was high-pitched.
Please let us give you a cup of tea or a drink, Leo offered.
You can't sleep here, Susan, I told her.
Maybe I could do an Ophelia in the waters of the Yarra,
she suggested. Don't worry, Grace. I have a room at the
Windsor reserved very kindly for me by my treacherous
spouse.
Could I get you a taxi then, Mrs Enright? asked Leo.
Please, no! I am not your responsibility, young fellow.
We have a settee, I said, as a girl did if she came from the
country, where accommodation was freely offered. Ours is
the double apartment, number five and six.
Look, said Mrs Enright, you're both very kind. But you
must please leave me free to humiliate the mongrel.
Perhaps because of the gin, the tension of my own
happiness, and certainly because of lack of experience, I
was suddenly moved to tears.
Please don't put yourself through this, I begged.
But in the end, we had to leave her there, and were both
very uncomfortable about it as we re-entered the lobby. Leo
kissed me on the forehead. Let's go to bed, he whispered.
Upstairs, abashed at the brush-off Mrs Enright had
given us, we said goodnight to the Mortmains, who
intended to stay up a little longer. We were half undressed
when our doorbell went. Leo put on a dressing gown and
answered it. It was Mrs Enright. I saw her over Leo's
shoulder. She was crying. I'm a weak woman. I will take
that settee your dear wife mentioned.
I found some sheets and blankets, as she stood in the
kitchen being introduced to the Mortmains. I quickly made
the settee for her. When I re-emerged, I found that she had
been induced to comfort herself with some gin.
Rufus told me, We'll point Mrs Enright in the right
direction. You must be tired after travelling last night.
I was awakened in the morning by the sound of angry
voices at our opened front door. Putting on a dressing
gown and going to check, I saw both Leo and Rufus in shirt
sleeves arguing with a man similarly half-dressed in
uniform but very angry. It was of course Major Enright.
Mortmain was saying, You surely couldn't expect us to
leave the poor woman in the open.
That's exactly what I expected you to do. She would
have got sick of it. As it is, you played right into the hands
of that mad woman. But you knew what you were doing,
too. I know you understood exactly what you were
doing.
Leo said he resented the accusation.
The woman had a perfectly fine room at the Windsor,
paid for by me. But you look out your window and you
think, Let's make a fool of old D/Plans. In civilian life,
you fellows would be little better than criminals, and I
know the way you think. God knows what your purpose
was in introducing that woman into your flat.
Mortmain declared with the calmest authority, and with
a certainty Dotty must have relished, that he and Leo were
both married men. I'd knock you down for what you have
said, he told the major, except you're beyond yourself. I ask
you to show a little restraint and dignity. We all have to sit
at the same planning tables for weeks and months yet, and
Colonel Doucette isn't even back.
Leo, of course, despite his role as an official hero, had a
temperament which would go a long way to make peace.
He said, My wife has just arrived from Sydney – by the
same train as your wife, in fact. I have to ask you not to
make a scene, sir.
I felt silk brush by me in a hurry. It was Susan Enright,
coming from the bathroom to join the conflict. She took up
a position in the middle of our living room, from where she
could lob her own high-calibre commentary over Leo's and
Rufus's heads onto her mad-eyed husband.
How dare you find fault with these decent men! she
raged. You're just embarrassed to be shown up as a skirt-
chaser in front of your brother officers. Yes, both their
wives are here, and you're offensive to them too. As for
your room at the Windsor, take your tart there and leave
me the flat. By the way, any chance of your being sent on a
suicide mission? I don't suppose so. Far too
Please let us give you a cup of tea or a drink, Leo offered.
You can't sleep here, Susan, I told her.
Maybe I could do an Ophelia in the waters of the Yarra,
she suggested. Don't worry, Grace. I have a room at the
Windsor reserved very kindly for me by my treacherous
spouse.
Could I get you a taxi then, Mrs Enright? asked Leo.
Please, no! I am not your responsibility, young fellow.
We have a settee, I said, as a girl did if she came from the
country, where accommodation was freely offered. Ours is
the double apartment, number five and six.
Look, said Mrs Enright, you're both very kind. But you
must please leave me free to humiliate the mongrel.
Perhaps because of the gin, the tension of my own
happiness, and certainly because of lack of experience, I
was suddenly moved to tears.
Please don't put yourself through this, I begged.
But in the end, we had to leave her there, and were both
very uncomfortable about it as we re-entered the lobby. Leo
kissed me on the forehead. Let's go to bed, he whispered.
Upstairs, abashed at the brush-off Mrs Enright had
given us, we said goodnight to the Mortmains, who
intended to stay up a little longer. We were half undressed
when our doorbell went. Leo put on a dressing gown and
answered it. It was Mrs Enright. I saw her over Leo's
shoulder. She was crying. I'm a weak woman. I will take
that settee your dear wife mentioned.
I found some sheets and blankets, as she stood in the
kitchen being introduced to the Mortmains. I quickly made
the settee for her. When I re-emerged, I found that she had
been induced to comfort herself with some gin.
Rufus told me, We'll point Mrs Enright in the right
direction. You must be tired after travelling last night.
I was awakened in the morning by the sound of angry
voices at our opened front door. Putting on a dressing
gown and going to check, I saw both Leo and Rufus in shirt
sleeves arguing with a man similarly half-dressed in
uniform but very angry. It was of course Major Enright.
Mortmain was saying, You surely couldn't expect us to
leave the poor woman in the open.
That's exactly what I expected you to do. She would
have got sick of it. As it is, you played right into the hands
of that mad woman. But you knew what you were doing,
too. I know you understood exactly what you were
doing.
Leo said he resented the accusation.
The woman had a perfectly fine room at the Windsor,
paid for by me. But you look out your window and you
think, Let's make a fool of old D/Plans. In civilian life,
you fellows would be little better than criminals, and I
know the way you think. God knows what your purpose
was in introducing that woman into your flat.
Mortmain declared with the calmest authority, and with
a certainty Dotty must have relished, that he and Leo were
both married men. I'd knock you down for what you have
said, he told the major, except you're beyond yourself. I ask
you to show a little restraint and dignity. We all have to sit
at the same planning tables for weeks and months yet, and
Colonel Doucette isn't even back.
Leo, of course, despite his role as an official hero, had a
temperament which would go a long way to make peace.
He said, My wife has just arrived from Sydney – by the
same train as your wife, in fact. I have to ask you not to
make a scene, sir.
I felt silk brush by me in a hurry. It was Susan Enright,
coming from the bathroom to join the conflict. She took up
a position in the middle of our living room, from where she
could lob her own high-calibre commentary over Leo's and
Rufus's heads onto her mad-eyed husband.
How dare you find fault with these decent men! she
raged. You're just embarrassed to be shown up as a skirt-
chaser in front of your brother officers. Yes, both their
wives are here, and you're offensive to them too. As for
your room at the Windsor, take your tart there and leave
me the flat. By the way, any chance of your being sent on a
suicide mission? I don't suppose so. Far too
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