In The Name Of Love Read Free Page B

much as you
    and I realise that she is after your job and would do anything to get it. But
    what I fail to understand is why you continue to give her the ammunition to
    continue her attacks."
    "I'm sorry, I don't mean to, but it just seems to happen
    without me realising it."
    "That is not good enough. You have many years before
    retirement, and without your pension, we're going to be in serious trouble.
    Never mind all the publicity it will bring, if it ever gets into the
    newspapers. And bloody Beryl Bainbridge would use all her influence as a town
    councillor to see that it gets published, if she could."
    "There's nothing to publish."
    "What exactly did you do to the girl?"
    He looked around the room as if for help, and shrugging his
    shoulders he said, "I'm accused of putting my hand on her leg, or something."
    "Well, aren't you sure?"
    He just shrugged and looked anxiously at his newspaper, as
    if wondering whether it was politic to continue reading. "I can't even remember
    it, or if indeed it ever happened."
    "Oh, it happened alright. Councillor Bainbridge won't risk
    her reputation on a lie or a fabrication," said Joyce, shaking her head and
    looking at her husband in dismay. She loved him as a companion, but they'd not
    shared a bed for many years, since the still-birth of their son about ten years
    ago, she guessed. She knew he was not chasing young girls for sex, because to
    the best of her knowledge he was now all but impotent. Fondling young women had
    just become a fetish of some kind since his loss of conjugal rights through
    mutual agreement, and it seemed to be a kind of release for him.
    Joyce knew it was time for her to act, and she said, "Give
    me the young woman's name and address."
    She guessed Cyril must have known this question was coming
    some time that evening, because he pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his
    waistcoat pocket and passed it to his wife without a word or even a glance.
    She shook her head, once again amazed at the genius of his
    anticipation compared to the idiocy of his aberrations with women. No wonder he
    was almost unbeatable at chess, he was always many moves ahead of his
    competitor.
    As she slipped on her coat and left the house to walk the
    mile or so to the young woman's home, she half smiled at the way he'd
    anticipated her question, and knew she'd try to get him out of the
    trouble—again. It was the third time in as many years, and she knew that one
    day her luck would run out.
    The walk had cleared her head and enabled her to plan the
    conversation, but she was totally unprepared for what happened when she knocked
    at the door of the young girl's home. The door opened and a tall, leggy girl
    with long brown hair opened it and said, "Hello, you must be Mrs Worthington,
    your husband said you may call. Come in, please."
    She ushered Joyce into the sitting room saying, "Mum and Dad
    are at the Beetle Drive in the Village Hall, so we won't be disturbed."
    Staggered at this further proof of Cyril's anticipation of
    her actions, she said, "I'll get right to the point then, if you don't mind,
    Mary?"
    The girl nodded and seemed quite composed.
    "Did my husband molest you in the office?"
    "Not at all," said Mary in a firm voice.
    This was not the reply Joyce was expecting so she said,
    "Mary, did my husband run his hand up your leg?"
    "Mrs. Worthington, let me explain. You first ask if your
    husband molested me and then if he ran his hand up my leg. Now from almost any
    other man, that would be a serious case of molestation and I would have complained
    most bitterly. But not from your husband."
    "I'm afraid I don't understand."
    "Let me put it this way; at the office we girls in his
    department think of your husband as a big old cuddly bear. Not that there's any
    impropriety, of course, but we just know he means no harm. In fact, most of the
    time he doesn't even seem to know that he's doing it."
    "I see," said Joyce, who didn't see at all, and was quite
    confused.
    "We know