，~ L APRES-MIDI<br >The first thing he noticed about her was her whiteness; she<br >was a very white girl， as white in the face as the snowberries<br >which grew under the elms at the foot of the Vicarage drive， and<br >the skin of her delicate arms and legs was so pure in its pallor that<br >it was ahnost indistinguishable from the tennis frock she was<br >wearing.<br > Looking at her as she moved， or seemed casually to dance<br >amongst the others in front of the summer house， he was aware of<br >a renewal of the sense of isolation which had held them both，<br >Melanie and himself， when Simpson waved them a }aunty good-<br >bye from the car before dusting away down tile Clockwood drive<br >to return to the Vicaragc.<br > It was always like this to begin with; parties filled them both<br > with an angry pride， making them stand away together in place<br > and in mood so that they could touch one another s hands care-<br > lesstv， whisper small bitter confidences together without being<br > overheard， and jointly challenge any attempts on the part of<br > grownups to make them mix scparately with the other guests.<br > Later， if things went well， if thev found someone they liked or<br > who liked them， they might disclose a little and let the others<br > come between them for a time; but fundamentally they were<br > united， thinking the same sort of thoughts， feeling at once superior<br > to all the others however rich they might be， and vet distinctly<br > and annoyingly inferior because the)， were from the Vicarage<br > and the car was only a Ford and Simpson s familiarity was as dis-<br > graceful as his second-best uniform.<br > 3<br >