Outbreak of Love by Martin Boyd

who were not the descendants of her uncle Walter, whom her father had dubbed the Enemy. I did not know that she had extended the application of this word to include all girls and even young men of my generation, who might deprive her of my company. The twins therefore were doubly inimical.
    â€œYou spent the whole evening with them and you’ve learnt your lesson.”
    â€œBut I haven’t,” I protested. She was much too upset to be restored to reason by a breezy manner.
    â€œNow you’re being rude,” she said.
    â€œI’m sorry. But I don’t see that it’s rude to say that I won’t stop knowing the only girls that I do know, except Josie, who’s like a sister.” This was turning the sword in Mildy’s wound.
    â€œI’m sorry you don’t find it entertaining here, but doubtless you can find somewhere more amusing. You might live with the twins.”
    â€œActually they did ask me tonight,” I said hotly, but added with honest weakness, “though I don’t think they meant it.”
    Mildy was in that neurotic state when her sensitivity responded only to the stings and ignored the assuagement.
    â€œYou’d better go then,” she said in a trembling voice. “I’ve tried to make you comfortable, but apparently I’m not rich or smart enough. You want someone who can drive you home in a horse cab.”
    I was horrified at the implication of ingratitude, and also at the idea of leaving Mildy’s house as the result of a quarrel, not only because my father would be annoyed, but because I was dimly aware that there was something ridiculous in sharing an emotional quarrel with my aunt, and that the twins would be very funny about it.
    â€œYou’ve made me wonderfully comfortable,” I said. “I thought you wanted me to enjoy myself.”
    â€œSo I do, but in a sensible way.”
    â€œWhat have I done that’s not sensible?”
    She searched round for something other than not spending the whole evening between herself and Miss Bath. “You shut your eyes and put on an affected artistic manner when Wolfie was playing that horrible music.”
    With her inverted reasoning, she did not understand that the last way to endear herself to a young man was to expose his adolescent absurdities.
    â€œI’d better go to bed,” I said in a subdued voice. Mildy took this as an acceptance of her rebuke, and proferred her cheek, barely concealing the queenliness of the great courtesan of her fantasy, under the modest demeanour of an aunt, receiving the dutiful kiss of a nephew.
    Afterwards she referred to this as “that horrid evening when we quarrelled”.
    Although during my conversation with Mildy the visions, illuminated in my mind as I stepped from the Government House car, flickered and grew dim, becoming utterly black at the moment of our kiss, as I lay awake soothed by the luxury of the bed which she had bought for me, they began to glow again, and I saw before me brilliant routes into experience. As we have noted, the illuminations of young people, though dazzling, follow each other in quick succession, and are more in the nature of hallucinations. To older people they are more serious, and Diana felt that in some way the party had shown her the journey in life that she wished to make, but for which she had long ceased to hope. This was due to her conversation with Russell.

CHAPTER FIVE
    The next day the evening paper gave an account of the party, but only mentioned that “during the evening Mr Von Flugel played the piano”. This was not exactly a public recognition of Wolfie’s genius, but in Saturday’s Age there was a long article by Lady Pringle on the importance of the music of Wolfgang von Flugel. He was so proud of this that in the evening he took it in to read to Mrs Montaubyn, who did not understand a word of it. He also gave her a description of the grand party given in his