a compliment to be invited.’ He was enthusiastic.
‘I am asked because I have inherited Slepe.’ Ned turned the invitation this way and that with suspicious fingers.
‘Quite so, and I am asked because we are old friends. We played tennis before the war. His standard was high, almost Wimbledon.’
‘Does he still play?’
‘No, too arthritic, but he likes to watch the young people. Flora and I always go if we are down south. We will come along with you, if you like. Motor down for the day.’
‘I’m not fearfully keen.’
‘Come on, Ned, you have to get to know your neighbours at Slepe. The Malones have sons and there will, as I say, be girls.’
‘Oh.’
‘The sort of girls you should be taking out in London, suitable girls,’ said Aunt Flora.
‘I sense a trap,’ said Ned amused.
‘Good God, Ned, the girls won’t bite you, you play a decent game of tennis, you have to make a start, it’s a year since I advised you to marry, this tennis …’
‘On Boxing Day? In midwinter? So soon after Christmas dinner? I am more used to a Boxing Day meet or a day’s shooting.’
‘It’s an indoor court, Ned, marvellous to play on. It’s wood, makes the game very fast, even quite poor players put up a good show. When you are playing in there and it’s blowing and sleeting outside, you will be pleased you came. See more of the girls than muffled up to the eyes and miserable on a shooting stick or bouncing along on a horse they can’t hold when all you see is their bums. I’ve nothing against bums, of course, but a tennis dress in the warmth shows them off better …’
‘Honestly, Uncle Archie …’
‘I shall accept for you,’ said Ned’s uncle. ‘I have to ring him up anyway. You get a good lunch,’ he added consolingly, ‘as well as the exercise, and there’s a dance in the evening for those who stay on.’
There had been a men’s four, Ned remembered; he had been partnered by Richard Malone against Nicholas Thornby and a visitor from London. The court, as his uncle had said, was marvellous; he found himself playing well.
There were, beside himself, George and Richard Malone, three men from London staying in the house, four vivacious girls, friends of the Malone sons, Emily and Nicholas Thornby, and a very young, very shy Rose, brought in as a stop-gap to fill the place of a girl cousin who was down with flu. Ned enjoyed himself presently, partnering Emily in a mixed doubles. She played a spirited game. Ned noticed that she did not wear a brassière; he was used to girls wearing brassières and found its absence a little disturbing. Twice he missed an easy backhand while thinking about this. Nevertheless, or because of it, he later suggested she might come out to dinner when next she was in London, he not yet being properly installed at Slepe; would she like to dine and dance or go to a theatre?
Later, when Emily and three of the girls from the house party played a women’s doubles, Ned watched while Richard Malone sat whispering into his favourite girl’s ear, reducing her to fits of giggles. Of the women’s four, Emily had been by far the keenest player, leaping up and showing a lot of leg as well as the disturbing breasts, reaching up to smash difficult balls which did not necessarily land in court and might well have gone out if she had left them. Ned noticed Emily again when partnering one of the girls from London; he played against her and her brother Nicholas. They made a curiously cohesive team, giving no quarter.
Of the girls from London, Ned got to know two, later taking them out and receiving invitations back into their milieu. Emily came to London often and when she did she rang him up so that over a period of months he grew to know her fairly well. Imperceptibly she latched on to the group of friends he now saw most often.
It was quite untrue that he had, as he now told Rose, fallen in love with her at the winter tennis party. He had barely noticed her. In any case,
‘I am asked because I have inherited Slepe.’ Ned turned the invitation this way and that with suspicious fingers.
‘Quite so, and I am asked because we are old friends. We played tennis before the war. His standard was high, almost Wimbledon.’
‘Does he still play?’
‘No, too arthritic, but he likes to watch the young people. Flora and I always go if we are down south. We will come along with you, if you like. Motor down for the day.’
‘I’m not fearfully keen.’
‘Come on, Ned, you have to get to know your neighbours at Slepe. The Malones have sons and there will, as I say, be girls.’
‘Oh.’
‘The sort of girls you should be taking out in London, suitable girls,’ said Aunt Flora.
‘I sense a trap,’ said Ned amused.
‘Good God, Ned, the girls won’t bite you, you play a decent game of tennis, you have to make a start, it’s a year since I advised you to marry, this tennis …’
‘On Boxing Day? In midwinter? So soon after Christmas dinner? I am more used to a Boxing Day meet or a day’s shooting.’
‘It’s an indoor court, Ned, marvellous to play on. It’s wood, makes the game very fast, even quite poor players put up a good show. When you are playing in there and it’s blowing and sleeting outside, you will be pleased you came. See more of the girls than muffled up to the eyes and miserable on a shooting stick or bouncing along on a horse they can’t hold when all you see is their bums. I’ve nothing against bums, of course, but a tennis dress in the warmth shows them off better …’
‘Honestly, Uncle Archie …’
‘I shall accept for you,’ said Ned’s uncle. ‘I have to ring him up anyway. You get a good lunch,’ he added consolingly, ‘as well as the exercise, and there’s a dance in the evening for those who stay on.’
There had been a men’s four, Ned remembered; he had been partnered by Richard Malone against Nicholas Thornby and a visitor from London. The court, as his uncle had said, was marvellous; he found himself playing well.
There were, beside himself, George and Richard Malone, three men from London staying in the house, four vivacious girls, friends of the Malone sons, Emily and Nicholas Thornby, and a very young, very shy Rose, brought in as a stop-gap to fill the place of a girl cousin who was down with flu. Ned enjoyed himself presently, partnering Emily in a mixed doubles. She played a spirited game. Ned noticed that she did not wear a brassière; he was used to girls wearing brassières and found its absence a little disturbing. Twice he missed an easy backhand while thinking about this. Nevertheless, or because of it, he later suggested she might come out to dinner when next she was in London, he not yet being properly installed at Slepe; would she like to dine and dance or go to a theatre?
Later, when Emily and three of the girls from the house party played a women’s doubles, Ned watched while Richard Malone sat whispering into his favourite girl’s ear, reducing her to fits of giggles. Of the women’s four, Emily had been by far the keenest player, leaping up and showing a lot of leg as well as the disturbing breasts, reaching up to smash difficult balls which did not necessarily land in court and might well have gone out if she had left them. Ned noticed Emily again when partnering one of the girls from London; he played against her and her brother Nicholas. They made a curiously cohesive team, giving no quarter.
Of the girls from London, Ned got to know two, later taking them out and receiving invitations back into their milieu. Emily came to London often and when she did she rang him up so that over a period of months he grew to know her fairly well. Imperceptibly she latched on to the group of friends he now saw most often.
It was quite untrue that he had, as he now told Rose, fallen in love with her at the winter tennis party. He had barely noticed her. In any case,
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