Turning to Margot he snapped, ‘Did you tell him to be here for one o’clock?’ ‘Yes.’ Anxiously she said, ‘Can you see him?’ Iris sighed. ‘He’s probably staying at home until this rain stops. Lunch can wait a few minutes.’ ‘He’s half an hour late, Iris, half an hour.’ Daniel looked at his watch. ‘Almost forty minutes, now.’ Standing beside her father, Margot looked out at the path leading from the vicarage to the churchyard. Rain bounced off the ground, hammering on the roof of the bay window and running down the glass. ‘Perhaps I should go and look for him.’ ‘You’ll do no such thing!’ Daniel frowned at her. ‘Go out in your condition in weather like this simply because he’s forgotten the time? We’ll eat without him.’ ‘I’m worried, I’ve never known him be late.’ ‘You hardly know him at all. I should imagine this is typical behaviour.’ Her mother laughed sarcastically. ‘Typical.’ ‘I suppose you think this kind of thoughtlessness is acceptable?
