THE COMPLETE WORKS OF E. F. BENSON (Illustrated Edition). Эдвард Бенсон

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СКАЧАТЬ pause Lady Ambermere appeared, looking vexed. The purport of this astounding mission had evidently been conveyed to her.

      "Mrs Lucas, I believe," she said, just as if she wasn't sure.

      Now Lucia after all her Duchesses was not going to stand that. Lady Ambermere might have a Roman nose, but she hadn't any manners.

      "Lady Ambermere, I presume," she retorted. So there they were.

      Lady Ambermere glared at her in a way that should have turned her to stone. It made no impression.

      "You have come, I believe, with a message from the committee of your little Museum at Riseholme, which I may have misunderstood."

      Lucia knew she was doing what neither Mrs Boucher nor Daisy in their most courageous moments would have dared to do. As for Georgie . . .

      "No, Lady Ambermere," she said. "I don't think you've misunderstood it. A stuffed dog on a cushion. They felt that the Museum was not quite the place for it. I have brought it back to you with their thanks and regrets. So kind of you and — and so sorry of them. This is the parcel. That is all, I think."

      It wasn't quite all . . .

      "Are you aware, Mrs Lucas," said Lady Ambermere, "that the mittens of the late Queen Charlotte are my loan to your little Museum?"

      Lucia put her finger to her forehead.

      "Mittens?" she said. "Yes, I believe there are some mittens. I think I have seen them. No doubt those are the ones. Yes?"

      That was brilliant: it implied complete indifference on the part of the committee (to which Lucia felt sure she would presently belong) as to what Lady Ambermere might think fit to do about mittens.

      "The committee shall hear from me," said Lady Ambermere, and walked majestically back to the pink saloon.

      Lucia felt sorry for Miss Lyall: Miss Lyall would probably not have a very pleasant day, but she had no real apprehensions, so she explained to the committee, who were anxiously awaiting her return on the green, about the withdrawal of these worsted relics.

      "Bluff, just bluff," she said. "And even if it wasn't — Surely, dear Daisy, it's better to have no mittens and no Pug than both. Pug — I caught a peep of him through a hole in the brown paper — Pug would have made your Museum a laughing-stock."

      "Was she very dreadful?" asked Georgie.

      Lucia gave a little silvery laugh.

      "Yes, dear Georgie, quite dreadful. You would have collapsed if she had said to you 'Mr Pillson, I believe.' Wouldn't you, Georgie? Don't pretend to be braver than you are."

      "Well, I think we ought all to be much obliged to you, Mrs Lucas," said Mrs Boucher. "And I'm sure we are. I should never have stood up to her like that! And if she takes the mittens away, I should be much inclined to put another pair in the case, for the case belongs to us and not to her, with just the label 'These mittens did not belong to Queen Charlotte, and were not presented by Lady Ambermere.' That would serve her out."

      Lucia laughed gaily again. "So glad to have been of use," she said. "And now, dear Daisy, will you be as kind to me as Georgie was yesterday and give me a little game of golf this afternoon? Not much fun for you, but so good for me."

      Daisy had observed some of Lucia's powerful strokes yesterday, and she was rather dreading this invitation for fear it should not be, as Lucia said, much fun for her. Luckily, she and Georgie had already arranged to play today, and she had, in anticipation of the dread event, engaged Piggy, Goosie, Mrs Antrobus and Colonel Boucher to play with her on all the remaining days of that week. She meant to practise like anything in the interval. And then, like a raven croaking disaster, the infamous Georgie let her down.

      "I'd sooner not play this afternoon," he said. "I'd sooner just stroll out with you."

      "Sure, Georgie?" said Lucia. "That will be nice then. Oh, how nervous I shall be."

      Daisy made one final effort to avert her downfall, by offering, as they went out that afternoon, to give Lucia a stroke a hole. Lucia said she knew she could do it, but might they, just for fun, play level? And as the round proceeded, Lucia's kindness was almost intolerable. She could see, she said, that Daisy was completely off her game, when Daisy wasn't in the least off her game: she said, 'Oh, that was bad luck!' when Daisy missed short putts: she begged her to pick her ball out of bushes and not count it . . . At half-past four Riseholme knew that Daisy had halved four holes and lost the other five. Her short reign as Queen of Golf had come to an end.

      * * *

      The Museum Committee met after tea at Mrs Boucher's (Daisy did not hold her golfing-class in the garden that day) and tact, Georgie felt, seemed to indicate that Lucia's name should not be suggested as a new member of the committee so swiftly on the heels of Daisy's disaster. Mrs Boucher, privately consulted, concurred, though with some rather stinging remarks as to Daisy's having deceived them all about her golf, and the business of the meeting was chiefly concerned with the proposed closing down of the Museum for the winter. The tourist season was over, no char-a-bancs came any more with visitors, and for three days not a soul had passed the turnstile.

      "So where's the use," asked Mrs Boucher, "of paying a boy to let people into the Museum when nobody wants to be let in? I call it throwing money away. Far better close it till the spring, and have no more expense, except to pay him a shilling a week to open the windows and air it, say on Tuesday and Friday, or Wednesday and Saturday."

      "I should suggest Monday and Thursday," said Daisy, very decisively. If she couldn't have it all her own way on the links, she could make herself felt on committees.

      "Very well, Monday and Thursday," said Mrs Boucher. "And then there's another thing. It's getting so damp in there, that if you wanted a cold bath, you might undress and stand there. The water's pouring off the walls. A couple of oil-stoves, I suggest, every day except when it's being aired. The boy will attend to them, and make it half a crown instead of a shilling. I'm going to Blitton tomorrow, and if that's your wish I'll order them. No: I'll bring them back with me, and I'll have them lit tomorrow morning. But unless you want to have nothing to show next spring but mildew, don't let us delay about it. A crop of mildew won't be sufficient attraction to visitors, and there'll be nothing else."

      Georgie rapped the table.

      "And I vote we take the manuscript of Lucrezia out, and that one of us keeps it till we open again," he said.

      "I should be happy to keep it," said Daisy.

      Georgie wanted it himself, but it was better not to thwart Daisy today. Besides, he was in a hurry, as Lucia had asked him to bring round his planchette and see if Abfou would not like a little attention. Nobody had talked to Abfou for weeks.

      "Very well," he said, "and if that's all —"

      "I'm not sure I shouldn't feel happier if it was at the bank," said Mrs Boucher. "Supposing it was stolen."

      Georgie magnanimously took Daisy's side: he knew how Daisy was feeling. Mrs Boucher was outvoted, and he got up.

      "If that's all then, I'll be off," he said.

      Daisy had a sort of conviction that he was going to do something with Lucia, perhaps have a lesson at golf.

      "Come in presently?" she said.

      "I СКАЧАТЬ