Letters To Alice. Rosie James

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СКАЧАТЬ carefully over to start the filling process. It took about five or six minutes for the baths to reach a satisfactory level, after which, part-immersion took place.

      ‘Blimey,’ Fay had said on the first night, as she dropped her head onto her bent knees. ‘Here we are again – the three wise monkeys! What a bloody carry-on.’ But she wasn’t grumbling…especially as the Radox bath salts she’d bought at the shop – and was sharing with the others – made the water feel lovely. And as they’d idly swish their hands and feet gently around, the warm steam and softly perfumed bath salts always made them feel totally relaxed as they’d chat about the day.

      Then they’d wash their hair while still in the bath, presently helping each other to rinse it off with fresh water carried over from the cauldron and part-cooled from the tap. And there were always plenty of good, comfortable towels to dry themselves with, and to rub briskly at their hair. That always took Eve the longest, with her thick and copious curls and sometimes the others would take their turn helping her, rubbing and brushing until it was done. Even the simple ritual of the collective hair-drying process became a pleasure…something unhurried and enjoyable, and Alice couldn’t help feeling grateful all over again at how her life was. How it had always been, as if someone, somewhere, was making sure she had everything she needed to make her happy.

      The very next morning a letter addressed to Alice arrived in the post. Before she even opened it she recognized the writing. Helena!

      My dear Alice.

      I was so pleased to receive your letter and to know where you are living – and what you are doing. My dear girl…I feel so proud that you are doing your bit for the war effort…I sincerely wish that I, too, could be more use in that regard, but I have not been very well lately, and anyway what on earth would they find for me to do!

      I know only too well that whatever task you are set it will be done with your usual quiet efficiency and good humour. But do be careful, my dear. And please do not wear anything red when you are near the bull!

      All the children are safe and well at school, and the professor is, of course, still very busy at the Infirmary. He lives there almost permanently now, but does return to the Clifton house from time to time to keep an eye on things. He does come to visit us in Wales as often as he can, and I am always so pleased to see him. One of the hateful things about this wretched war is that so many are parted from their loved ones. But we shall all be back together again one day, I know it.

      Sam is now training at yet another hospital in London. I am afraid we do not hear from him very often, but the poor darling is apparently always up to his eyes. He did ring me up – very briefly – but that was weeks ago! I pray for his safety every night. London is not the safest place to be.

      Take good care of yourself, my dear girl. I am so proud of you – as Ada would be. One day we will surely all be able to return to our old way of life and some normality. What a lot we shall have to tell each other!

      With my love to you – Helena.

      PS

      I have sent on your new address to Sam because I am sure he will be interested. Perhaps he will find time to write to you, even if he doesn’t to me! I know you used to exchange letters, and he was always very fond of you.

      For several moments, Alice could hardly move from where she was standing. She was glad to be alone in their bedroom, the others having already been despatched to their various duties, because she wanted a few moments to drink in what Helena had written. She wanted a few moments to savour the words – words which included her name with Sam’s…as if the very act of joining them together in the same sentence somehow provided a precious link…

      She read the letter again, more slowly, Helena’s lovely character shining through the page. How lucky, how immensely lucky, she, Alice, was to have been part of that family. How lucky that Ada had applied for the position of nanny to their children all those years ago.

      Alice let her moistened eyes linger on the best bit of the letter. “He was always very fond of you.”

      Then she put it back into the envelope carefully, and put it with the rest of the treasures in her suitcase.

Chapter Six

      Now that they knew they were going home, Sunday couldn’t come quickly enough for the girls. Not just for seeing people again, but to get away from the farm, and to inhabit a different world for the day.

      On the evening before, as they were clearing up the kitchen after their bathing session, Fay said –

      ‘I don’t know what you think, Alice – but after I’ve spent a couple of hours at home with Gran…and I s’pose I’d better see my parents as well,’ she added, ‘I’m going into the Centre. See a bit of life. Might go to the Llandoger for a drink.’ Well, there were usually Service types at the pub who’d be good for a laugh. Fay wiped her hip bath around vigorously with a towel, which she folded neatly and left in an enamel bowl on the side as instructed by Mabel. The others did the same.

      Alice wondered about going into town. ‘Well – it would depend on what Gloria wants to do,’ she said. ‘She may be cooking us a meal, or having friends in for us all to have a chat and to see what I’ve been up to.’ Alice was also doubtful about the pub suggestion. Although she and Gloria had enjoyed a drink together now and then, that wasn’t the same thing as mixing with drinkers in pubs…which would obviously be smoky and noisy, and where the devil’s medicine would be freely available.

      Fay shrugged. ‘Well – it was just a thought. I am certainly going in for a bit of fun.’ She threw Alice a shrewd look. ‘If you don’t think much of the Llandoger we could always have a drink at the Royal Hotel on College Green.’ She paused. ‘I used to know one of the doormen who worked there, and if he’s still around he’d see we had a nice little corner in one of the lounges. And perhaps we could have something to eat there as well.’

      This sounded a far better idea to Alice, and she smiled quickly. ‘Well…when we know what time Roger will be picking us up to bring us back here, we could maybe arrange to meet, say outside the Hippodrome, an hour or so earlier? How does that sound?’ To sit somewhere in the Royal – that auspicious hotel near the Cathedral – with a little plate of sandwiches and perhaps an elegant pot of coffee in front of them suddenly seemed very attractive. She knew that it had been the venue for many of the posh events that the Carmichaels had attended over the years, and she’d be able to imagine them…entering the foyer and entrance hall in their glamorous attire…the object of everyone’s admiration.

      Now, they left the kitchen, and Eve said – ‘I wish we lived in Bristol. Bath can be so utterly boring at times. Nothing ever happens.’

      And being with her parents for most of Sunday would be boring, too, she thought. They wouldn’t bother to have people in to see her, and hear what she’d been doing. Her parents never had people in.

      ‘Well, Evie – why don’t you get the bus in from Bath and meet us outside the Hippodrome later, like Alice suggested?’ Fay said. ‘I know there’s a limited service on Sundays but there’s bound to be one sometime during the afternoon. Your parents would surely understand that you’d like to do that?’

      Eve thought about that for a moment. Then – ‘Well, what I could do is not say anything about enjoying myself, but that Roger had asked me to meet him in Bristol instead of picking me up in Bath on the way back…and earlier than originally planned.’ This devious СКАЧАТЬ