Familiar Rooms in Darkness Read Free

I drop.’ He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. ‘I don’t care for the idea of my life being raked over, becoming the subject of speculation and lies. I think that’s rather terrifying.’
    â€˜Why should it be? Why should any biography not be quite candid and fair?’
    â€˜Fair? Now that’s an interesting word… fair.
Honest
might be more appropriate, wouldn’t you think? Surely a good biographer wouldn’t scruple to tell the truth about his subject, whatever he might discover?’
    â€˜Well… yes, naturally. But I think you have to have respect for your subject. Anyone who undertakes to write the life of another person must surely already have a certain admiration for them, or their work, to want to do it in the first place. I’m not talking about hagiography, necessarily, but when a person achieves success or distinction because of certain talents and abilities, or work they’ve accomplished, then it can’t serve much purposein chronicling the development of that person’s life to expose all kinds of irrelevancies, merely because they happen to be salacious and good for publicity.’
    Harry nodded thoughtfully. ‘It’s an interesting question, certainly, the nature of truth and its usefulness.
    Briony approached them. ‘I’m sorry to disturb you both, but it’s time for Harry’s medication. I think you should come indoors for a little while, darling.’
    Adam, taking his cue, stood up.
    â€˜I have enjoyed talking to you, Adam,’ said Harry, as he, too, got slowly to his feet. ‘We’ve touched upon a fascinating topic. You must leave your phone number with Briony. I’d like to discuss it with you some more.’
    A fortnight later, Harry invited Adam Downing to lunch. The late-August air was still balmy, and they ate outside on the terrace, just the two of them. Harry told Adam that Briony was in London.
    â€˜A busy girl, my wife. She’d stay down here all the time, if I let her, but I insist she doesn’t let her work drop. She’s in great demand at the moment.’ Adam murmured something that sounded like mild agreement. Harry paused and surveyed Adam’s features with lazy pleasure. ‘So, Adam, tell me all about yourself. Tell me about your family, where you went to school, that kind of thing.’
    â€˜My family? Well, not a great deal to tell there. My mother died when I was quite young. Eight. My father was a good deal older than she was, and he didn’t quite know how to cope with me. So I was sent to boarding school – which I didn’t much mind.’ Adam ran his long fingers repeatedly over the edge of the wrought-iron tableas he talked, his glance not touching Harry’s. ‘My father’s business meant he spent a good deal of time in the States, so more often than not I went to my aunt and uncle in the holidays. My mother’s sister. Very kind people.’ He smiled. ‘I think of them as my real family.’
    â€˜And your father?’
    â€˜My father…’ Although Adam smiled in his customary gentle and deprecating manner, Harry could read the darkness in his eyes. ‘I think my father tried to return to the life he’d led before he married my mother. It was what he knew best. I didn’t really fit in – a small boy, somewhat lost, in need of something he wasn’t sure how to give. I don’t think he was very good with children. That is… I think he was waiting for me to turn into someone he could make sense of – an adult, I suppose. But by the time I did, it was too late. He died when I was in my first year at university. He was in the States at the time. Very sudden.’ Adam frowned, fingers moving back and forth, back and forth on the table’s edge. ‘That was when I found out he’d remarried, about two or three years before. He hadn’t told me. He simply hadn’t told me – or