Vera's tears

‘Why I left with tears in my eyes? I don’t think I was crying,’ she lied. She paused to consider, then said, 'Your dad can guess. Ask him.'

'I have, and he said, ‘another time.’'

'Another time it is then. Next question.'

I looked intently down the newly raked sand path, between the roses, toward a beautifully overgrown wall at the perimeter of the rose garden. Should I argue? No point. If she and my dad don’t want to talk about it now, then I should leave it. Next question it is.

'You didn’t ride out on Friday with the hunt, presumably because you had sold your field hunter. Why would you do that?'

'It was a very valuable horse - I needed to raise some quick capital and I knew the company bank wouldn’t help.'

'Come on, Vera. That’s only confounded the riddle. The most that nag could have fetched is a couple of grand and you have that as pin money.'

She peered at me over her reading glasses, which she always wore when eating. I