you clever old puss. Or in it, perhaps. Nothing like a soft bed of fresh towels after a hard morning’s ratting.
What have you been doing, Dot?’
‘I’ve been walking around the sun deck with Maggie and Mr Thomas, that’s Mrs West’s maid and Mr Mason’s man,’
responded Dot, getting to her feet.
‘And gathering gossip like the flowers in May?’ asked Phryne. Dot pinkened.
‘They told me you went to Mr Forrester’s cabin,’ said Dot accusingly.
‘Did they? So I did. Only, as it happened, to look at his photographs, and they are very good, Dot dear, nothing in them that would bring a blush to a bishop’s countenance,’ said Phryne, a little severely. ‘And if I decided to engage in a ship-board romance, it would be none of your business, Dorothy.
I sent you to listen to gossip about other people, not about me.
You must know all about me by now,’ she added, stripping off 76
Death by Water-PAGES 21/4/05 2:21 PM Page 77
the cotton dress. ‘I must wash all this salt off. Find me a robe, will you, old thing?’
Dot found her a robe without another comment. Scragger, alerted perhaps by the sub-sonic noises of rodents elsewhere in the superstructure, mewed at the door and she let him out into the corridor. He wound appreciatively around her ankles a couple of times and stalked out.
Phryne emerged from the shower dripping, rubbed herself dry and donned the robe.
‘Well, what news on the Rialto?’ she asked. ‘I’ve got some to swap.’
Dot gave up. Phryne’s morals, as always, were her own.
‘They told me a lot about the other passengers, though they wouldn’t talk about their employers much,’ she informed Phryne. ‘Except Mr Mason’s man says that he’s worried about him. He used to do all these sports, you know, football and mountain climbing and cricket, but since his father made him promise not to be a footballer, he’s just been a fribble—that’s what Thomas calls him. You know, a young man who wastes his time on dancing and ladies and drinking.’
‘Perhaps it’s a tantrum,’ suggested Phryne. ‘An “Oh, very well, Pater, I won’t be a footballer, but I’m dashed well not going to be anything else you want me to be”. Young men are tiresomely prone to demonstrations like that. Is his father likely to be impressed?’
‘Thomas doesn’t think so. He says that old Mr Mason is a formidable character, one of those iron-jawed men, and he’s content to wait his son out.’
‘And meanwhile youth is wasting away.’
‘Something like that,’ agreed Dot.
‘Has the young man any idea of a profession? With all that robust energy and muscle, why isn’t he exploring unknown 77
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reaches of the Amazon and having his picture taken with a lot of grinning headhunters for National Geographic ?’
‘Nice,’ said Dot. ‘I’ll suggest it to Mr Thomas. Though I don’t think he’d like the Amazon. He knows all about wine and was telling us that this ship has the best seagoing cellar since the Titanic . Anyway, they think the attraction is Mrs West.’
‘Aha,’ said Phryne, lying back on her bed and blowing smoke rings at the ceiling. ‘Cherchez la femme, and she is a troublemaking young woman if ever I saw one. Mr Forrester was hinting that she had the power in that partnership.’
‘Well, yes,’ said Dot primly. ‘When he really dotes on her and she just puts up with him, then anything she says goes because he’s so afraid of losing her.’
‘That can backfire,’ commented Phryne, blowing another smoke ring. ‘For a start, being the focus of a strong-minded man’s obsession isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, Dot. If the object is a nice, compassionate person, she will endure and endure until she finally breaks and runs away with the milkman or retreats into a convent. I have known cases, don’t laugh.’
‘And if the object isn’t a nice, compassionate woman?
Because I have to say, Mrs West gives her maid a
What have you been doing, Dot?’
‘I’ve been walking around the sun deck with Maggie and Mr Thomas, that’s Mrs West’s maid and Mr Mason’s man,’
responded Dot, getting to her feet.
‘And gathering gossip like the flowers in May?’ asked Phryne. Dot pinkened.
‘They told me you went to Mr Forrester’s cabin,’ said Dot accusingly.
‘Did they? So I did. Only, as it happened, to look at his photographs, and they are very good, Dot dear, nothing in them that would bring a blush to a bishop’s countenance,’ said Phryne, a little severely. ‘And if I decided to engage in a ship-board romance, it would be none of your business, Dorothy.
I sent you to listen to gossip about other people, not about me.
You must know all about me by now,’ she added, stripping off 76
Death by Water-PAGES 21/4/05 2:21 PM Page 77
the cotton dress. ‘I must wash all this salt off. Find me a robe, will you, old thing?’
Dot found her a robe without another comment. Scragger, alerted perhaps by the sub-sonic noises of rodents elsewhere in the superstructure, mewed at the door and she let him out into the corridor. He wound appreciatively around her ankles a couple of times and stalked out.
Phryne emerged from the shower dripping, rubbed herself dry and donned the robe.
‘Well, what news on the Rialto?’ she asked. ‘I’ve got some to swap.’
Dot gave up. Phryne’s morals, as always, were her own.
‘They told me a lot about the other passengers, though they wouldn’t talk about their employers much,’ she informed Phryne. ‘Except Mr Mason’s man says that he’s worried about him. He used to do all these sports, you know, football and mountain climbing and cricket, but since his father made him promise not to be a footballer, he’s just been a fribble—that’s what Thomas calls him. You know, a young man who wastes his time on dancing and ladies and drinking.’
‘Perhaps it’s a tantrum,’ suggested Phryne. ‘An “Oh, very well, Pater, I won’t be a footballer, but I’m dashed well not going to be anything else you want me to be”. Young men are tiresomely prone to demonstrations like that. Is his father likely to be impressed?’
‘Thomas doesn’t think so. He says that old Mr Mason is a formidable character, one of those iron-jawed men, and he’s content to wait his son out.’
‘And meanwhile youth is wasting away.’
‘Something like that,’ agreed Dot.
‘Has the young man any idea of a profession? With all that robust energy and muscle, why isn’t he exploring unknown 77
Death by Water-PAGES 21/4/05 2:21 PM Page 78
reaches of the Amazon and having his picture taken with a lot of grinning headhunters for National Geographic ?’
‘Nice,’ said Dot. ‘I’ll suggest it to Mr Thomas. Though I don’t think he’d like the Amazon. He knows all about wine and was telling us that this ship has the best seagoing cellar since the Titanic . Anyway, they think the attraction is Mrs West.’
‘Aha,’ said Phryne, lying back on her bed and blowing smoke rings at the ceiling. ‘Cherchez la femme, and she is a troublemaking young woman if ever I saw one. Mr Forrester was hinting that she had the power in that partnership.’
‘Well, yes,’ said Dot primly. ‘When he really dotes on her and she just puts up with him, then anything she says goes because he’s so afraid of losing her.’
‘That can backfire,’ commented Phryne, blowing another smoke ring. ‘For a start, being the focus of a strong-minded man’s obsession isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, Dot. If the object is a nice, compassionate person, she will endure and endure until she finally breaks and runs away with the milkman or retreats into a convent. I have known cases, don’t laugh.’
‘And if the object isn’t a nice, compassionate woman?
Because I have to say, Mrs West gives her maid a
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