Iris Murdoch - The Sandcastle

‘What are Nuremburg rallies?’ asked Felicity.

‘You’re too young to know,’ said Carde. Ask your big brother to tell you sometime.‘

Felicity blushed, and said to Donald, ‘Can I have it, please? You don’t want it, do you?’

‘Take it, Fella,’ said Donald magnanimously, ‘and come and blow it outside chapel during Evvy’s sermon.’

‘Have you seen Demoyters’ glamour girl?’ said Carde.

‘No,’ said Felicity, ‘who’s that?’

‘Sleetie Carter,’ said Carde. ‘She’s painting Demoyters’ picture. Revvy Evvy wanted her in his house, but Demoyters pinched her instead. She’s one of the rakish kind.’ He burst into song. ‘A nice girl, a day-cent gur-ril, but one of the rakish kind.’

‘Is that her real name?’ said Felicity.

‘She’s called Rain Carter, for some obscure reason,’ said Donald.

‘I saw your dad showing her round,’ said Carde. ‘He didn’t look as if he was fed up either. I wonder if Demoyters has made a pass at her yet?

‘I think it’s a pretty name,’ said Felicity. She felt extreme dislike for Jimmy Carde. Her eye roved round the room. She wanted to change the subject.

‘Oh!’ said Felicity. She had just seen something in the corner, peeping out from under a pile of coats and sweaters. She pounced upon it, and began to pull it out. It was an extremely long coil of fine nylon rope.

Felicity felt dizzy if she stood on a step-ladder, and she shared her mother’s horror of the whole idea of climbing. ‘Don,’ she said, ‘you promised you wouldn’t!’ She knelt down with her arm thrust through the coil of rope, as if she were going to take it away.

‘Oh, cut it out, Fella,’ said Donald, ‘why are you fussing about promises? You never keep any! Anyhow, this silly rope doesn’t mean a thing.’

‘Don,’ said Felicity, ‘you’re going to climb something. What is it?’

‘The school tower,’ said Carde.

Felicity knelt there petrified. There was a moment’s silence.

‘Shut up, Jimmy, you fool,’ said Donald, ‘and now for Christ’s sake go away, I mean you, Jim, not Felicity. I want to talk family policy with her, since she’s bothered herself to come.’

‘Ah well,’ said Carde, ‘Ah knows when Ah’s not wanted. See you in the usual at the usual.’ He sprang out of the door like a small panther and banged it behind him with his foot.

Felicity came over and seized the cuff of Donald’s blazer. He was dressed for cricket. ‘Don,’ she said, ‘Jimmy didn’t mean it, did he, about the tower?’

‘Of course not,’ said Donald, not meeting her eye.

The school tower could be climbed, but it had been done only once in recorded history, by a man who was now an Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Town and Country Planning. He had placed upon the topmost pinnacle the traditional piece of porcelain, which had remained there for weeks until the games master had had the sporting idea of shooting it down.

‘If you’re going to climb it,’ said Felicity, ‘I’ll tell the parents.’

‘You won’t do that,’ said Donald easily. Felicity never told. ‘And just be careful what you say in conversation. Any breath of this, and Carde and I would be expelled. You don’t want to ruin my career, do you?’ There was an inflexible rule at St Bride’s that any sort of climbing on the school buildings was punished by immediate expulsion. This had been established after one or two of the easier climbs had tempted a few amateurs. The tower, however, was notoriously difficult, the chief problem being a fierce overhang which had to be negotiated a little way from its base.

‘You’d kill yourself,’ said Felicity. She was extremely upset. ‘Please, please, please don’t do it, Don. I’ll give you my camera, the new one, if you won’t do it.’

Donald detached his sleeve, and taking his sister’s arm in a friendly grip, twisted it vigorously behind her black. Fella, darling,‘ he said, ’just don’t make a fuss. If there’s one thing I can not stand it’s women making a fuss. Carde and I won’t attempt it unless we’re sure it’s absolutely safe. We probably won’t attempt it anyway.‘

‘You’re hurting me, Don,’ said Felicity. ‘What are those drawings on the table?’ She dragged her arm away and pulled several sheets of paper out from under a pile of books. They were sketches of the tower from different angles, showing its various profiles in detail.

You see how business-like we are,‘ said Donald. ’Once we’re past here,‘ he pointed to the overhang, ’it’s child’s play. And we have an ingenious plan for doing that. But we probably won’t do it at all. It was just an idea. Carde said it partly to upset you.‘

‘Don,’ said Felicity, ‘please! I’ll do anything you like. I’ll do any dare for you if you’ll not do it. Dare me anything.’ There was an old-established usage between them whereby if one wished the other to drop some cherished plan he would have in exchange to accept any dare that was named. This arrangement had not been invoked for some time.

‘Well,’ said Don laughing and lying back upon the table, ‘what shall I tell you to do? What about making another raid for the Power Game?’ The Power Game was an invention of Felicity’s dating from long ago. It was a sort of eclectic witch-craft, which involved the purloining from the individuals who were to be bewitched of various intimate articles, such as socks, stockings, ties, and handkerchiefs, which were subsequently to figure in the various rituals and ceremonies. The main point of the Power Game, however, as it turned out, had not been the actual magic but rather the preliminary raids. In the course of these raids a number of highly cherished prizes had been taken, including some underpants of Mr Prewett, Mr Hensman’s braces, and an elegant sponge-bag belonging to Mr Everard, none of which had in fact been put to any magical use.

‘All right!’ said Felicity, tense and flushed, ready to dart away. ‘Name anybody you like.’

‘Oh, I don’t know, said Donald, waving a careless foot in the air, ’what about - oh, I don’t know - what about - what about - Miss Thingummy Carter.‘

‘Fine!’ said Felicity. ‘I start now. Where did you say she was? Staying with Mr Demoyte?’ She made for the door.

‘My dear girl,’ said Donald, shooting up like a jack-in-the-box. Stop! I’m not serious. You know we dropped all that long ago.

‘I haven’t dropped it,’ said Felicity. She was near to tears. ‘Liffey is outside,’ she said defiantly, ‘and I nearly saw Angus on the road.’ Angus had been a frequent ally in the Power Game raids. The translated and immaterial Liffey was Felicity’s own private familiar.

‘Oh, do leave all that old stuff,’ said Donald, ‘and for heaven’s sake don’t cry. You’ve been making a frightful row already. Anybody might have heard you.’

‘Well, I’m going on that raid,’ said Felicity, wiping her eyes. ‘You agreed to it and you can’t take it back now. And if I do that you’ll have not to climb the tower.’

‘Stop shouting, Fella,’ said Donald. ‘If Prewett passes, we’re both for the high jump. Look, I’ll see you out of this place. You’re giving me the jitters. Now follow me and keep your mouth shut.’

Donald quietly opened the door of his room and looked both ways down the corridor. Distant sounds floated in, squeals of laughter, a gramophone playing jazz, a dull sound as of cricket stumps being rhythmically beaten together. Donald waited. Then seizing Felicity by the wrist he dragged her out of the room, took the stairs at a leap, and in an instant had her outside the back door. Here he let go of her and ran ahead into the wood, zigzagging rapidly between the trees. Fleet-footed Felicity sped after him. A moment later they had reached the wall and could hear the roar of traffic on the road just on the other side. Donald ran quickly along beside the wall until he came to a certain place. Here it could be seen that for a length of about eighteen inches the broken glass had been removed from the parapet.