The four boys, charging suddenly out of the summer house, broke ruthlessly upon these reflections and almost knocked her down. She set about getting them served. Hateful things, brothers, she thought as she watched them snatching the food which had taken her so long to prepare and gulping it down so as to make sure of a second helping. Food, food, food. It was endless. So many mouths to fill. In the evenings Pa, Hank, Anna and Krista added to the number. Krista helped to prepare it, certainly, but Anna considered that paying a share towards the household expenses more than justified her having her meals set before her. She would not lift a finger to help Katie unless Moe or Pa ordered her to do so.
Most of the food had disappeared before Katie realized that her youngest brother Franz Joseph was missing. He was a fat sturdy sloe-eyed rascal of four who attended the convent kindergarten next to the church by the river. He had a constant habit of straying, as some dogs have. The villagers were accustomed to hearing strident cries of “Franz Joseph! Franz Joseph!” from early morning until dusk fell.
“Where’s Franz Joseph?” she asked sharply. “Didn’t you fetch him from the kindergarten, Robert?”
The child had apparently come home as usual and then disappeared again. Katie was furious that no one had remembered to keep an eye on the wanderer.
“Go and call him!” she ordered. “He’s probably miles away by this time.”
No one moved except Robert. Ever sweet and docile, he went off, sausage in hand, and in between bites howled out his brother’s name much as the mongrel dog Lumpi howled when tied up and left alone to guard the house. Katie went and listened at the door of the lodger’s room. There was complete silence. She supposed they were asleep.
A Furrowed Middlebrow Book
FM5
Published by Dean Street Press 2016
Copyright © 1954 Frances Faviell
Afterword copyright © 2016 John Parker
All Rights Reserved
The right of Frances Faviell to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her estate in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 1954 by Rupert Hart-Davis
Cover by DSP
Cover painting, frontispiece drawing of Lilli Altmann, and sketches all by Frances Faviell
ISBN 978 1 911413 80 6
www.deanstreetpress.co.uk
The Dancing Bear Page 25