Country Plot (16 page)

‘It must be nice to live in a place with a real community,' Jenna said. ‘In London you take your friends where you find them, and you hardly know your neighbours.'

‘Well, it's good and it's bad. You can't keep anything secret,' Harry said. ‘For instance, when you and I go out for dinner on Thursday next week, everyone within a ten mile radius will know about it.'

‘I haven't said I'll go out with you yet.'

‘Congolese food,' he reminded her seductively. ‘You can't go to your grave never having found out what it is.'

She laughed. ‘Oh, all right, if Kitty doesn't mind. Shouldn't we change sides again?'

‘Once dessert's on it's a free for all. But I think poor old Brian Longhurst would love another go of you, if you're feeling charitable.'

So she turned and talked to her other neighbour, who did seem delighted; and while she listened and nodded she thought that Harry was really rather sweet. He pretended to be terribly hip and cool and careless, but he was kind and thoughtful towards an old man who was nothing to him but a neighbour. Maybe there was something in this country living.

The dessert stage didn't last long, as there were after-dinner guests coming, and everyone soon decamped into the drawing room for coffee and a welcome injection of new conversation.

Suddenly and surprisingly, Jenna found Alexander standing before her again. ‘How times have changed,' he said. ‘Just a few years ago, this stage of the evening would have included the smoking of cigars. Now nobody except a few of the farm workers smokes.'

‘And presumably they don't smoke cigars,' Jenna offered. His tone had been pleasant, social, and he was obviously trying to make amends, so she did the same.

‘Maybe they do, in the privacy of their homes, but I've never seen them do it in public,' he said. He smiled. It was a cautious, wary smile, but a smile nonetheless, and it transformed his face. Jenna had to take a deep breath to withstand it. ‘I'm sorry about earlier,' he said. ‘That was bad form.'

‘I don't know what happened,' Jenna said. ‘I've absolutely no desire to quarrel with you.'

‘One thing you said did hurt me,' he said gravely. ‘About my not helping Kitty with the cataloguing.'

Jenna waved it away. ‘Not my business. I shouldn't have said it.'

‘You were entitled to wonder. But my own business takes up all my time. And my expertise is strictly with furniture. Of course, when the time comes, I'll help her to sell the better pieces of furniture – though the market's depressed at the moment and prices are down. And some of the items, like that dining table, will be very hard to find a buyer for. Nobody wants these big pieces nowadays.'

‘It's a terrible shame to think of selling them anyway,' Jenna said more warmly. ‘They should stay where they are, where they belong. And Kitty should stay, too. It's what she wants.'

He cooled a little, seeming to take that as a criticism. ‘You have no idea how much it costs to maintain a house like this. Nobody wants them any more. They're a millstone round people's necks.'

‘But surely there are rich people always looking for big houses – footballers and pop stars and Arab sheikhs, anyway. Millionaires have to live somewhere.'

‘These days, millionaires want to build their own houses, from scratch. New house, new furniture. They don't want antiques.' There was a hint of bitterness in his voice now. ‘They want everything new. Haven't you seen them popping up everywhere, these ghastly gin-palaces with their electronic gates and floodlighting and indoor swimming pools and gyms? Horrible blots on the landscape.'

Jenna said, ‘Well, it's sad, but if that's what they want, aren't they entitled to have it?'

‘The wrong people have the money these days,' he said.

She laughed. ‘Meaning, not you or me? Well, I agree with that.'

They seemed to be getting along quite well, but just then one side of Jenna went cold all the way down to her ankles, and Caroline was there, the mobile open freezer. ‘Agree with what?' she asked brittlely. ‘You two are having quite a chinwag, it seems.'

She slipped her hand through Alexander's arm as she spoke, and his face seemed to cool and set, too, into the old mask of faint disapproval. Jenna shivered involuntarily.

It gave Caroline her opening. ‘I'm not surprised you're cold. There isn't much to that dress, is there, Jenny? Shouldn't you go and get a cardigan? It would make things very difficult for Kitty if you were to get ill. It would be inconsiderate of you to expect her to nurse you.'

‘My name's Jenna, as I told you before,' Jenna snapped.

