Paradise Found by Dorothy Vernon Page B

never say anything I don’t mean.’
    The chauffeur had meanwhile helped Tony out of the car and was equipping him with his crutches. He wasn’t used to them yet, and his hobble as he came forward to greet his grandmother was clownish and inept.
    â€œNow who’s been a silly boy?’ Hannah asked, reaching up to kiss him on both cheeks in the manner she had kissed Zoe.
    â€˜Hello, Nan. Looking as young and as beautiful as ever, I see.’
    â€˜And I see that you’re as full of soft soap as ever. Leave the luggage.’ This to Zoe, whose hand had gone down to pick up one of the suitcases. ‘That will be dealt with. Come into the house. I thought you’d like a cup of tea first before I showed you where I’ve put you. Yes, I may live in France and adapted well to the French customs, but I’m an Englishwoman at heart. I drink coffee along with the French, but I still like my cup of tea. I have it specially imported. Matt sees to that for me. Of course, it never tastes quite the same as it does at home. It’s the different water, you know. By the way, as you may have discovered already, I talk a lot,’ she finished with a small, impish laugh.
    â€˜I suppose you find it nice to talk to someone in English,’ Zoe commented.
    â€˜I just find it nice to talk. I don’t miss my native tongue as much as you might think. There’s a rather tight English community hereabouts, although I do naturally have French friends, also. Do you speak French, Zoe?’
    â€˜Sorry, no.’
    â€˜Perhaps you’ll pick it up while you’re here. Tony never has, but he’s lazy. Matt speaks it like a native. Have you ever been to this part of France before?’
    â€˜I’ve never been to any part of France before.’
    â€˜Really? There’s something especially lovely in seeing a country for the first time. If I didn’t love living here so much, I could almost envy you the experience. Pity that Matt isn’t here. He could have taken you around,’ Hannah said, slotting her arm companionably through Zoe’s as she guided her inside, leaving Tony to clomp behind them. ‘Long John Silver here isn’t going to be much use. And I’m afraid I’ve tended to make friends of my own age group, so, their visitors excepted, it’s no good looking in that direction. And I’m not up to it myself.’ This conversation was picked up again over the teacups. The tea trolley, looking very homey with its dainty settings of cakes and scones, was brought in by a very attractive French girl with dark doe eyes who admitted to being able to speak ‘a leetle English.’
    â€˜Still, you never know, he might pop up unexpectedly, as he usually does,’ Hannah said, seemingly out of the blue.
    Zoe hadn’t followed the drift of Hannah’s mind and had to ask, ‘Who might?’
    â€˜Matt. He rarely rings or writes in advance, just blows in on the wind. Sometimes when the will takes him, other times on a job. Anything that will bring him anywhere within remote shooting distance, he tackles himself, which is nice for me. He’s always been a very thoughtful son and a perfect joy to me, once I got over the shock of being a mother again after a gap of fifteen years. Tony’s mother, Nerissa, was the obligatory child everyone seems to have at the beginning of their marriage, to prove that they can, I suppose. Matt was my love child. Not that he wasn’t fathered by my husband, you understand, but he was conceived in love. It would be nice for you if Matt did suddenly show up to take you places. No matter what your taste is—sailing, sun worshipping, nightclubbing—this coast caters to it. You don’t have too far to travel to find a wealth of medieval buildings. And it would be a pity not to cross the frontier and have a mild flutter at the tables in Monte Carlo. Mostly it’s not a question of where to go,