If there was one thing the Farthing Peace had settled once and for all it was that the Continent was its own lookout. Why should I care what Hitler—or Pip for that matter—was doing to the Jews of Europe, even if I believed it? In fact, as I’d said to Siddy, I knew it was vastly exaggerated.At last he shook his head and looked at me. “Your upbringing was eccentric, to say the least, and I always felt sorry for you Larkin girls.”I drew myself up, not about to take that kind of thing.“No, listen,” he said, and because he was Malcolm and Uncle Phil’s companion and I’d always known him, I did listen. “If you’d been an ordinary family your parents would have been up in court for neglect, the way they let you grow wild. You’ve tried hard since to be something real, in the theater, I respect that. But your roots are in shallow soil, like all of your sisters. There’s no use saying you’ll always be a Larkin, as Phil does. I’m asking you not to be a Larkin but for once to be a decent human being and do the decent thing.
