The Seduction

 Belle comes in with the bottle. 

She is in the process of screwing on the lid.

Iris! says Belle. You're our winner?

Yes, says Iris Murdoch. I am. That's not my prize is it?

Well, yes, says Belle. I was just...

Yes? says Iris Murdoch.

Belle looks at Vello.

Refilling it, says Vello. At my request. I confess that I drank it, in a moment of stress during the Tour.

You old devil, says Iris Murdoch. Did you think I wouldn't notice?

How could you have noticed? says Vello. One set of bathwater looks much like another.

I doubt Belle was having a bath in your office kitchen, says Iris Murdoch. 

That's true, says Belle. It's just tap water, but the bottle hasn't been washed since papa drank the bathwater.

Homeopathy, says Iris Murdoch. I know all about that.

You are a knowledgeable woman, says Vello. 

Thank you, says Iris Murdoch. I must say I enjoyed Gaius's article about the orange bellied parrots, and the video made me laugh. Especially when I reaised that you must have come up with the hidden bicycle competition solely in order to have a bicycle in it.

You know me, says Vello. Inventive.

Of course, says Iris Murdoch. Tell me, are you putting Candide on again this year?

Thinking about it, says Vello. How did you know?

Because we always do it, says David.

A different bit though, says Belle.

Which bit are you doing? asks Iris Murdoch.

You choose, says Vello, taking his yellowed copy of Candide from the shelf. Take a random stab, anywhere, and we'll do it.

Iris likes this idea. 

She opens the book at random. Page 105. After supper the Marchioness took Candide to her private room and led him to a couch...

This one, says Iris Murdoch. The seduction. 

The seduction it is, says Vello. 

Steady on, says David. 

Come on, says Iris Murcoch, Vello said he would do it. 

What fun! says Belle. I'll play the Marchioness. With her garter. 

Who's playing  Candide? asks Iris Murdoch.

Sweezus, says Vello.

Maybe not though, says Belle.

I'd love to play Candide, says Iris Murdoch. If Sweezus doesn't.

But you're a woman! says Vello.

Come on papa, says Belle. What's the problem?

Yes, what's the problem? asks Iris Murdoch, shaking her bottle of diluted bathwater at Vello.