later, bang! – two letters arrived by the same post that turned my three-o’clock-in-the-morning fears to true malignant prophecy, and up rose Hetty blotting out with her blasted good looks the Arc de Triomphe, the bridges of the Seine and the gargoyles on Notre Dame. And Cliff House.
Richard had not gone to Edinburgh after all, Molly told me, and so she had stayed up in town with him for ten days. And they had seen Lady Connot every single day and wasn’t she wonderful? And she (Hetty) had told her (Molly) to call her “Hetty.” And every evening they had been to the theatre or dancing or had just gone to Hetty’s and Hetty had sung allevening. Wasn’t that heavenly?
(Yes, indeed, Molly, I remember well, it was
.) And next holidays Rick was going to bring her down to Cliff House. “And Frankie, I do believe Rick’s fallen in love at last. And isn’t she brave, because her husband had only his pension?” And on and on for six heart-sinking pages.
And then a letter from Mother. Mother was still in Victoria but it was plain that she wanted to be at home again. “I shall stay here,” she wrote in her usual galloping way, “till May when Jean will come to me again and we will go to the ranch and help to see Mr. Baker over the summer. He may buy the ranch next year Frankie – I don’t know. I haven’t quite made up my mind. How do you feel about it? But if I do sell it I shall put the little bungalow in order and get it ready for you and me to live in when you come back. At least, I shall live there darling and you shall come and go as you will. Wasn’t it extraordinary, Frankie, that Father and you and I were all there together then that one day, and that Father saw it and looked at those very hills and ate his lunch there and even lay down and slept there? I’m so thankful. I can’t explain but that makes the bungalow into home for me. I shan’t feel a bit strange there dear. Oh Frankie the bungalow reminds me. You remember The Menace? Dear dear what an afternoon! I had tea with Eleanor and a friend of hers from Shanghai, a Mrs. Kennerly-Corbett, and she and Eleanor spoke of a school friend and Eleanor said She married a Frenchman in Shanghai didn’t she, and Mrs. K-C said My Dear Didn’t You Know and Eleanor said No what? And then Mrs. K-C really began. It doesn’t matter telling you because Mrs. K-C would tell anyone with pleasure. And here’s the story as she told it to us.
“Eleanor’s friend and her husband were awfully happy, a sweet couple, and they rode a lot and kept their horses at a riding stable. And then the girl was going to have a baby anddidn’t ride so much and just at that time a most beautiful creature came from goodness knows where and gave lessons at this riding stable. And my dear this young Frenchman went completely mad about her and it appears that he left his wife and the girl lived with him and then dreadful things happened and in the end the wife, Eleanor’s friend, took her own life, she was so unhappy. And then of course the husband was distracted but the girl calmly left him and went away without any warning on one of the
Empress
boats with a rich oil man. She was a most extraordinary girl, Mrs. K-C said, because some people knew her and said that simply if a situation wasn’t pleasant she just walked out on it wherever she was and nothing and nobody else disturbed her – their feelings I mean. And Mrs. K-C said how lovely she was to look at and with an angel face and a selfish monster and suddenly I thought, Mrs. Dorval! And then Mrs. K-C said to me Oh don’t you come from the Upper Country? We heard that she didn’t go with this man to California at all but that he set her up somewhere in British Columbia where the riding was good and then for some reason she up and left him. So I said Yes that must be Mrs. Dorval. But she said she didn’t think Dorval was the name but it must have been the same because I described her. I told her that as far as I knew she was
Richard had not gone to Edinburgh after all, Molly told me, and so she had stayed up in town with him for ten days. And they had seen Lady Connot every single day and wasn’t she wonderful? And she (Hetty) had told her (Molly) to call her “Hetty.” And every evening they had been to the theatre or dancing or had just gone to Hetty’s and Hetty had sung allevening. Wasn’t that heavenly?
(Yes, indeed, Molly, I remember well, it was
.) And next holidays Rick was going to bring her down to Cliff House. “And Frankie, I do believe Rick’s fallen in love at last. And isn’t she brave, because her husband had only his pension?” And on and on for six heart-sinking pages.
And then a letter from Mother. Mother was still in Victoria but it was plain that she wanted to be at home again. “I shall stay here,” she wrote in her usual galloping way, “till May when Jean will come to me again and we will go to the ranch and help to see Mr. Baker over the summer. He may buy the ranch next year Frankie – I don’t know. I haven’t quite made up my mind. How do you feel about it? But if I do sell it I shall put the little bungalow in order and get it ready for you and me to live in when you come back. At least, I shall live there darling and you shall come and go as you will. Wasn’t it extraordinary, Frankie, that Father and you and I were all there together then that one day, and that Father saw it and looked at those very hills and ate his lunch there and even lay down and slept there? I’m so thankful. I can’t explain but that makes the bungalow into home for me. I shan’t feel a bit strange there dear. Oh Frankie the bungalow reminds me. You remember The Menace? Dear dear what an afternoon! I had tea with Eleanor and a friend of hers from Shanghai, a Mrs. Kennerly-Corbett, and she and Eleanor spoke of a school friend and Eleanor said She married a Frenchman in Shanghai didn’t she, and Mrs. K-C said My Dear Didn’t You Know and Eleanor said No what? And then Mrs. K-C really began. It doesn’t matter telling you because Mrs. K-C would tell anyone with pleasure. And here’s the story as she told it to us.
“Eleanor’s friend and her husband were awfully happy, a sweet couple, and they rode a lot and kept their horses at a riding stable. And then the girl was going to have a baby anddidn’t ride so much and just at that time a most beautiful creature came from goodness knows where and gave lessons at this riding stable. And my dear this young Frenchman went completely mad about her and it appears that he left his wife and the girl lived with him and then dreadful things happened and in the end the wife, Eleanor’s friend, took her own life, she was so unhappy. And then of course the husband was distracted but the girl calmly left him and went away without any warning on one of the
Empress
boats with a rich oil man. She was a most extraordinary girl, Mrs. K-C said, because some people knew her and said that simply if a situation wasn’t pleasant she just walked out on it wherever she was and nothing and nobody else disturbed her – their feelings I mean. And Mrs. K-C said how lovely she was to look at and with an angel face and a selfish monster and suddenly I thought, Mrs. Dorval! And then Mrs. K-C said to me Oh don’t you come from the Upper Country? We heard that she didn’t go with this man to California at all but that he set her up somewhere in British Columbia where the riding was good and then for some reason she up and left him. So I said Yes that must be Mrs. Dorval. But she said she didn’t think Dorval was the name but it must have been the same because I described her. I told her that as far as I knew she was
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