hours and then not for long. Through the open dining room door she glimpsed a carefully laid table, set with eight places, of course, but withf lowers too and candles. No boyfriend of hers had ever entertainedin his own home in this fashion. They had all been well off, some of them very rich, but when she had gone back with them their houses or flats had been as messy as hers, and though there was an abundance of drink, cigarettes, and other aids to changing consciousness, she had never seen a laid table or even food on a tray. But Darel, she reminded herself sadly, wasn't her boyfriend or likely to be.
He was a gracious host. Nerissa was used to men singling her out and being particularly nice to her, but she had always wondered about this, knowing that if she had been plain and unknown she would have been largely ignored. And the fact that Darel treated her and her mother and his mother and Andrew's wife in exactly the same way, politely and attentively, farf rom irritating her made her feel that this was how things ought to be in society in general. But she did notice that when he was on the other side of the room, replenishing drinks or checking on the dinner it appeared he was cooking himself, he caught her eye rather often and always smiled at her. When she arrived too, although he had paid her no compliments, she wasconscious as he took her coat that the look he gave her was unmistakably admiring of her appearance, her piled-up hair and the sleek red-gold dress she wore. She resolved that tonight she would forget her stringent discipline in the matter of diet and eat everything she was offered. She would do justice to his cooking.
Music was playing, but very softly. It was the classical kind that she always said she didn't understand, but she liked this. Itwas gentle and sweet with no underlying harsh beat. Apartfrom gatherings at her parents' house, this was the first partyshe had ever been to where no one drank too much, no one disappeared into a bedroom with a stranger, the conversation wasn't smart and malicious, and the language never degenerated into obscenity. It should therefore have been dull, but itwasn't. Nor did the subjects discussed center on domesticity and the property market. Her brother and sister-in-law were both lawyers and they talked about cases that had recently come up in court. They moved on to the stock market, which Darel was as happy to talk about as he was about politics.Everyone had varying, but not ill-tempered, views on the Iraq war. Mr. Jones was a head teacher with informed radical opinions on education. If Nerissa missed the gossip, she liked being asked what she thought, and she very much liked not being treated as the empty-headed model with only her looks and her money to recommend her. Just once she felt awkward and that was when Andrew mentioned a case in which he had been prosecuting and the defendant was a fortune-teller. Everyone present, though in a measured and civilized fashion, condemned fortune-telling as rubbish and astrology along with it. Darel was particularly scathing. Nerissa said nothing, unwilling to appear as the only one there who knew the names of the cards in the Tarot and had actually had her future told.
But she was puzzled as to why Darel had invited her. Shecouldn't think of a reason but she could see her visit as a prelude to something else. At the end of the evening there would surely be a follow-up. And then she'd try to make herself more into the sort of woman he'd like. She'd learn to be tidier and more methodical, she'd read more so that she could better understand what people like the Joneses were talking about and talk like they did herself. She'd buy some classical CDs and stop playing hip-hop and that song about the prettiest girli n town.
Her parents were the first to leave and Darel accompanied them to the front door. Nerissa had noticed that when the door was shut, nothing of what was said in the hallway could be heard by those in the living room. Only the sounds of Darel's calling good-bye and the closing the front door wereaudible.
She let her brother and sister-in-law go, knowing she mustn't be the last to leave. Yet, oh how much she would have liked to be! She was in love with Darel Jones, knowing this quite clearly because she had never been in love before. He had never kissed her, never done more than shake hands with her, but she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She was doomed, she thought, to thinking about him at every waking moment with no hope of her love being returned. But surely a little hope still remained?
Five minutes after her brother's departure, she got up to go,said a polite but not at all obsequious good-bye to Mr. andMrs. Jones, and preceded Darel out of the room. His closing ofthe living room door behind him sent a shiver of anticipationdown her spine. He fetched her coat, held it up for her, said,when she thought utter silence was to be maintained until their farewells, 'Have you had any more trouble from that guy who was following you?'
'Not really,' she said, and thought, why lie to him of all people? 'Well, yes, I have. Today. I won't go into it, it's a long story, but he spoke to me. Put his face up to mine actually, right up, and said things. Oh, nothing horrible, just compliments.'
'I see.' He was silent, thoughtful. 'Next time that happens,next time
'But you're such a long way away.'
'Not that far and I'm a fast driver. Just call me. Especially at night. Don't hesitate after dark.'
'All right,' she said. 'Good-bye. Thank you for asking me,I've had a nice time. You're a very good cook.'
'Good night, Nerissa.'
Shoshana looked at her e-mails before going to bed on Sundaynight. Only one had come. It read:
Very satisfactory. First thing tomorrow morning-that is,at ten, the late hour at which these sort of people got in towork-she would phone Desmond Pearson and tell him MixC ellini was breaking the rules by instituting a private contract with her, and as soon as the spell arrived she would think of ways of administering it. She could always think of something, it was a gift she had.
Chapter 20
The lodger might be in or he might be out. For once Gwendolen had no idea. She was too weak to bother, too sleepy to listen for his comings and goings. That nonsense this morning, young people behaving in an ungoverned way, as she never had,had taken it out of her. If they had all gone as soon as she was.home, she was convinced she would by now have been feeling much better instead of as weak as a kitten. Talking of kittens, here had been a letter from Mr. Singh among the few that hadcome for her, complaining that Otto had killed and eaten both his guinea fowl. Being a peaceable man, he wrote, he didn't intend to 'take the matter further.' He just wanted her to be aware of the 'predatory instincts and achievements' of her 'savage pet.' Meanwhile, he had purchased two geese which would be more than a match for the 'ornithophagous beast.'Gwendolen cared very little about guinea fowl or, come to that, Otto, but she grimly contrasted this excellently educated 'native,'his use of polysyllabic words and his perfect spelling, witht he illiterate English of the present generation. Even she wasn'te ntirely sure if 'ornithophagous' meant 'bird-eating.'
The rest of the post had been the electricity bill, the menuf rom a Vietnamese takeaway, and an invitation to the opening of a new Bond Street store. Nothing from Stephen Reeves. Perhaps he was away on holiday. He had always gone away alot and no doubt he hadn't changed. She would never forget,even after they were ultimately reunited she wouldn't forget,how he had been on his honeymoon while she waited andwaited for him to come. Wherever he was now, he'd probably be coming back today or tomorrow.
The new orderliness in the kitchen, which she surveyed after she had had a sleep, made her cross. What business had those two to go about tidying her home? Now she wouldn't be able to find anything. All the tinned food was in one cupboard, all the brushes and dusters in another. Someone had washed the dusters, removing the encrusted grime of years that had comfortably transformed them from yellow to gray, gray to dark brown. Now they were more or less yellow again. She slammed the cupboard door in disgust. And what had become of all the things she kept in the washhouse?
The bulb in the overhead lamp had gone out. She wasn't climbing up to change that now, not in her state of
