her sensations enabled her to forget his defects.
It was, therefore, not altogether surprising that, to hide from him the lack of desire that seized her when she saw him naked, she took to shutting her eyes and making herself imagine that she was about to be made love to by Eric, to whom she had become so strongly attracted.
Chapter 5
Disaster
A few days after the Spilkins had dined with them, Rowley told Linda that he had opened an account for her, as Linda Chatterton, at his bank, and paid into it the first quarter of an allowance which was four times the amount he had previously been giving her to cover her lunches and other minor expenses. She was greatly touched by his generosity and, never before having had anything like so much money in her life, was more than ever happy.
Since writing her mother a brief note shortly after arriving in London, Linda had not written again. She had then determined to regard her grim past as though it had been a bad dream from which she had woken to her real and promising new life; and she had since been so fully occupied that memories of it came to her only infrequently. But now she was able to look back on it dispassionately, and realise that there had been at least some bright spots in her otherwise hateful existence.
Apart from her affair with Jim during her last few months at home, those few bright spots had been almost entirely due to her mother, who had skimped to buy her a new frock or a pair of nylons now and then. She had been as good a parent as she could be under the circumstances and must, Linda felt sure, have beengreatly worried at the thought of her being on her own in London.
In consequence, she decided that she ought both to reassure her mother about her well-being, and make some gesture to show her appreciation of the love she had received from her.
This resulted in her writing a letter to say that she had been very fortunate in getting a job as a companion—although, naturally, she did not disclose the sex of her employer—and that she lived in a very pleasant house where she was well fed and well cared for. Then, knowing how terribly short of money her mother always was, she enclosed in the letter five one-pound notes and said that, as long as her good luck lasted, she hoped to send a similar sum every month or six weeks. Against the rather remote possibility that, if she gave her address, her mother or Jim might come up to London to see her—which was the last thing she wanted—she said that any reply should be sent
poste restante
to the Great Portland Street Post Office.
A week later she went there and collected a reply. It proved a strange mixture of relief, gratitude for the money and bitter reproaches. Pa had been furious about her running away, got drunk and taken it out of her mother by beating her and blacking an eye. Jim had come to the house, told them that he had been ‘walking out’ with Linda, and been terribly cut up at her having left home without a word to him. He was a fine young man, earning good money in a steady job, and as nice a fellow as any girl could wish for. He was willing to make an honest woman of her, so why couldn’t she come back and marry him? If she remained in London, she might meet some city slicker who would get her into trouble. The letter went on:
What have I done to deserve all this? First Sid clears out. He writes now and then, though your Pa don’t know that. He’s married and has two little ones, both girls. He’s in a good job, to do with the City authorities in Montreal. But he don’t send me any money, or his address. And now you. Two children that I’ve slaved to bring up decent, and neither of them here to be a bit of comfort as I get old. It’s enough to give you the heartbreak. If you are going with a fellow on your evenings off, do watch your periods, dear. And write again soon
.
Up in her bedroom, Linda laughed herself silly over the expression ‘city slicker.” Her mother must have picked it
It was, therefore, not altogether surprising that, to hide from him the lack of desire that seized her when she saw him naked, she took to shutting her eyes and making herself imagine that she was about to be made love to by Eric, to whom she had become so strongly attracted.
Chapter 5
Disaster
A few days after the Spilkins had dined with them, Rowley told Linda that he had opened an account for her, as Linda Chatterton, at his bank, and paid into it the first quarter of an allowance which was four times the amount he had previously been giving her to cover her lunches and other minor expenses. She was greatly touched by his generosity and, never before having had anything like so much money in her life, was more than ever happy.
Since writing her mother a brief note shortly after arriving in London, Linda had not written again. She had then determined to regard her grim past as though it had been a bad dream from which she had woken to her real and promising new life; and she had since been so fully occupied that memories of it came to her only infrequently. But now she was able to look back on it dispassionately, and realise that there had been at least some bright spots in her otherwise hateful existence.
Apart from her affair with Jim during her last few months at home, those few bright spots had been almost entirely due to her mother, who had skimped to buy her a new frock or a pair of nylons now and then. She had been as good a parent as she could be under the circumstances and must, Linda felt sure, have beengreatly worried at the thought of her being on her own in London.
In consequence, she decided that she ought both to reassure her mother about her well-being, and make some gesture to show her appreciation of the love she had received from her.
This resulted in her writing a letter to say that she had been very fortunate in getting a job as a companion—although, naturally, she did not disclose the sex of her employer—and that she lived in a very pleasant house where she was well fed and well cared for. Then, knowing how terribly short of money her mother always was, she enclosed in the letter five one-pound notes and said that, as long as her good luck lasted, she hoped to send a similar sum every month or six weeks. Against the rather remote possibility that, if she gave her address, her mother or Jim might come up to London to see her—which was the last thing she wanted—she said that any reply should be sent
poste restante
to the Great Portland Street Post Office.
A week later she went there and collected a reply. It proved a strange mixture of relief, gratitude for the money and bitter reproaches. Pa had been furious about her running away, got drunk and taken it out of her mother by beating her and blacking an eye. Jim had come to the house, told them that he had been ‘walking out’ with Linda, and been terribly cut up at her having left home without a word to him. He was a fine young man, earning good money in a steady job, and as nice a fellow as any girl could wish for. He was willing to make an honest woman of her, so why couldn’t she come back and marry him? If she remained in London, she might meet some city slicker who would get her into trouble. The letter went on:
What have I done to deserve all this? First Sid clears out. He writes now and then, though your Pa don’t know that. He’s married and has two little ones, both girls. He’s in a good job, to do with the City authorities in Montreal. But he don’t send me any money, or his address. And now you. Two children that I’ve slaved to bring up decent, and neither of them here to be a bit of comfort as I get old. It’s enough to give you the heartbreak. If you are going with a fellow on your evenings off, do watch your periods, dear. And write again soon
.
Up in her bedroom, Linda laughed herself silly over the expression ‘city slicker.” Her mother must have picked it
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