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their being all girls was evidence of his feebleness, for she was formidably female herself.
    â€˜My mother laughs at everyone.’
    It was then that he realised Meg had been over-sanguine in thinking it was too late in the day for midges. Some night brigades were about. Meg was not yet aware of them, though from the nature of her dress she should have been more accessible. Suddenly he was itching all over.
    They hurried back to the hotel.
    Meg went off to see the children were safely asleep. She found Diana still awake.
    They whispered.
    â€˜Mama, is Papa going to buy that old house?’
    â€˜He hasn’t decided yet. He has to see Mr Patterson the lawyer first.’
    â€˜I’ve been thinking about it. I think he should.’
    â€˜Do you, my pet?’
    â€˜Yes. The twins and Rowena think we should go to Spain because they’ve been learning Spanish, but I think we would be safer in that house.’
    â€˜Safer? What is going to harm us?’
    â€˜I don’t know. I don’t believe what Papa said about the rowan tree protecting the house – well, I don’t think I believe it – but I did feel safe there, even if I was afraid all the time that the floor was going to collapse under us. Does that sound stupid?’
    â€˜I think I know what you mean, darling. Once the house has been restored it will be very safe and we shall all be veryhappy there, I am sure. Except that the dampness might be harmful to your father’s chest.’
    â€˜Is there anything wrong with Papa’s chest?’ Sleepy though she was Diana managed to sound sceptical. She was indeed very like her grandmother.
    â€˜You must have heard him coughing.’
    â€˜We think he does it when he wants us to pay him attention.’
    Yes, sometimes poor Edward, the only male in the family, felt left out. With God’s help that state of affairs would not last much longer.
    â€˜Goodnight darling.’
    With difficulty she refrained from rushing out of the room. It occurred to her that Edward might have fallen asleep.
    She found him wide awake and naked, applying lotion to midge bites. One, in a very tender place, itched abominably.
    â€˜Let me, my love.’ Kneeling, she dabbed with delicacy.
    Later they made love. No contraceptive device was used. Her love for her husband, she thought, would never have been fully expressed until she had given him a son. Often, at the outset, he would remind her fondly that if she did get pregnant again it might be another girl. That consideration, it had seemed to her, had caused him not to try as hard as he might. But not tonight. To her joy he performed with frantic zeal. Who was to say that it did not pass through her mind that she owed it to a midge? Conceptions could result from brief and cursory copulations. Therefore this love-making, fervent and thorough, was bound to be rewarded with the gift of a son. She was not aware of how many times she thanked him. It was four.

Four
    N EXT MORNING instead of blue skies and sunshine there were dark clouds and pouring rain. Undaunted the girls in their hats, oilskins, and Wellingtons, all pillar-box red, went off to feed swans in the harbour, with rolls bought in the baker’s. From the hotel Papa telephoned Mr Patterson and arranged an appointment at eleven.
    The girls could not be persuaded to stay with the swans.
    They insisted on accompanying him. Effie reminded him it had been voted on. Besides, said Jeanie, they had a right to have a say in where they lived. Other fathers would have told them not to be impertinent. Papa meekly acknowledged the justice of their claim.
    Since it wasn’t far, they walked. Papa and Mama shared an umbrella.
    They had to stop and let Rebecca look at some small dolls dressed as Highland dancers, in a shop window. She wanted to add one to her collection.
    Papa could not help saying, ‘Made in Hong Kong, I’m afraid.’
    â€˜We ought to buy half a dozen then,’