?’ Kelby smiled, because she was attractive, especially for a secretary. ‘What does he want?’ Severe, but that was all part of her efficiency thing. Like her habit of slightly bullying him. Tracy Leonard was efficient.

‘He wants to talk to you about the loan.’

‘That means he still can’t repay me.’

‘Presumably. And I’m not surprised.’

Tracy Leonard sat at her desk and crossed her legs with elegant disdain. She flicked open her notebook and leaned forward to write. It made Kelby feel slightly sad that the curve of her thighs against the chair should be so perfect. They had worked together for many years, yet he still felt a pang when she came into the room, when he saw that sweeping gesture with her brown hair. He would never totally know the girl now, and the pangs made him feel like an elderly reprobate. Kelby wondered whether she had a lover, but he didn’t dare ask. She had become inviolable.

‘Shall I telephone and make an appointment for you to see him?’

Kelby nodded. She had admired him once, and Kelby had thought himself in love with the girl. He remembered her embraces that summer and found the memory painful. To her it obviously meant almost nothing, except that if she thought about it she would probably despise him. He was a foolish old man.

‘Tell him I might drop in at Galloway Farm this afternoon. At about half past four.’

She had been a softly spoken and submissive girl until that afternoon when Ted Mortimer had burst into the library while they were working. He had made a scene, shouted his accusations, and Tracy had never forgotten them. That was why Kelby hated the man when he thought about it. He rarely did think about it. He picked up the diary from the table.

‘You look pale,’ said Tracy. ‘Wouldn’t it be simpler to put the whole business into the hands of your solicitor?’

‘No, that would be vindictive. He probably hasn’t the money, and it wouldn’t help anybody to sue him.’

There was nothing submissive about her face at the moment, her long mouth tight with disapproval. Perhaps she was vindictive, he decided, unless she wanted to save him pain.

‘I don’t have any other appointments, do I?’ He smiled and made a conscious effort to become his old impish, happy self. He saw himself as mischievously cheerful. ‘I can make this afternoon.’

‘Yes, there’s only the council meeting at half past eleven this morning, then you’re free for the day.’

She was looking at the calf-bound diary, trying to see what had been so absorbing him. It was sheer perversity of Kelby to pick it up and put it secretively in his briefcase. ‘I’ll read this during the meeting,’ he chuckled. ‘More interesting than education business.’

‘It looks like a diary,’ she said casually.

‘Just something Scott Reed wants me to look at. They’re thinking of publishing it.’

Kelby left her feeling pleased with himself. His simple pleasure at thwarting her survived even seeing Ronnie come down the stairs, in his pyjamas, at half past ten.

‘Aren’t you dressed yet?’ he asked automatically, but his mind was elsewhere. He would leave Tracy Leonard to squash the wastrel son.

‘Don’t worry, father, it’s on the agenda.’

As Kelby left the house he could hear his son attempting his irresistible charm on the secretary. ‘How romantic you make that sound, Miss Leonard. “There’s nothing in the post for you, Mr Kelby.” That sentence is the basis of our relationship.’

‘We don’t have a relationship, Mr Kelby.’

‘You wait till I land a plum job, Miss Leonard, then you’ll be impressed.’

‘I certainly shall be.’ Her voice was wholly discouraging. ‘At the moment you don’t even receive letters saying the position has been filled.’

Kelby was walking towards the garage, but then he glanced at the sky and decided to walk. He had meant to ask Scott Reed about a job for Ronnie; perhaps one of Scott’s competitors needed a charming young man to hasten their flight into bankruptcy. But Kelby hated asking favours. He felt relieved that the subject was postponed until Thursday. Ronnie deserved a chance, but Kelby wondered whether the chance shouldn’t have been given him ten years ago – when his mother had died. Kelby quickly pushed the past to the back of his mind.

There was plenty of time to walk to the village. Forty minutes. And anyway Kelby was only a co-opted member of the education subcommittee. He paused at the gate and spoke to Leo Ashwood. Leo was the gardener, handyman, butler, the whole team of male servants, who had been attached to Melford House ever since Kelby had bought the place. Ashwood and his wife had come with the house. Leo understood about nature.

‘It’s weather like this, Leo, that reconciles me to the rural remoteness of the country.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Leo was the stolid type. Thickset, forty, and not plagued with the need to express himself.

‘I like this time of year. Nobody ever declares a war in March.’

‘No, sir.’

Kelby went off down the lane. He wasn’t really a countryman. There were birds in the hedgerow, in the poplars, but Kelby couldn’t be sure what they were, and he didn’t like to ask. He hummed happily to himself. He was a man with no problems.

‘Excuse me, am I right for Greatrex Lane?’

A man who looked like a doctor was calling from the car window. ‘Yes,’ said Kelby. ‘It’s about half a mile down the hill. On the right, just before you reach the village.’

‘Melford Grammar School?’

‘That’s halfway down the lane. You can’t miss it.’

An ambulance came speeding towards them, klaxon sounding, and it skidded to a halt on the wrong side of the road. ‘Greatrex Lane?’ the driver shouted.

‘Follow me,’ said the doctor.

Kelby decided to exert his authority. ‘Has something happened at the school? I ought to know. I’m on the board of governors.’

‘A fire,’ the doctor said. ‘It sounds like a bad one.’ He drove grimly off down the hill.

‘I say! Wait a minute!’

‘Do you want to come with us?’ asked the ambulance driver. ‘I suppose it will be all right, you being on the board of governors.’

‘Thanks.’

Kelby clambered into the back of the ambulance. A nurse and a male attendant hung on to him as they sped away. It was a bumpy ride. Kelby settled in the corner by the stretchers clutching his briefcase.

‘Have you been called in from Oxford?’ he asked conversationally.

Through the darkened windows he could see the telegraph poles and the occasional cottages whizzing by. It was a gloomy view. The school in the distance looked positively gothic, a sombre monument to the Victorian spirit of self-improvement. But Kelby couldn’t see any fire. There were boys playing unconcernedly in the playing fields and as they flashed past the school a master was walking casually across the courtyard.

‘That was the school,’ said Kelby.

The male attendant sounded bored. ‘Just relax, Mr Kelby, and nobody will hurt you.’