‘So you did,' Caroline said in a kindly voice. ‘I have difficulty remembering it, because it's not a proper name, is it? It must be so annoying for you when people keep getting it wrong. Perhaps you should think about changing it by deed poll.'

Harry joined them at that moment, and Jenna looked at him gratefully and fought down the urge to say, ‘Get me out of here.'

‘Admiring Jenna's dress, Sissy?' he asked of Caroline. ‘Something like this would suit you, you know. But you'd have to wear a padded bra, of course.'

‘Don't be vulgar,' she snapped. ‘And don't call me Sissy.'

Jenna made the mistake of laughing, and the freezing air now coming from the two of them was making her nipples stand up. She slipped her arm through Harry's and leaned against him, and was gratified to see Caroline's nostrils flare in annoyance.

‘Oh, I don't think this dress would suit your sister at all,' she told him. And to Caroline: ‘It really isn't your style. You're much more—' She paused, as if searching for the right word, giving her the opportunity to look Caroline up and down consideringly. The nostrils began to resemble the entrance to the Channel Tunnel. She felt Harry holding his breath. Alexander was beginning to look alarmed. ‘Grecian,' she concluded pleasantly.

Harry let out his breath in a snort of laughter, and Jenna took the opportunity to say, ‘Excuse me, I must go and see what Kitty wants,' and take her leave.
Pure theatre
, she thought, using Jim's words.
That girl loves to make an exit
.

She hoped she hadn't gone too far. But she was only going to be here a month, so it was hard to care.

The rain Bill promised arrived as the last guests were leaving, and Jenna woke the next morning to a misty world of gurgling gutters and dripping trees. After all the excitement – and, it had to be said, all the wine – of the previous evening, she had slept later than usual, and went downstairs to find the place empty except for the two dogs, sitting by the front door looking hopeful.
What's a bit of rain
, they urged, wagging their extremities and making little suggestive movements towards the outside world.

‘Where's the missus?' she asked them. They weren't telling, but she found a note Sellotaped to the sitting-room door.
Gone to church. Didn't want to wake you. Back about 9.30. Don't wait to eat if you're hungry. No Mrs P today, so it's cornflakes, I'm afraid!

It was a quarter past nine already. Feeling guilty, Jenna went along to the kitchen – which was spotless, though the sculleries were still piled with things for washing-up – and by the time Kitty got back she had breakfast almost ready.

‘What's that nice smell?' Kitty said, stepping into the back lobby and starting to shed wax jacket, shapeless hat, welly boots and dripping umbrella, every movement hampered by joyfully bouncing dogs. ‘Can it be toast?'

‘I couldn't let you come back to cold cornflakes,' Jenna said. ‘I'm doing us scrambled eggs, toast and coffee.'

‘What a rock of a girl you are,' Kitty said, seeming more delighted than the small service warranted. ‘I knew I was right to ask you here.'

‘Isn't it early for church? I thought services started about half past nine or ten,' Jenna said, stirring the eggs.

‘There's Matins at ten o'clock, but I like to go to the eight o'clock service. There's something about being out early on a Sunday. The feeling that you have the world to yourself.'

‘I must come with you next week,' Jenna said. ‘I'm sorry I slept in this morning. The eggs are ready now. Do you like them
on
the toast, or to the side?'

They carried everything through on two trays and ate in the conservatory, with the rain pattering steadily on the roof above. Kitty opened the door so that the smell of the wet world could come in, and the dogs went and lay down by it with their paws on their noses. Only their eyebrows moved as they followed every movement of the human hands, but they sighed gustily from time to time.

‘It was a marvellous do last night,' Jenna said.

‘
Did
you enjoy it? There were times when I looked around and thought what a dull lot of friends I have. Of course, they're my age and not yours, which is only natural. Next time we entertain, we must do something we can invite more young people to. But Harry seemed to be entertaining you all right?' There was a faint question mark at the end of the statement, and Jenna responded to it.

‘He was fun. He's very different from his sister, isn't he?' she asked cautiously. She really wanted to know what Kitty thought of the Ice Queen.

