day?’ she asked.
‘Oh, winding things up at the office,’ he said, ‘whatever that may mean.’
‘I don’t think barristers say it, Bill, only business men. Whatever it means you look well on it. Something especially good has happened. What is it?’
He smiled. ‘We don’t go round the world every day, you know.’
‘H’m,’ she considered it, ‘it’s hit you all of a sudden in that case. You haven’t shown any special excitement in the last weeks.’
‘I probably didn’t believe it until today.’
‘I’ve believed it for a long time,’ she told him and added quickly, ‘Oh! I shall love every minute of it once we’ve started. I hate partings, that’s all. We must go and dress.’
From Bill’s boxlike dressing room across the large bedroom to the open-doored bathroom where Meg lay soaking, the talk went on. Shouting to each other in the morning and evening dressing hours had become over the years their most satisfactory, intimate form of conversation .
‘There is another reason,’ Bill called.
‘I knew there was. What is it? Did you win a lot today? I saw it was Lingfield. You’re always lucky there.’
There was a pause and Bill’s voice came rather crossly. ‘Nothing to do with racing. Anyway I never win at Lingfield.’
‘Oh! Well there you are, I get things wrong too.’ After a few minutes’ silence she called, ‘Well? What is it? You must tell me now.’
‘I went to the doctor’s.’
‘Yes?’ She failed to sound casual.
‘I said that those T.A.B. inoculations were far more unpleasant than he’d warned us.’
‘Oh, Bill, don’t.’
‘I’ve told you it’s good news,’ he said, laughing.
She wondered suddenly how much he savoured her anxiety over him.
‘All right, then, darling, why can’t you tell me straight away?’
‘It seems a bit fatuous, that’s why. The truth is I’ve been suffering from a sort of phobia about thrombosis for quite a while now. Puttingon weight, high blood pressure, so many people we’ve known and so on.’
‘Well?’ She had come to the door of the bathroom now, water dripping from her body.
‘ Very well,’ he called, invisible to her, ‘nothing to worry about at all. Blood pressure quite normal. I was relieved because of the heat in the East.’
In her relief she considered for a moment going across to him as she was, wet and naked, but she turned back and plunged into her bath again.
‘Oh, I should have spoken to you,’ she cried, ‘I could have discussed it and made you go to Loundes before. You need never have had all this anxiety. It’s all your fault, Bill, for making me ashamed of hunches and intuitions. All these weeks I’ve been worrying about you and for just the same reason. I might have known that on anything so important we should be thinking the same. Any two people so close to one another are bound to.’
‘Hunches only work for horses,’ he shouted to her. She laughed but she said, ‘You sound as though you’d hate us to have any intuitive communication.’
‘Intuitive communication? Mind-reading the Victorians called it.’
‘Well, would you hate it if I could read your mind?’
‘Imagine,’ he said, ‘the social impossibility if such a thing became general. If Jill Stokes, for instance, could read what I was thinking.’
She decided to accept the evasion. ‘She always knows you dislike her, Bill. You’re so much more polite to her than to anyone else.’
‘I could remedy that.’
She laughed and said quickly, ‘Well, don’t start tonight, darling.’ She paused, ready with a glow of self-defence, but he only said, ‘Oh, she’s coming tonight, is she?’
Her defence, nevertheless, was too ready not to be given. ‘Well, I couldn’t do anything else, darling. I met her at the chemist’s and she was so grumpy and pathetic.’
He made no answer, but a minute later she saw him in the bathroom doorway looking at her as she dried. He turned away.
‘I wish you had a smaller store
‘Oh, winding things up at the office,’ he said, ‘whatever that may mean.’
‘I don’t think barristers say it, Bill, only business men. Whatever it means you look well on it. Something especially good has happened. What is it?’
He smiled. ‘We don’t go round the world every day, you know.’
‘H’m,’ she considered it, ‘it’s hit you all of a sudden in that case. You haven’t shown any special excitement in the last weeks.’
‘I probably didn’t believe it until today.’
‘I’ve believed it for a long time,’ she told him and added quickly, ‘Oh! I shall love every minute of it once we’ve started. I hate partings, that’s all. We must go and dress.’
From Bill’s boxlike dressing room across the large bedroom to the open-doored bathroom where Meg lay soaking, the talk went on. Shouting to each other in the morning and evening dressing hours had become over the years their most satisfactory, intimate form of conversation .
‘There is another reason,’ Bill called.
‘I knew there was. What is it? Did you win a lot today? I saw it was Lingfield. You’re always lucky there.’
There was a pause and Bill’s voice came rather crossly. ‘Nothing to do with racing. Anyway I never win at Lingfield.’
‘Oh! Well there you are, I get things wrong too.’ After a few minutes’ silence she called, ‘Well? What is it? You must tell me now.’
‘I went to the doctor’s.’
‘Yes?’ She failed to sound casual.
‘I said that those T.A.B. inoculations were far more unpleasant than he’d warned us.’
‘Oh, Bill, don’t.’
‘I’ve told you it’s good news,’ he said, laughing.
She wondered suddenly how much he savoured her anxiety over him.
‘All right, then, darling, why can’t you tell me straight away?’
‘It seems a bit fatuous, that’s why. The truth is I’ve been suffering from a sort of phobia about thrombosis for quite a while now. Puttingon weight, high blood pressure, so many people we’ve known and so on.’
‘Well?’ She had come to the door of the bathroom now, water dripping from her body.
‘ Very well,’ he called, invisible to her, ‘nothing to worry about at all. Blood pressure quite normal. I was relieved because of the heat in the East.’
In her relief she considered for a moment going across to him as she was, wet and naked, but she turned back and plunged into her bath again.
‘Oh, I should have spoken to you,’ she cried, ‘I could have discussed it and made you go to Loundes before. You need never have had all this anxiety. It’s all your fault, Bill, for making me ashamed of hunches and intuitions. All these weeks I’ve been worrying about you and for just the same reason. I might have known that on anything so important we should be thinking the same. Any two people so close to one another are bound to.’
‘Hunches only work for horses,’ he shouted to her. She laughed but she said, ‘You sound as though you’d hate us to have any intuitive communication.’
‘Intuitive communication? Mind-reading the Victorians called it.’
‘Well, would you hate it if I could read your mind?’
‘Imagine,’ he said, ‘the social impossibility if such a thing became general. If Jill Stokes, for instance, could read what I was thinking.’
She decided to accept the evasion. ‘She always knows you dislike her, Bill. You’re so much more polite to her than to anyone else.’
‘I could remedy that.’
She laughed and said quickly, ‘Well, don’t start tonight, darling.’ She paused, ready with a glow of self-defence, but he only said, ‘Oh, she’s coming tonight, is she?’
Her defence, nevertheless, was too ready not to be given. ‘Well, I couldn’t do anything else, darling. I met her at the chemist’s and she was so grumpy and pathetic.’
He made no answer, but a minute later she saw him in the bathroom doorway looking at her as she dried. He turned away.
‘I wish you had a smaller store
Similar Books
