'There's a company reviving the Gilbert and Sullivan operas at the Comedie des Champs filysees,' said Stephen. T found it in the Paris "Herald." To-night they're playing "The Mikado.'"
The twins' jumps had accelerated into a spirited game of tag. They were chasing Robin Redbreast around the Empire sofa. Stephen, King Arthur stories in hand, had risen to his feet. He was looking indulgently at his grandchildren and humming a little tune. He did not know the words, of course.
Stephen never knew the words of anything! But Jane knew them. She walked over to Stephen and put her arm through his.
Robin Redbreast had collided with the centre table. He promptly fell down, and little Jane fell over him and John Ward triumphantly tagged her on an uplifted ankle. Stephen was still looking indulgently at his grandchildren and he was still humming his tune. The grimness, Jane realized suddenly, had quite faded from his face. Jane's eyes returned to the tv/ins and Robin Redbreast. The unspoken words of Stephen's tune were ringing in her ears:
* Everything is a source of fun, Nobody's safe, for we care for none. Life is a joke that's just begun *
When you looked at a child, Jane reflected solemnly, you could never believe that it would grow up to disappoint you-
THE SND
Years of Grace Page 53