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CHAPTER 1 Aunt Ada

Mr and Mrs Beresford were sitting at the breakfast table They were an ordinary couple Hundreds of elderly couples just like theland at that particular moment It was an ordinary sort of day too, the kind of day that you get five days out of seven It looked as though it ht rain but wasn't quite sure of it

Mr Beresford had once had red hair There were traces of the red still, but rey colour that red-headed people so often arrive at in middle life

Mrs Beresford had once had black hair, a vigorous curling rey laid on, apparently at random It ht of dyeing her hair, but in the end she had decided that she liked herself better as nature had made her She had decided instead to try a new shade of lipstick so as to cheer herself up

An elderly couple having breakfast together A pleasant couple, but nothing remarkable about them So an onlooker would have said If the onlooker had been young he or she would have added, 'Oh yes, quite pleasant, but deadly dull, of course, like all old people'

However, Mx and Mrs Beresford had not yet arrived at the tiht of themselves as old And they had no idea that they and many others were automatically pronounced deadly dull solely on that account Only by the young of course, but then, they would have thought indul-gently, young people knew nothing about life Poor dears, they were alorrying about exa sos to their hair to make them more noticeable Mx and Mrs Beresford from their own point of vieere just past the prime of life They liked themselves and liked each other and day succeeded day in a quiet but enjoyable fashion

There were, of course, lanced through it and laid it down, adding it to the s--Ie picked up the next letter but forbore to open it Instead he stayed with it in his hand He was not looking at the letter, he ras looking at the toast-rack His wife observed hi,

'What's the matter, Tommy?'

'Matter?' said Touely 'Matter?'

'That's what I said,' said Mrs Beresford

'Nothing is the matter,' said Mr Beresford 'What should it be?'

'You've thought of soly

'I don't think I was thinking of anything at: all' 'Oh yes, you were Has anything happened?'

'No, of course not What should happen?' lie added, 'I got the plumber's bill'

'Oh,' said Tuppence with the air of one enlightened 'More than you expected, I suppose'

'Naturally,' said Tommy, 'it always is'

'I can't think e didn't train as plumbers,' said Tuppence 'If you'd only trained as a plu in money day by day'

'Very short-sighted of us not to see these opportunities' 'Was that the plu at just now?' 'Oh no, that was just an Appeal' 'Delinquent boys - Racial integration?'

'No Just another Ho for old people'

'Well, that's more sensible anyway,' said Tuppence, 'but I don't see why you have to have that worried look about it' 'Oh, I wasn't thinking of that' 'Well, ere you thinking of?'

'I suppose it put it into my mind,' said Mr Beresford

'What?' said Tuppence 'You know you'll telliht that perhaps - well, it was Aunt Ada'

'Oh, I see,' said Tuppence, with instant comprehension

'Yes,' she added, softly, meditatively 'Aunt Ada'

Their eyes rettably true that in these days there is in nearly every faht be called an 'Aunt Ada' The names are different - Aunt Arandreat-aunts But they exist and present a problem in life which has to be dealt with

Arrange after the elderly have to be inspected and full questions asked about theht from doctors, from friends, who have Aunt Adas of their oho had been 'perfectly happy until she had died' at 'The Laurels, Bexhill', or 'Happy Meadows at Scarborough'

The days are past when Aunt Elisabeth, Aunt Ada and the rest of them lived on happily in the homes where they had lived for many years previously, looked after by devoted if some-tihly satisfied with the arrangeent nieces, seood hoood meals a day and a nice bedroom Supply and des are different

For the Aunt Adas of today arrangements have to beto arthritis or other rheumatic difficulties, is liable to fall downstairs if she is left alone in a house, or who suffers frohbours and insults the tradespeople

Unfortunately, the Aunt Adas are far e scale Children can be provided with foster homes, foisted offon relations, or sent to suitable schools where they stay for the holidays, or arrangements can be made for pony treks or canaps and on the whole very little objection is ements so made for them of life They liked themselves and liked each other and day succeeded day in a quiet but enjoyable fashion

There were, of course, lanced through it and laid it down, adding it to the small pile by his left hand He picked up the next letter but forbore to open it Instead he stayed with it in his hand He was not looking at the letter, he was looking at the toast-rack His wife observed hi,

'What's the matter, Tommy?'

'Matter?' said Touely 'Matter?'

'That's what I said,' said Mrs Beresford

'Nothing is the matter,' said Mr Beresford 'What should it be?'

'You've thought of soly

'I don't think I was thinking of anything at all' 'Oh yes, you were Has anyfixing happened?'

'No, of course not What should happen?' He added, 'I got the plumber's bill'