A Daughter’s Dream. Cathy Sharp

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СКАЧАТЬ I can’t,’ he said, looking regretful. ‘I wish I could, Amy. Forgive me, I only know you as Amy. Mary didn’t tell me your surname.’

      ‘It’s Robinson. Mary probably doesn’t know it.’

      ‘Amy Robinson. Very pretty, like it’s owner.’ He gave a soft chuckle as he saw my blush. ‘No, I didn’t mean to embarrass you, Amy. Mary told me you were pretty and the words were in my mind. Forgive me for being familiar.’

      I wasn’t sure how to respond, and felt flustered.

      ‘It was a compliment, so naturally I forgive you,’ I said.

      ‘I am so glad. Let me take you to my cousin, and then I must go.’

      I felt a little shy as I glanced at him. He was very different to anyone I had ever met before. His face was thin and he had a sensitive, artistic look about him, and his hair was perhaps a little too long. But he was very charming and his smile lit up his face as well as his eyes, though when he wasn’t smiling there was something oddly sad about him – almost haunted. But no, that was silly!

      Mary was at the back of the house. The long glass doors were opened and she was sitting in a cane chair on the lawn, which had been set with various chairs and small tables. There was a huge oak tree some distance from the house and beyond that lay a tennis court set behind a formal rose garden and an old stone sundial. The atmosphere was peaceful and welcoming, and some of my nervousness fell away.

      ‘Oh, there you are!’ Mary cried with a look of relief. ‘I was afraid that the dog would frighten you off. It scares me half the time, but my father says it helps to keep intruders away. He has three more like it shut up somewhere. I never go near them.’

      ‘Brutus isn’t so bad,’ Paul Ross said. ‘Anyway, I didn’t let anything happen to your friend, Mary.’

      ‘Just make sure it’s safely locked up before you go.’

      ‘Your wish is my command, my lady.’

      Mary stuck her tongue out at him in a most unladylike way and he went off laughing, with the dog trotting at his heels.

      ‘I’m so glad you’re here,’ she said and came to kiss me on the cheek. ‘We’ll have drinks on the lawn and then go inside for lunch. It’s impossible to eat out here when it’s so hot. I thought we might play tennis, but it is much too warm.’

      ‘I do play a little,’ I said. ‘They taught us at school, but I’m not terribly good.’

      ‘Nor am I,’ Mary confessed. ‘Paul is marvellous, of course. Eleanor was too … Did you like my cousin? He can be rather a tease but he isn’t too bad – at least not with me. My father doesn’t care for him much. They don’t get on, but they are always polite to each other for the sake of appearances.’

      ‘He seemed very pleasant,’ I said, letting the comment about her father pass.

      ‘Paul is charming when he wants to be, though he isn’t as nice as he was before the war. That changed him, I suppose. He hated every minute of it, but his father insisted he join up. He was in the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot. A lot of his friends were killed, but Paul was wounded and discharged a year or so before the end. He had a nervous breakdown and spent some months in hospital. I think Eleanor’s death had something to do with his illness lasting as long as it did.’

      ‘He was her brother?’

      ‘Yes, of course. And he absolutely adored her. I’m fond of Paul, but I don’t trust him as much as I did Eleanor. He … Well, he can be a bit odd at times.’

      ‘What do you mean, odd?’

      Mary shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. Changeable might be a better word. I suppose he’s moody. Eleanor said it was because he is such a gifted pianist. Did you notice his hands?’

      ‘No, not particularly. Should I?’

      ‘He has beautiful hands, long fingers.’ She splayed her own. ‘I play the piano but not like Paul. I could listen to him for hours, but he is very private about his music. If he knows I’m listening without his permission he will stop.’

      ‘That is strange. Has he always been like that?’

      ‘No, not before the war. He used to play all the time then. Now he only opens the piano if he thinks he is alone.’

      ‘Have you ever asked him why he doesn’t want you to listen?’

      ‘No. Paul won’t answer questions like that these days. Eleanor knew how to coax him, but he just sulks if I try. Sometimes he sulks and I don’t see him for days.’

      ‘I shouldn’t like him much if he was like that with me.’

      ‘You probably would,’ Mary said with a sigh. ‘I like Paul despite his moods. I feel sorry for him because he is so unhappy. He hates his father. He never says as much, but I know. I understand him because …’ She broke off and frowned as if fearing she had said too much. ‘We are friends, even if it doesn’t sound like it.’

      ‘He is a complex character,’ I said. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like that. My father and brothers are very straightforward and uncomplicated.’

      ‘How many brothers have you got?’ She looked at me curiously.

      ‘Jon and Terry,’ I replied. ‘Jon was a pilot in the war, like your cousin. He joined as soon as he was old enough, but Terry is still at medical school. He is very clever and he’s going to be a doctor.’

      ‘It must be nice to have brothers. Do you have a sister?’

      ‘No. My father said three children to plague him were more than enough, but he’s always teasing us so it may just be that no more children came along.’

      ‘My mother had two miscarriages after me,’ Mary said. ‘Then I think they gave up trying. She slept alone. I don’t think she liked my father very much.’

      ‘Mary!’ I was shocked. ‘Surely that can’t be true?’

      ‘Yes, it is. He wasn’t always very nice to her, Amy, though he could be charming if he chose. I don’t know for certain, but I think …’ She broke off as a maid came out of the house carrying a tray. ‘Ah, here comes our iced lemon barley water. We’ll have some wine with our lunch, but this is nice on a hot day – don’t you think so?’

      ‘Yes, lovely.’

      I sipped my drink and waited for Mary to continue what she’d been saying before the maid came out, but she didn’t. Instead, she started to talk about various functions she had been to and the people she had met. It was so peaceful, the only sound that of a blackbird trilling from the branches of a cherry tree.

      ‘We’re going to a performance by the Ballet Russe next week. They are performing the first showing of Stravinsky’s Les Noces. I don’t much want to go. Do you like the ballet, Amy?’

      ‘I’ve only been once with my school to see Swan Lake, but I enjoyed it – why don’t you want to go?’

      ‘We’re going with the Bradwells. СКАЧАТЬ