beginning to feel that she was really having quite a jolly time.
Henry and Jane had not moved and as they approached, Jane jumped up and seized Charles's hand. 'It's time you danced with me. Henry hates dancing. Come on.' She led Charles back to the floor, leaving Edith alone with her porcine husband.
He smiled vaguely. 'She always says that. I don't really hate dancing at all. Would you like to give it a go?'
Edith shook her head. 'Not unless you're dying to, if you don't mind. I'm exhausted.' The thought of being pressed into that pillow of blubber made her shudder.
He nodded philosophically. Being turned down was obviously not a new experience. 'Do you know Charlie well?'
'No. We just met in the country and then again at Ascot and here I am.'
'Where in the country? Who with?' He perked up a bit at the chance of some more Name Exchange.
'With the Eastons. In Sussex. David and Isabel. Do you know them?' She knew very well he would not. She was right.
'I've known Charlie all my life.'
Edith fished idly in her brain for an answer. 'I don't think I've known anybody all my life. Except my parents,' she added with a laugh.
Henry did not laugh back. 'Oh,' he said.
She tried again. 'Who are Eric and Caroline?'
'Caroline's his sister. I've known her all my life too.' He nodded gently to himself, pleased with these long associations.
'Eric's this chap she's just married.'
'I gather you haven't known him all your life.'
'Never saw him before the wedding.'
'Is he nice?'
'I really couldn't tell you.' Obviously Caroline was guilty of some hideous impropriety in Henry's eyes. Some horrible miscegenation had taken place in this coupling of strangers. Edith felt that she herself was hovering at the borders of a solecism by even talking about the interloper.
'Where is Royton?'
This time Henry's face registered surprise rather than distaste. For her not to know where Royton was must surely indicate that she was an eccentric. 'Norfolk.'
'Is it lovely?' Edith was beginning to feel as if she was turning over huge clods of ploughed earth in her effort to keep Henry entertained.
He shrugged and looked round for the bottle to help himself to another glass. 'People seem to think so.'
Edith opened her mouth to try again and then shut it. Not for the last time she was struck by the tyranny of the socially inept. Endless effort is harnessed to a sluggish and boring conversation simply to preserve these dullards from a sense of their inadequacy. The irony being that they are quite impervious to their own shortcomings. If Henry had even noticed things were at all heavy going he would unhesitatingly have blamed it on Edith and the fact that she didn't know anyone interesting. Before the silence had become oppressive Charles and Jane returned and the remainder of the time was spent gossiping about more people that Edith had never met.
'What a lovely evening,' she said, as the car stopped outside her parents' flat. Charles made no attempt to park it so he clearly knew the night would contain no sexual epilogue.
'I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm sorry we got rather lumbered.'
'Don't be. I liked them,' she lied.
'Did you?' He seemed a bit anxious. 'I'm glad.'
'Henry was telling me about Royton.'
He nodded, back on home territory. 'Yes, they're next door to me up there. That's really why I know them.'
'I thought they were cousins.'
'Well, they are. From a marriage in about eighteen thirty. But I know them because they live next door.'
'It sounds lovely.'
'It is. I'm not sure how good old Henry is at managing it but it is charming. Anyway, there's pots of money so I suppose it doesn't matter too much.' It was easy to see that Charles thought he was
They stared at each other for a moment. Edith realised that she rather wanted him to kiss her. Partly because she wanted to be sure she'd been a success, and partly because she just wanted to kiss him. He leaned forward awkwardly and pressed his mouth against hers. His lips were hard and firmly shut. He sat back. Ah, she thought. More Philip than George. Oh well. What she said was, 'Good night and thank you again. I have so enjoyed it.'
'Good,' he said, and he got out of the car and escorted her across the road to the front door, but he made no attempt to kiss her again as he said good night, nor was there any mention of the next time they would meet. It would be fair to say that, up to that moment, she had not been aware of wanting much more from the evening than the reassurance that Charles found her attractive, liked her company and wanted to see more of her. But now that the ending was proving rather flat, she was filled with a feeling of disappointment, with the sense of a chance lost. This had been a great opportunity and she had blown it without fully understanding why. On the whole, it was with a sense of failure that she crept quietly into her room, trying not to wake the mother who was lying staring at the ceiling two doors down.
