Outside the little Post Office he met an acquaintance. ‘Why, good afternoon, Miss Pabbay,’ he said. ‘So you are not yet back in London? How is Mrs Leyden after her accident?’
‘You had better come back with me and find out.’
‘I was about to telephone.’
‘Oh, I have Lunn and the car just up the road. Excuse me while I buy some stamps. We’ve run out and I think she wants to write to her lawyers.’
‘That sounds interesting.’
‘Or ominous, depending upon how you look at it.’
Romula received Parsifal with unusual cordiality. ‘It is kind of you to call and enquire after me,’ she said, ‘but I am fully recovered.’
‘Perhaps you should inform the police of your dangerous experience.’
‘I have already done so by telephone, but, of course, I could give them little information. I do not even know whether my assailant was a man or a woman.’
‘Surely no woman would behave in such a manner?’
‘If you knew the way some women behave nowadays, you would not ask such a stupid question. Is my grandson giving house room to my daughter and Fiona?’
‘Well, really, that is nothing to do with Blue and me,’ protested Parsifal, looking alarmed.
‘I am aware of that. Pensioners seldom hold the whip-hand.’
‘We pay our way, thanks to some help from you.’
‘Barely. You live rent-free, I suppose, and are largely dependent upon the allowance which comes to Bluebell out of my purse.’
‘I am sorry you grudge it to her.’
‘Who said I grudged it? I think it is a pity you do not earn enough to keep her in the style she deserves, but that cannot be helped. No doubt you do your best, such as it is, if only as a beggar when the big bills come in.’
‘Yes, I do my best. It is not easy to follow one’s star. I still hope to make something of myself as a poet.’
‘As a poet, yes, perhaps. As a business man—well, that is beyond your grasp, although, as I say, you know how to beg. You had better put pressure on Rupert to pay for Fiona’s keep. I shall do nothing to help if she leaves me. But I won’t threaten you. You were of service to me this morning. How is my Black Prince?’
‘Gamaliel? Oh, he flourishes. I am sure he would have wished to be remembered to you had he known I was coming here this afternoon.’
‘Cupboard love!’
‘Oh, no! You do him an injustice.’
‘Yes,’ said Romula, after a pause during which Parsifal found himself surprised by his own bold comment. ‘Yes, I believe I do. Of course, your adopting him confirms me in my original estimate of you that you are neither prudent nor far-seeing, but he is an amusing and pleasant person. I may remember him later on.’
‘Well, I’m thankful you’re not prudent,’ said Bluebell, when she heard the story after tea on the terrace was over and Gamaliel had taken his books into Garnet’s room in order to con them while Garnet banged away on his ancient typewriter. ‘If being prudent means blackmailing her into getting Rupert to pay for Fiona’s keep, I hope you never
‘You haven’t had any extra news while I was paying my visit to her?’
‘The only extra news would be the actual arrival of mother and Fiona and they have not come. Of course the quarrel with grandmother may have been made up by now.’
‘You sound as though you would regret that.’
‘Well, I should not be averse to the company of other women in a house which contains myself and three men.’
‘So it was not the money side of it which concerned you? It is a good thing you leave the financial side to me. I don’t know where we should be if you did not place the allowance your grandmother makes you in my hands.’
‘Yes, you are clever with money, Parsifal.’
‘So you don’t mind having Fiona here?’ said Parsifal, finding it unnecessary to disclose Romula’s views of him as a businessman.
‘Since you ask me, no. It is pleasant for a woman to have the company of other women. There are things they have in common which a man would not understand.’
‘I see. I have always thought, until now, that Gamaliel and I sufficed you.’
‘So you do. I said it would be pleasant to have some female society for a change. I did not say it was a necessity and I am far from thinking so. Would you mind taking on the washing-up? It is only three small plates and the cups and saucers, not anything greasy or unpleasant. The light is just right for a picture I want to paint. There are some new visitors at the hotel, you say, so it may be profitable to get a few pictures done while they are here, especially as, if mother and Fiona
‘One of his new visitors, so Trev Poltrethy informed me this morning, is a very wealthy and important woman who is staying for a whole month. She has her own chauffeur who has been accommodated at the pub further up the hill. He is to report for duty each day.’
