trickle of dark juice, and pretended to frown. ‘But that was an Ayres family secret, and I shouldn’t have blabbed. Now I’m afraid I may have to kill you. Or do you swear to keep the knowledge to yourself?’
‘I swear,’ I said.
‘Honour bright?’
I laughed. ‘Honour bright.’
She warily gave me another berry. ‘Well, I suppose I shall have to trust you. It must be frightfully bad form to kill a doctor, after all; just a step or two down from shooting an albatross. Also quite hard, I imagine, since you must know all the tricks yourselves.’
She tucked back her hair, seeming happy to talk, standing a yard or so from my window, tall and easy on those thickish legs of hers; and because I was mindful of the engine, idling away and wasting fuel, I switched it off. The car seemed to sink, as if glad to be released, and I became aware of the treacly weight and exhaustion of the summer air. From across the fields, muted by heat and distance, there came the grind and snap of farm machinery, and calling voices. On those light late-August evenings the harvesters worked until gone eleven.
Caroline picked out more fruit. She said, with a tilt of her head, ‘You haven’t asked after Betty.’
‘I was just about to,’ I said. ‘How has she been? Any more trouble?’
‘Not a peep! She spent a day in bed, then made a miraculous recovery. We’ve been doing our best since then to make her feel more comfortable. We told her she needn’t use the back stair any more, if she doesn’t like it. And Roddie’s got hold of a wireless for her; that’s bucked her up no end. Apparently they used to have a wireless at home, but it got broken in some argument. Now one of us has to drive into Lidcote once a week to recharge the battery; but we think it’s worth it, if it keeps her happy … Tell the truth, though. That medicine you sent over was pure chalk, wasn’t it?
Was
there ever anything wrong with her?’
‘I couldn’t possibly say,’ I answered loftily. ‘The patient-doctor bond, and all that. Besides, you might sue for malpractice.’
‘Ha!’ Her expression grew rueful. ‘You’re on safe ground, there. We couldn’t afford the lawyers’ fees—’
She turned her head, as Gyp let out two or three sharp barks. While we had been talking he had been nosing his way through the grass at the edge of the lane, but now there was an agitated flapping on the other side of the hedge and he disappeared into a gap in the brambles.
‘He’s going after a bird,’ Caroline said, ‘the old fat-head. These used to be our birds once, you know; now they’re Mr Milton’s. He won’t like it if Gyp gets hold of a partridge.—Gyp! Gyppo! Come back! Come
here
, you idiotic thing!’
Hastily thrusting the bundle of blackberries at me, she went off in pursuit. I watched her leaning into the hedge, parting the brambles to reach and call, apparently unafraid of spiders or thorns, her brown hair catching again. It took her a couple of minutes to retrieve the dog, and by the time she had done that and he had trotted back to the car, looking terribly pleased with himself, with his mouth open and his pink tongue loose, I had remembered my patient and said I should be going.
‘Well, take some berries with you,’ she said good-naturedly, as I restarted the engine. But seeing her begin to separate the fruit it occurred to me that I would be driving more or less towards Hundreds, and, since it was a good two or three miles’ journey, I offered her a lift. I hesitated about doing it, not knowing if she’d care to accept; apart from anything else she looked very much at home there on the dusty country lane, rather as a tramp or a gypsy would. She seemed to hesitate, too, once I had asked her—but it turned out she was simply thinking the thing over. Glancing at her wrist-watch, she said, ‘I’d like that, very much. And if you could bear to drop me at the lane to our farm, instead of at the park gates, I’d be even more
‘I swear,’ I said.
‘Honour bright?’
I laughed. ‘Honour bright.’
She warily gave me another berry. ‘Well, I suppose I shall have to trust you. It must be frightfully bad form to kill a doctor, after all; just a step or two down from shooting an albatross. Also quite hard, I imagine, since you must know all the tricks yourselves.’
She tucked back her hair, seeming happy to talk, standing a yard or so from my window, tall and easy on those thickish legs of hers; and because I was mindful of the engine, idling away and wasting fuel, I switched it off. The car seemed to sink, as if glad to be released, and I became aware of the treacly weight and exhaustion of the summer air. From across the fields, muted by heat and distance, there came the grind and snap of farm machinery, and calling voices. On those light late-August evenings the harvesters worked until gone eleven.
Caroline picked out more fruit. She said, with a tilt of her head, ‘You haven’t asked after Betty.’
‘I was just about to,’ I said. ‘How has she been? Any more trouble?’
‘Not a peep! She spent a day in bed, then made a miraculous recovery. We’ve been doing our best since then to make her feel more comfortable. We told her she needn’t use the back stair any more, if she doesn’t like it. And Roddie’s got hold of a wireless for her; that’s bucked her up no end. Apparently they used to have a wireless at home, but it got broken in some argument. Now one of us has to drive into Lidcote once a week to recharge the battery; but we think it’s worth it, if it keeps her happy … Tell the truth, though. That medicine you sent over was pure chalk, wasn’t it?
Was
there ever anything wrong with her?’
‘I couldn’t possibly say,’ I answered loftily. ‘The patient-doctor bond, and all that. Besides, you might sue for malpractice.’
‘Ha!’ Her expression grew rueful. ‘You’re on safe ground, there. We couldn’t afford the lawyers’ fees—’
She turned her head, as Gyp let out two or three sharp barks. While we had been talking he had been nosing his way through the grass at the edge of the lane, but now there was an agitated flapping on the other side of the hedge and he disappeared into a gap in the brambles.
‘He’s going after a bird,’ Caroline said, ‘the old fat-head. These used to be our birds once, you know; now they’re Mr Milton’s. He won’t like it if Gyp gets hold of a partridge.—Gyp! Gyppo! Come back! Come
here
, you idiotic thing!’
Hastily thrusting the bundle of blackberries at me, she went off in pursuit. I watched her leaning into the hedge, parting the brambles to reach and call, apparently unafraid of spiders or thorns, her brown hair catching again. It took her a couple of minutes to retrieve the dog, and by the time she had done that and he had trotted back to the car, looking terribly pleased with himself, with his mouth open and his pink tongue loose, I had remembered my patient and said I should be going.
‘Well, take some berries with you,’ she said good-naturedly, as I restarted the engine. But seeing her begin to separate the fruit it occurred to me that I would be driving more or less towards Hundreds, and, since it was a good two or three miles’ journey, I offered her a lift. I hesitated about doing it, not knowing if she’d care to accept; apart from anything else she looked very much at home there on the dusty country lane, rather as a tramp or a gypsy would. She seemed to hesitate, too, once I had asked her—but it turned out she was simply thinking the thing over. Glancing at her wrist-watch, she said, ‘I’d like that, very much. And if you could bear to drop me at the lane to our farm, instead of at the park gates, I’d be even more
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