Legend Of Lexandros. Anne Mather

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       CHAPTER TWO

      AT the weekend Dallas was astonished to find that Jane was not seeing Paris. After her conversation with Alexander Stavros, Dallas had thought that her intervention could only have had an adverse effect on the whole affair, and she could hardly believe that he had actually spoken to Paris. But whatever he had said, it was obvious that Jane knew nothing about her actions, and for this she was grateful.

      Charles arrived on Saturday afternoon to take her down to Maidenhead for the rest of the day, and Dallas impulsively suggested that Jane might go with them.

      But Jane was not so keen, and merely declined politely in favour of staying at home and washing her hair. Dallas left her with some misgivings. If Paris had finished with her, she would be better with company than moping at home alone. However, there was nothing she could say, so she had to agree and go with Charles reluctantly.

      Mrs. Jennings was waiting for them impatiently, and Dallas was forced to spend the afternoon talking to her while Charles went out to do some gardening. Mrs. Jennings was not the best of conversationalists, and consequently Dallas was prodded into doing most of the talking. It was apparent that Charles had been unable to contain the information about Dallas wanting them to have a home of their own, for the first thing Mrs. Jennings said was:

      ‘Charles tells me that he is thinking of converting this house into two flats.’

      Dallas felt her cheeks burn. ‘Oh, is he?’ she temporised.

      ‘You know he is. It was your suggestion, wasn’t it?’

      ‘No, not exactly. I thought we ought to have a place of our own.’

      ‘Stuff and nonsense,’ said Mrs. Jennings rudely. ‘Charles and I get along very well together. I wouldn’t care to have anyone else about the place.’

      ‘But I’m going to be about the place,’ replied Dallas firmly. ‘And Charles is going to be my husband. I think I ought to have some say in the matter.’

      Mrs. Jennings looked annoyed. ‘All these new-fangled ideas! When I was a young girl, I would have been delighted to have a roof over my head, let alone anything else. A big house like this, going to waste!’

      ‘I know, I know, but naturally I want to buy the things we will use; our furniture, our curtains, our own home!’

      ‘You’re an ungrateful girl,’ exclaimed Mrs. Jennings. ‘I expect it’s that flighty young sister of yours putting ideas into your head!’

      ‘Let’s leave Jane out of this,’ began Dallas hotly.

      ‘Why? She has to do with it, hasn’t she? Running around with that Stavros boy! Well, she needn’t think she’ll get away with that kind of behaviour once she’s living here!’

      It was one thing for Dallas to find fault with Jane, but quite another for a comparative stranger like Mrs. Jennings, and Dallas felt her blood boiling at her prudish remarks.

      ‘I doubt whether Jane will want to live here,’ she said, controlling her temper with difficulty. ‘In any case, the wedding is still four months away. There’s plenty of time for more discussions nearer the date.’

      Mrs. Jennings grunted, but was forced to change the subject when Dallas refused to say any more. But Dallas herself felt a rising sense of frustration. Were she and Charles always going to have to adhere to rules made by his mother? And did Charles want things differently, anyway?

      In the week that followed Dallas was tempted many times to question Jane as to the reason for her not meeting Paris, but she knew she could not do this. She had to wait until Jane was ready to tell her herself. The only time Jane did go out was to the cinema with a girl-friend, and she was home soon after ten as expected.

      Dallas was relieved, and yet she could not believe it could be as easy as all that. Jane had been too adamant before to give Paris up without a fight, and Paris himself, from what she had heard, did not sound like the kind of boy to be intimidated by threats.

      She was concerned, too, about Jane, in another way. Her sister did not look well, and her appetite was practically non-existent. At first Dallas had put it down to the enforced separation from Paris, but after a while she began to wonder whether that was all it was. Jane looked so tired in the mornings, and seemed to have lost the vitality she had possessed in such abundance.

      Dallas was worried, and could not hide her feelings entirely from Charles, but when he managed to gain her confidence sufficiently to be told the reasons for her concern, he scoffed at her.

      ‘Heavens, Dallas, what do you want? A couple of weeks ago you were worried because she was going out with Paris Stavros. Now you’re worried because she’s not! You don’t make sense!’

      ‘I know, I know. It’s just … oh, Charles, I have a premonition. Things aren’t as simple as you’d have me believe.’

      ‘Rubbish! The child has been brought to her senses, that’s all. Your talks to her must have borne fruit. I must confess I was surprised at first, but now I can accept it, why can’t you?’

      Dallas flushed. She had told no one of her visit to Alexander Stavros, not even Charles, for she feared his anger about her intervention.

      ‘I don’t know,’ she said, now. ‘Maybe it just seems too good to be true!’

      The following weekend Dallas was awakened early on Sunday morning by a loud knocking on the door of the flat. Drowsy with sleep, she slid out of bed and as she did so she saw that Jane’s bed was empty. She frowned. That was strange. Jane never rose first on a Sunday morning.

      Pulling on a turquoise quilted housecoat, she brushed back the tumbled cloud of her hair and walked through the lounge to the front door, trying as she did so to register the events of the previous evening.

      She СКАЧАТЬ