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"Look at me!" he said.
She looked up at him through a blur of tears.
"So you are telling me you have committed the sin of fornication. "
"I'm sorry, Da. "
"Who with?" he shouted.
"A valet. "
"What's his name?"
"Teddy. " It came out before she could think.
"Teddy what?"
"It doesn't matter. "
"Doesn't matter? What on earth do you mean?"
"He came to the house on a visit with his master. By the time I found out my condition, he'd gone in the army. I've lost touch with him. "
"On a visit? Lost touch?" Da's voice rose to an enraged roar. "You mean you're not even engaged to him? You committed this sin. . . " He spluttered, hardly able to get the disgusting words out. "You committed this foul sin casually?"
Mam said: "Don't get angry, now, Da. "
"Don't get angry? When else should a man get angry?"
Gramper tried to calm him. "Take it easy, now, Dai boy. It does no good to shout. "
"I'm sorry to have to remind you, Gramper, that this is my house, and I will be the judge of what does no good. "
"Aye, all right," said Gramper pacifically. "Have it your way. "
Mam was not ready to give in. "Don't say anything you might regret, now, Da. "
These attempts to calm Da's wrath were only making him angrier. "I will not be ruled by women or old men!" he shouted. He pointed his finger at Ethel. "And I will not have a fornicator in my house! Get out!"
Mam began to cry. "No, please don't say that!"
"Out!" he shouted. "And never come back!"
Mam said: "But your grandchild!"
Billy spoke. "Will you be ruled by the Word of God, Da? Jesus said: 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. ' Gospel of Luke, chapter five, verse thirty-two. "
Da rounded on him. "Let me tell you something, you ignorant boy. My grandparents were never married. No one knows who my grandfather was. My grandmother sank as low as a woman can go. "
Mam gasped. Ethel was shocked, and she could see that Billy was flabbergasted. Gramper seemed as if he already knew.
"Oh, yes," Da said, lowering his voice. "My father was brought up in a house of ill fame, if you know what that is; a place where sailors went, down the docks in Cardiff. Then one day, when his mother was in a drunken stupor, God led his childish footsteps into a chapel Sunday school, where he met Jesus. In the same place he learned to read and write and, eventually, to bring up his own children in the paths of righteousness. "
Mam said softly: "You never told me this, David. " She seldom called him by his Christian name.
"I hoped never to think of it again. " Da's face was twisted into a mask of shame and rage. He leaned on the table and stared Ethel in the eye, and his voice sank to a whisper. "When I courted your mother, we held hands, and I kissed her cheek every evening until the wedding day. " He banged his fist on the table, making the cups shake. "By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, my family dragged itself up out of the stinking gutter. " His voice rose again to a shout. "We are not going back there! Never! Never! Never!"
There was a long moment of stunned silence.
