can ask you for help, and if need be I can speak to Justin and John Lovell. Meanwhile, I live in hope that she will come to her senses.'
She gave a sudden shiver.
'You are getting cold,' said Charles anxiously. 'The wind is quite chilly. I think you should go back, and I will come with you to the door.'
'No, no, indeed! It is only a few steps, and I shall hurry back. But I wanted to tell you how things are. No better really for Bertha, but much more settled for me.'
'Call on me if ever you are worried,' replied Charles, and watched her scurry back to her home.
Later that evening he told Dimity about his visit to the Lovelocks' establishment.
'You are not still worrying about Bertha's little weakness?' said his wife. 'It is general knowledge, you know, and most people are very understanding about it.'
'I hadn't quite realized,' replied Charles, somewhat taken aback, 'that the Lovelocks' affairs were generally known.'
'Good heavens, Charles,' cried Dimity, 'you've lived in Lulling long enough to know how news gets about! All that I bother about is seeing you so worried. I suppose poor Violet has been unburdening herself to you!'
'I'm truly sorry I've been a worry to you,' said Charles. 'I should have realized that you are ever-watchful. But I really think that things will be easier now in that unhappy household.'
He told her a little of Violet's attitude, and of her reaction to Bertha's strange ways.
'It certainly sounds more hopeful,' said Dimity, folding up her sewing in preparation for bed time. 'Now I shall get a hot drink. You look tired and cold, as well you might with the Lovelocks' burdens upon you.'
She kissed the top of his shiny bald head as she passed his chair on the way to the vicarage kitchen, and wondered if his parishioners really knew how completely he lived for them.
8. Term Begins
GLADYS Lilly had performed her cleaning task at the school house with exceptional zeal and speed, and Thrush Green was pleased to see a large removal van draw up at the Lesters' gate one morning.
'They've got a lovely sofa,' Jenny told Winnie Bailey as they made the beds together. She was standing at the window, plumping up a pillow as she gazed across the green. 'Like my old folks had, only their springs had gone. And I wonder what's in them crates?'
'Jenny, do come on! I've left the gammon boiling, and it will be all over the stove.'
Jenny wrenched her attention from the Lesters' affairs, and returned to the bed-making reluctantly.
'I wonder what they'll find missing at the end of the day,' she remarked, as she tucked in sheets in an efficient hospital corners' way. 'It's usually something small like the tea strainer, or the washing-up brush.'
'Bound to be something vital,' agreed Winnie.
Of course the rest of Thrush Green was equally enthralled by the Lesters' arrival. Joan Young and her husband Edward reminded each other of the upheaval they had experienced when settling Joan's parents into their new abode.
Muriel Fuller, sorting out material with Ella Bembridge, told her of the horrors she had endured when it came to packing up her old school's property, and her own personal belongings as well.
'It's not so much what you want to keep,' she said, 'as what you simply have to throw away. I nearly had a nervous breakdown. Doctor Lovell was so understanding. He said I'd been living with my nerves for years.'
'You wouldn't be much use without them,' said Ella bluntly, and Muriel withdrew into affronted silence.
Isobel Shoosmith, the soul of hospitality, would have liked to ask the Lesters for morning coffee, but in view of Harold's earlier remarks about doing too much for their new neighbours decided to leave any invitations until later in the day. It was possible, she thought, that Harold himself might make overtures over the hedge.
But the most concentrated attention came from Albert Piggott who had taken up a strategic position in the churchyard. Ostensibly, he was weeding round the edges of the plot,
She gave a sudden shiver.
'You are getting cold,' said Charles anxiously. 'The wind is quite chilly. I think you should go back, and I will come with you to the door.'
'No, no, indeed! It is only a few steps, and I shall hurry back. But I wanted to tell you how things are. No better really for Bertha, but much more settled for me.'
'Call on me if ever you are worried,' replied Charles, and watched her scurry back to her home.
Later that evening he told Dimity about his visit to the Lovelocks' establishment.
'You are not still worrying about Bertha's little weakness?' said his wife. 'It is general knowledge, you know, and most people are very understanding about it.'
'I hadn't quite realized,' replied Charles, somewhat taken aback, 'that the Lovelocks' affairs were generally known.'
'Good heavens, Charles,' cried Dimity, 'you've lived in Lulling long enough to know how news gets about! All that I bother about is seeing you so worried. I suppose poor Violet has been unburdening herself to you!'
'I'm truly sorry I've been a worry to you,' said Charles. 'I should have realized that you are ever-watchful. But I really think that things will be easier now in that unhappy household.'
He told her a little of Violet's attitude, and of her reaction to Bertha's strange ways.
'It certainly sounds more hopeful,' said Dimity, folding up her sewing in preparation for bed time. 'Now I shall get a hot drink. You look tired and cold, as well you might with the Lovelocks' burdens upon you.'
She kissed the top of his shiny bald head as she passed his chair on the way to the vicarage kitchen, and wondered if his parishioners really knew how completely he lived for them.
8. Term Begins
GLADYS Lilly had performed her cleaning task at the school house with exceptional zeal and speed, and Thrush Green was pleased to see a large removal van draw up at the Lesters' gate one morning.
'They've got a lovely sofa,' Jenny told Winnie Bailey as they made the beds together. She was standing at the window, plumping up a pillow as she gazed across the green. 'Like my old folks had, only their springs had gone. And I wonder what's in them crates?'
'Jenny, do come on! I've left the gammon boiling, and it will be all over the stove.'
Jenny wrenched her attention from the Lesters' affairs, and returned to the bed-making reluctantly.
'I wonder what they'll find missing at the end of the day,' she remarked, as she tucked in sheets in an efficient hospital corners' way. 'It's usually something small like the tea strainer, or the washing-up brush.'
'Bound to be something vital,' agreed Winnie.
Of course the rest of Thrush Green was equally enthralled by the Lesters' arrival. Joan Young and her husband Edward reminded each other of the upheaval they had experienced when settling Joan's parents into their new abode.
Muriel Fuller, sorting out material with Ella Bembridge, told her of the horrors she had endured when it came to packing up her old school's property, and her own personal belongings as well.
'It's not so much what you want to keep,' she said, 'as what you simply have to throw away. I nearly had a nervous breakdown. Doctor Lovell was so understanding. He said I'd been living with my nerves for years.'
'You wouldn't be much use without them,' said Ella bluntly, and Muriel withdrew into affronted silence.
Isobel Shoosmith, the soul of hospitality, would have liked to ask the Lesters for morning coffee, but in view of Harold's earlier remarks about doing too much for their new neighbours decided to leave any invitations until later in the day. It was possible, she thought, that Harold himself might make overtures over the hedge.
But the most concentrated attention came from Albert Piggott who had taken up a strategic position in the churchyard. Ostensibly, he was weeding round the edges of the plot,
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