Enough to Kill a Horse by Elizabeth Ferrars Page A

untidy cook and when she came out from the dining room, carrying a pile of plates, there was hardly any space where she could put them down.
    Making some room by thrusting at a heap of saucepans with an elbow, she sank into a chair, saying with a sigh, ‘Let’s have a quiet cigarette before we get started.’
    It irked Clare to sit in the untidy kitchen, but she perched on the edge of a chair and accepted one of Fanny’s cigarettes.
    ‘What,’ she said, pointing at a plate on the table in front of her, ‘are these things?’
    ‘Lobster patties,’ Fanny said.
    ‘The specialité de la maison ?’
    ‘That’s right. They’re an awful job to make, but they really are awfully good. Of course I don’t make the pastry cases. Mine always come as heavy as lead and topple over sideways. I get them made by Mrs Webb in the village.’
    ‘What d’you put into them?’ Clare asked interestedly.
    ‘Oh, brandy and wine and garlic and so on – and lobster, of course. Try one.’
    ‘Not just after ice cream. But they certainly look delicious.’
    Fanny gave a great yawn and rubbed the back of her wrist against her forehead.
    ‘I couldn’t sleep last night,’ she said.
    ‘Too worried?’ Clare asked.
    ‘No, I’m not worried – why should I be?’ Fanny said. ‘Just excited. It’s quite an event, after all, Kit getting married.’
    ‘And what do you think about the girl?’
    Quickly Fanny answered, ‘Charming. She is charming, don’t you think, Clare?’
    ‘Unquestionably,’ Clare said.
    ‘The only trouble is,’ Fanny said, ‘she doesn’t seem to me like the sort of girl who’ll fit in down here and Kit simply won’t go anywhere else. I’ve often tried to get him to see that it isn’t good for him, being as dependent on me as he is, but short of telling him I’m shutting down the shop, I don’t think he’ll ever pay any attention to me. Of course I’ve only kept the antique business going on his account. I started it to have something to do here, and then when Kit came out of the army and hadn’t a job and didn’t seem to know what to do with himself, I thought perhaps he could help me with the buying and learn something about repairing furniture and so on. I only meant it to last until he found something better. But then he got so keen on it he won’t even look for anything else. And I know it isn’t good for him, holding on to me like that, and it doesn’t actually pay Basil and me at all to keep the shop going – I just about get Kit’s salary out of it – and now with his marrying and all …’ She paused, looking questioningly at Clare, as if she expected her to supply an answer to something that she had not been asked.
    Clare said nothing. Then she got up briskly and moved to the sink.
    ‘Let’s get all this stuff out of the way,’ she said. ‘It gets on my nerves.’
    With great speed she started sorting out plates, bowls and pans into neat piles.
    Fanny chuckled. Then she got up lethargically, keeping her cigarette at the corner of her mouth, reached for a cloth from a line over her head and stood waiting for some dishes to dry.
    After a minute or two she went on, ‘Kit ought to go away from me. I know it. His marrying a girl like Laura shows it. He’s picked someone as unlike me as he can find and that must mean that really he wants to get away from me.’
    ‘I wonder,’ Clare said, ‘if, in his view, she is so very unlike you.’
    ‘Good heavens, Clare!’
    ‘I said, in his view.’
    ‘Then he must have a good memory,’ Fanny said sardonically. She was ruminatively polishing a glass that Clare had just put down on the draining board. ‘Well, I suppose it’ll work itself out somehow. Meanwhile, I think I’ll get George Chagwell in to take a look at the house and make a rough estimate for the alterations. He’s just a country builder, but he’s awfully reliable and he does understand these old houses.’
    Basil, coming into the kitchen just then, overheard her last two