only time I see Prothero, apart from breakfast.’
‘You get tired, I expect. The sea-air is very exhausting.’
‘Not really. Almost the reverse, darling. My brain is overactive, Gregory says. He must be right, because I can’t sleep without the preparation he gives me. Isn’t it convenient being married to a doctor?’
‘He gives you a sleeping-draught?’
‘Something like that. Oh look! There’s Guy going down to the water. I wonder if he’ll look round and wave. He likes to be noticed. They do at his age. Have you seen him with his tin of snuff? For all the world like a man of forty.’
‘Do you take this potion every night, Ma’am?’
‘Without fail, darling, ever since the trouble I mentioned. You see, since then I get into a nervous state about nothing at all. Simply sitting in a room with Prothero and Guy is enough to start my hands shaking. Isn’t it ridiculous? There he goes, straight in, without hesitating. That boy loves the water. Oh God! The button’s come off my jacket. It’s all right. I can sew it on again. Nothing to be concerned about.’
‘So you take the potion to alleviate your nervous manifestations?’
‘Exactly, darling. It’s miraculous. I lose consciousness in no time at all. Prothero usually suggests I take it immediately after dinner. By eight I’m insensible. I swear that sometimes I’m asleep before Jason! You don’t think it’s dangerous, do you?’
Moscrop looked across the beach, evading the question. ‘Your stepson is certainly a strong swimmer. How do you feel when you wake up?’
‘Like a print gown after five washings, darling. It takes half-a-dozen sniffs at my sal volatile to make me believe I’m alive.’
‘What kind of sleeping draught is it?’
Her eyes opened wide, like a child’s. ‘That’s what bothers me, my dear. I don’t know. Prothero doesn’t tell me, and I don’t like to enquire. I believe he prepares it from white crystals that he keeps in a jar, but I’ve never enquired too closely what they are. I shouldn’t want him to think I don’t trust him.’
‘Perhaps someone else could help.’
‘Darling, I’d quite forgotten that you were a medical man. But how charming! It will so relieve my mind.’
What had he volunteered for? ‘Medicine isn’t quite my field, Ma’am. Optics, you understand.’
‘But of course you know about these things! How marvellous of you to go to so much trouble.’
‘I dare say that if you could obtain a small sample of the solution I could get it analysed somewhere in the town,’ he conceded. ‘Though I’m sure your husband can be depended upon.’
‘So am I, Mr. Moscrop, so am I. But if your chemist found that the medicine were a trifle strong, perhaps I could prepare a weaker solution without offending Prothero. It’s just a little unnerving being insensible for thirteen hours at a time, you understand.’
‘Quite so, Ma’am. When would you be able to obtain this sample for me? It would have to be done unobtrusively, would it not?’
‘Darling, you’re so perspicacious! If you came to the croquet lawn at the Albemarle at two this afternoon, I could leave Bridget dressing Jason. Prothero will be in the billiards-room with Guy. How droll—we shall feel like two conspirators!’
CHAPTER
8
THE HEROES OF TEL-EL-KEBIR marched down the Grand Parade in ranks of eight to the tune of Slap Bang, Here We Are Again and all Brighton lined the pavements to welcome them. The war in Egypt had been a daily topic of conversation for months past, quite as compelling as the scares about the town’s drainage system. The local newspapers carried long dispatches from Cairo, and in the aquarium entrance hall a huge canvas map of the seat of war was mounted among the weighing-machines, with flags to indicate the latest positions of the English and Egyptian armies. When the return of the Royal Irish was announced, a full civic reception was arranged at once, but the spontaneous tribute of almost the
‘You get tired, I expect. The sea-air is very exhausting.’
‘Not really. Almost the reverse, darling. My brain is overactive, Gregory says. He must be right, because I can’t sleep without the preparation he gives me. Isn’t it convenient being married to a doctor?’
‘He gives you a sleeping-draught?’
‘Something like that. Oh look! There’s Guy going down to the water. I wonder if he’ll look round and wave. He likes to be noticed. They do at his age. Have you seen him with his tin of snuff? For all the world like a man of forty.’
‘Do you take this potion every night, Ma’am?’
‘Without fail, darling, ever since the trouble I mentioned. You see, since then I get into a nervous state about nothing at all. Simply sitting in a room with Prothero and Guy is enough to start my hands shaking. Isn’t it ridiculous? There he goes, straight in, without hesitating. That boy loves the water. Oh God! The button’s come off my jacket. It’s all right. I can sew it on again. Nothing to be concerned about.’
‘So you take the potion to alleviate your nervous manifestations?’
‘Exactly, darling. It’s miraculous. I lose consciousness in no time at all. Prothero usually suggests I take it immediately after dinner. By eight I’m insensible. I swear that sometimes I’m asleep before Jason! You don’t think it’s dangerous, do you?’
Moscrop looked across the beach, evading the question. ‘Your stepson is certainly a strong swimmer. How do you feel when you wake up?’
‘Like a print gown after five washings, darling. It takes half-a-dozen sniffs at my sal volatile to make me believe I’m alive.’
‘What kind of sleeping draught is it?’
Her eyes opened wide, like a child’s. ‘That’s what bothers me, my dear. I don’t know. Prothero doesn’t tell me, and I don’t like to enquire. I believe he prepares it from white crystals that he keeps in a jar, but I’ve never enquired too closely what they are. I shouldn’t want him to think I don’t trust him.’
‘Perhaps someone else could help.’
‘Darling, I’d quite forgotten that you were a medical man. But how charming! It will so relieve my mind.’
What had he volunteered for? ‘Medicine isn’t quite my field, Ma’am. Optics, you understand.’
‘But of course you know about these things! How marvellous of you to go to so much trouble.’
‘I dare say that if you could obtain a small sample of the solution I could get it analysed somewhere in the town,’ he conceded. ‘Though I’m sure your husband can be depended upon.’
‘So am I, Mr. Moscrop, so am I. But if your chemist found that the medicine were a trifle strong, perhaps I could prepare a weaker solution without offending Prothero. It’s just a little unnerving being insensible for thirteen hours at a time, you understand.’
‘Quite so, Ma’am. When would you be able to obtain this sample for me? It would have to be done unobtrusively, would it not?’
‘Darling, you’re so perspicacious! If you came to the croquet lawn at the Albemarle at two this afternoon, I could leave Bridget dressing Jason. Prothero will be in the billiards-room with Guy. How droll—we shall feel like two conspirators!’
CHAPTER
8
THE HEROES OF TEL-EL-KEBIR marched down the Grand Parade in ranks of eight to the tune of Slap Bang, Here We Are Again and all Brighton lined the pavements to welcome them. The war in Egypt had been a daily topic of conversation for months past, quite as compelling as the scares about the town’s drainage system. The local newspapers carried long dispatches from Cairo, and in the aquarium entrance hall a huge canvas map of the seat of war was mounted among the weighing-machines, with flags to indicate the latest positions of the English and Egyptian armies. When the return of the Royal Irish was announced, a full civic reception was arranged at once, but the spontaneous tribute of almost the
Similar Books
