13
On that particular Tuesday afternoon, Lynn Marchmont had gone for a long walk. Conscious of a growing restlessness and dissatisfaction with herself, she felt the need for thinking things out.
She had not seen Rowley for some days. After their somewhat stormy parting on the morning she had asked him to lend her five hundred pounds they had met as usual. Lynn realised that her demand had been unreasonable and that Rowley had been well within his rights in turning it down. Nevertheless reasonableness has never been a quality that appeals to lovers. Outwardly things were the same between her and Rowley, inwardly she was not so sure. The last few days she had found unbearably monotonous, yet hardly liked to acknowledge to herself that David Hunter's sudden departure to London with his sister might have something to do with their monotony. David, she admitted ruefully, was an exciting person...
As for her relations, at the moment she found them all unbearably trying.
Her mother was in the best of spirits and had annoyed Lynn at lunch that day by announcing that she was going to try and find a second gardener. “Old Tom really can't keep up with things here.”
“But, darling, we can't afford it,” Lynn had exclaimed.
“Nonsense, I really think, Lynn, that Gordon would be terribly upset if he could see how the garden has gone down. He was so particular always about the border, and the grass being kept mown, and the paths in good order - and just look at it now. I feel Gordon would want it put in order again.”
“Even if we have to borrow money from his widow to do it.”
“I told you, Lynn, Rosaleen couldn't have been nicer about it. I really think she quite saw my point of view. I have a nice balance at the bank after paying all the bills. And I really think a second gardener would be an economy. Think of the extra vegetables we could grow.”
“We could buy a lot of extra vegetables for a good deal less than another three pounds a week.”
“I think we could get someone for less than that, dear. There are men coming out of the Services now who want jobs. The paper says so.”
Lynn said dryly: “I doubt if you'll find them in Warmsley Vale - or in Warmsley Heath.”
But although the matter was left like that, the tendency of her mother to count on Rosaleen as a regular source of support haunted Lynn. It revived the memory of David's sneering words.
So, feeling disgruntled and out of temper, she set out to walk her black mood off.
Her temper was not improved by a meeting with Aunt Kathie outside the post office. Aunt Kathie was in good spirits.
“I think, Lynn dear, that we shall soon have good news.”
“What on earth do you mean. Aunt Kathie?”
Mrs Cloade nodded and smiled and looked wise.
“I've had the most astonishing communications - really astonishing. A simple happy end to all our troubles. I had one setback, but since then I've got the message to Try try try again. If at first you don't succeed, etc... I'm not going to betray any secrets, Lynn dear, and the last thing I should want to do would be to raise false hopes prematurely, but I have the strongest belief that things will very soon be quite all right. And quite time, too. I am really very worried about your uncle. He worked far too hard during the war. He really needs to retire and devote himself to his specialised studies - but of course he can't do that without an adequate income. And sometimes he has such queer nervous fits, I am really very worried about him. He is really quite odd.”
Lynn nodded thoughtfully. The change in Lionel Cloade had not escaped her notice, nor his curious alternation of moods. She suspected that he occasionally had recourse to drugs to stimulate himself, and she wondered whether he were not to a certain extent an addict. It would account for his extreme nervous irritability.
She wondered how much Aunt Kathie knew or guessed. Aunt Kathie, thought Lynn, was not such a fool as she looked.
Going down the
On that particular Tuesday afternoon, Lynn Marchmont had gone for a long walk. Conscious of a growing restlessness and dissatisfaction with herself, she felt the need for thinking things out.
She had not seen Rowley for some days. After their somewhat stormy parting on the morning she had asked him to lend her five hundred pounds they had met as usual. Lynn realised that her demand had been unreasonable and that Rowley had been well within his rights in turning it down. Nevertheless reasonableness has never been a quality that appeals to lovers. Outwardly things were the same between her and Rowley, inwardly she was not so sure. The last few days she had found unbearably monotonous, yet hardly liked to acknowledge to herself that David Hunter's sudden departure to London with his sister might have something to do with their monotony. David, she admitted ruefully, was an exciting person...
As for her relations, at the moment she found them all unbearably trying.
Her mother was in the best of spirits and had annoyed Lynn at lunch that day by announcing that she was going to try and find a second gardener. “Old Tom really can't keep up with things here.”
“But, darling, we can't afford it,” Lynn had exclaimed.
“Nonsense, I really think, Lynn, that Gordon would be terribly upset if he could see how the garden has gone down. He was so particular always about the border, and the grass being kept mown, and the paths in good order - and just look at it now. I feel Gordon would want it put in order again.”
“Even if we have to borrow money from his widow to do it.”
“I told you, Lynn, Rosaleen couldn't have been nicer about it. I really think she quite saw my point of view. I have a nice balance at the bank after paying all the bills. And I really think a second gardener would be an economy. Think of the extra vegetables we could grow.”
“We could buy a lot of extra vegetables for a good deal less than another three pounds a week.”
“I think we could get someone for less than that, dear. There are men coming out of the Services now who want jobs. The paper says so.”
Lynn said dryly: “I doubt if you'll find them in Warmsley Vale - or in Warmsley Heath.”
But although the matter was left like that, the tendency of her mother to count on Rosaleen as a regular source of support haunted Lynn. It revived the memory of David's sneering words.
So, feeling disgruntled and out of temper, she set out to walk her black mood off.
Her temper was not improved by a meeting with Aunt Kathie outside the post office. Aunt Kathie was in good spirits.
“I think, Lynn dear, that we shall soon have good news.”
“What on earth do you mean. Aunt Kathie?”
Mrs Cloade nodded and smiled and looked wise.
“I've had the most astonishing communications - really astonishing. A simple happy end to all our troubles. I had one setback, but since then I've got the message to Try try try again. If at first you don't succeed, etc... I'm not going to betray any secrets, Lynn dear, and the last thing I should want to do would be to raise false hopes prematurely, but I have the strongest belief that things will very soon be quite all right. And quite time, too. I am really very worried about your uncle. He worked far too hard during the war. He really needs to retire and devote himself to his specialised studies - but of course he can't do that without an adequate income. And sometimes he has such queer nervous fits, I am really very worried about him. He is really quite odd.”
Lynn nodded thoughtfully. The change in Lionel Cloade had not escaped her notice, nor his curious alternation of moods. She suspected that he occasionally had recourse to drugs to stimulate himself, and she wondered whether he were not to a certain extent an addict. It would account for his extreme nervous irritability.
She wondered how much Aunt Kathie knew or guessed. Aunt Kathie, thought Lynn, was not such a fool as she looked.
Going down the
Similar Books
