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.’‘Fine.My place at two, then.’I replaced the receiver.In the office the machine had already started up again.I smiled a little grimly to myself.Bridge in the afternoon – the height of middle-class decadence! It was just as well I’d answered the phone myself.The morning dragged on.I had coffee.I watered the house plants.I changed the flowers in the sitting-room bowl.And wherever I went I seemed to be followed by the ticking of clocks.I hadn’t realised we had so many in the house.Tick, tock.Tick, tock.Slowly, with inexorable deliberation, time was passing, bringing us nearer to – what?I was thankful when it was time to drive the short distance up the road to Cynthia and Edgar’s house.‘My goodness,’ Stella remarked as she swiftly dealt the cards, ‘Lance is a forceful character, isn’t he? I happened to mention that Tuesday is my day for the hairdresser and he just said, “Cancel it!” My dear, he can’t have any idea of how ghastly I look if I miss that weekly ritual!’I laughed.‘But you must admit that an earth mother is unlikely to sport a perm!’‘Earth mother? Ye gods, is that how he sees me? And there was I thinking I’d be all Gainsborough-like and glamorous! Does that mean I can’t have my hair done till the thing’s finished? It could take weeks!’‘He won’t be concentrating on your hair for weeks,’ I said consolingly.‘You should wear it short as I do,’ Paula remarked, ‘then you could wash it yourself.’Paula’s hair was certainly short, but cut in a severe style which most people would find hard to wear.It was part of her twenties image no doubt, as was the shapeless – but pure silk – dress which hung on her rather bony body.To complete the picture a lorgnette was attached to the long beads round her neck.Paula was in fact very short-sighted but she had turned the defect to maximum advantage.Very sophisticated, I thought, and rather unapproachable.I wondered if Max had ever tried to analyse his wife, and my thought was echoed in part by Cynthia, who, having played a hand, said interestedly:‘Do tell us all about that brilliant husband of yours, Paula.I hardly dared open my mouth in his presence for fear of incriminating myself!’‘I don’t suppose he considers people he meets socially in that way,’ Stella put in comfortably.‘Actually I’m not so sure.’ Casually Paula played a trump and scooped up the hand.‘It’s so much a part of his life that he can’t help mentally assessing people, whether he means to or not.’ Unwillingly I remembered Max’s attentive examination of the painting and the blind, closed look on Lance’s face and tried without success to dispel the lingering sense of unease latent in the memory.‘But is there much call for work of that kind here?’ Stella was asking.‘I should have thought the English were too phlegmatic and down to earth to need psychiatrists.Surely he’d do better in America or somewhere, where everybody seems to have one!’Paula smiled slightly.‘I’m sure that Max’s reply to that would be that it’s the seemingly phlegmatic who often turn out to be a positive mass of repression and buried neuroses! But seriously, a lot more attention is being paid to mental health, even here, than there ever used to be.’‘Not in Rushyford, surely?’ objected Cynthia, raising her finely pencilled eyebrows.‘His consulting rooms are in Bury but he has days at various psychiatric wards round about.’‘It must be fascinating,’ Cynthia remarked with an envious sigh.‘Really, you know, I do find it rather galling.Your husbands are all so interesting! Max is all clued up on psychology, Lance is a brilliant artist, and Simon is so devastatingly handsome that it raises one’s morale just to be seen with him.And what have I managed to achieve? Edgar!’It was impossible not to laugh, but I felt a niggling sense of disloyalty.Edgar might not be brilliant or an oil painting but he was kind and steady and dependable, attributes which didn’t necessarily apply to the other three.The afternoon wore on.My mind was only half on the game, but we weren’t playing too seriously and it didn’t seem to matter.I had the impression that Paula had expected a higher standard and I did not doubt that the next time Cynthia hopefully rang for a bridge date, Mrs Forrest would regretfully have a prior engagement.It struck me as amusing that I should have worried about becoming too friendly with Paula.Obviously she chose her own friends, and there would not be many who received her confidences.The last rubber, as was often the case, took a long time to finish, and it was almost six o’clock when I finally returned to Fairfield Lodge.It was on occasions like this that I guiltily showered blessings on Mrs Rose, who would have the dinner preparations well in hand.With an increased spurt of anxiety about Briony I hurried into the house.I knew immediately that something was wrong and I turned without hesitation into the sitting-room.Briony was lying in a crumpled little heap on the hearth-rug.For a moment time stopped completely.Then, without consciously moving, I was kneeling beside her, gently turning her head aside.Her face had been buried in the soft deep pile and I honestly think I was surprised to find her still breathing.Scrambling to my feet, I pulled and tugged frantically at the window catches, staggered on to the terrace and, gripping the stone balustrade until it bit into my fingers, I called Lance.Urgency must have permeated my voice, because he appeared round the bank of shrubbery almost at once.‘What is it? What’s the matter?’‘Briony’s fainted.Hurry!’ and I turned and stumbled back inside.He was with me almost by the time I reached her again.He said rapidly under his breath, ‘Oh God, God, God!’‘She’s still breathing,’ I said foolishly.‘So I see.’ Gently he scooped his arms underneath her and carried her to the sofa.‘You telephone the doctor – tell him it’s an emergency.I’ll stay with her.’I didn’t question his instructions [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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