Distantly, above the noise of his breathing and hers, she heard a door open.
She was so absorbed in her feelings and Hugh's body that the sound failed to alarm her.
Suddenly a harsh voice shattered the mood like a stone through a window. "Well, well, Hugh--what's all this?"
Maisie froze.
Hugh gave a despairing groan, and she felt his seed spurt warm inside her.
She wanted to cry.
The sneering voice came again. "What do you think this house is, a brothel?"
Maisie whispered: "Hugh--get off me."
He withdrew from her and rolled off the bed. She saw his cousin Edward standing in the doorway, smoking a cigar and staring at them intently. Hugh quickly covered her with a big towel. She sat upright and pulled it up to her neck.
Edward grinned nastily. "Well, if you've finished I might give her a go."
Hugh wrapped a towel around his waist. Controlling his anger with a visible effort, he said: "You're drunk, Edward--go to your room before you say something completely unforgivable."
Edward ignored him and approached the bed. "Why, it's Solly Greenbourne's dollymop! But I won't tell him--so long as you're nice to me."
Maisie saw that he was in earnest, and she shuddered with loathing. She knew that some men were inflamed by a woman who had just been with another man--April had told her the slang term for a woman in that state, a buttered bun--and she knew intuitively that Edward was such a man.
Hugh was enraged. "Get out of here, you damn fool," he said.
"Be a sport," Edward persisted. "After all, she's only a damn whore." With that he reached down and snatched away Maisie's towel.
She jumped off the bed from the other side, covering herself with her arms; but there was no need. Hugh took two strides across the little room and hit Edward a mighty punch on the nose. Blood spurted and Edward let out a roar of agony.
Edward was rendered harmless instantly, but Hugh was still angry, and he hit him again.
Edward screamed in fear and pain and blundered to the door. Hugh went after him, throwing punches at the back of his head. Edward began to yell: "Leave me alone, stop it, please!" He fell through the doorway.
Maisie followed them out. Edward was stretched out on the floor and Hugh was sitting on top of him, still hitting him. She cried: "Hugh, stop, you'll kill him!" She tried to grab Hugh's arms, but he was in a fury and it was hard to restrain him.