‘Well, they're only
step
brother and sister, of course,' Kitty said. She hesitated, as if on the brink of something, and then took another forkful of egg instead of speaking.

Jenna tried: ‘I don't think Caroline approved of my dress. I'm afraid perhaps it
was
a bit over the top, but you see I had no idea what people would be wearing. I had to guess, and I guessed wrong.'

Kitty was suddenly fierce. ‘Oh my dear, there was nothing wrong with your dress! It was delightful, and such a pretty colour.' Red patches of annoyance coloured her cheeks. ‘I wasn't sure whether to tell you, because I don't want to stir anything up, but Caroline came to early service this morning
on purpose
to complain about you. I know it was deliberate, because she
always
goes to the ten o'clock, and she waylaid me on my way out and walked with me to the gate so I couldn't avoid her. Made me miss speaking to the vicar, too,' she added wrathfully, ‘which I was intending to do.'

‘What did she say?'

‘Well, I couldn't really get a handle on what it was she objected to, apart from your dress. She seemed to think it was proof that you were a woman of easy virtue, or something like that. I don't know
who
she thinks you could debauch around here. Poor Brian Longhurst, perhaps! She seemed to be trying to put me on my guard against you, without saying what it was you might try to do to me.' A gleam of humour came into her eyes as her wrath faded. ‘Now, promise to tell me if you decide to hit me over the head and steal my purse, because I do hate surprises.'

‘I'd never hit you on the head,' Jenna said solemnly. ‘I hate unnecessary violence. I'd just steal your purse in the night and slip away under cover of darkness.'

Kitty smiled. ‘Such a lot of nonsense! I'm so glad you aren't offended.'

‘Oh no. She made it pretty clear last night she didn't like me, though I can't think why.'

‘I'm so sorry. You were supposed to enjoy yourself.'

‘I did. Don't worry, she didn't upset me. I'm only sorry to be the cause of friction in your life. After all, she and Alexander
are
going to marry, so it's more important that she gets on with you than with me.'

‘Poor Xander,' Kitty said abruptly. ‘I can't believe he'll be happy with her. I'm rather afraid she found him when he was vulnerable, and he didn't entirely realize what he was getting into.'

‘How was he vulnerable?'

‘Oh, he was just out of a relationship that broke down. Like you. He and Stephanie had been together for years, and we all thought they'd get married, but then she went off with someone else and broke his heart. And it seems almost before he could draw breath, there was Caroline. Suddenly they were seen everywhere together. It all happened much too quickly. Within a matter of months they were engaged. He bought her a huge ring – I can't think how he afforded it, because all his money's tied up in his business.'

‘It does sound a bit as if she “caught” him. But that's no reason for him to marry her if he doesn't want to.'

‘Well, perhaps he does. I can't answer for his inner feelings, of course. I just feel they aren't suited, and I'm so very fond of him, I really want him to be happy.'

‘Then I'd better keep out of the way as much as possible. After all, you'll have her around for the rest of your life, but I'm only going to be here for a month.'

Kitty looked bleak. ‘What a horrid prospect. I wish you hadn't reminded me. I do so like having you here.'

‘Well, I can always come and visit,' Jenna said. ‘When Caroline's not about. By the way,' she added as she remembered something, ‘Alexander said something last night that intrigued me. He said I was just like my mother. Did he know her?'

Kitty frowned. ‘Well, of course, Peter and I were close friends with Xenia and Geoffrey – Xander's parents – during the time that your mother and father used to come to visit, and we all six used to get together, in this house or theirs. But Xander was only a schoolboy, and I can't believe he really noticed your mother very much. Children don't take that much interest in grown-ups, do they? Perhaps he's seen a photograph of her, and meant you look like her – which you do, quite a bit. Though you're prettier than Annabel. She wasn't a classical beauty: more what I would call striking. And she was a wonderful dresser, always looked sensational. I never really had much dress sense. And frankly –' she smiled – ‘I've never cared that much about clothes anyway. I was always too interested in being comfortable. I suppose that's living in bad climates so much. Well, what are you going to do today? Rather sorry weather, but it's good for the garden. Especially the veg. Bill's ecstatic about the rain.'