(4/13) Battles at Thrush Green Read Online Free PDF Page A

herself to be side-tracked, but Charles had the uncomfortable feeling that she would return to the attack shortly.
    'My brother's child. David, you remember? Died last Spring?'
    'Indeed I do.'
    'Well, at last the lawyers have sorted things out – though why they take so long remains a mystery. David left a perfectly straightforward will. One or two small bequests to relatives and friends and the rest to Connie. A child of seven could have settled it during an afternoon, but here we are – months later – only just about to take possession. I'm going down to fetch my car.'
    'Your car?'
    'Yes, yes,' Dotty said testily.
    She rose from the chair, dropping the magazines which she had been clutching the while.
    'Thought I'd hand these in before I forgot them. Such a lot to do before setting off.'
    'But can you drive?' asked Charles.
    'Of course I can drive! I had a licence on my seventeenth birthday and I've always kept it up. Luckily, I shan't need to take a test.'
    'But, Dotty dear,' said Dimity, 'I've never seen you driving, and I've known you for quite twenty years.'
    'Maybe, but it's all in order, and the car is taxed and insured. I quite look forward to the drive back.'
    Charles and Dimity exchanged looks of horror behind their departing guest's back.
    Charles spoke with some authority.
    'Dotty, do I understand that you propose to make the return journey alone?'
    'Naturally. Go down by coach, back in the car. Simplicity itself.'
    'Can't you get a garage to deliver it for you? Or Connie? You see, things have altered since your driving days. The traffic, for one thing. And then, cars are quite different now. You might not be able to control it.'
    Dotty's face became quite puce with indignation.
    'Not able to control it?' she echoed. 'If I could manage Father's Studebaker and my dear little bull-nosed Morris, which tended to be temperamental, I don't mind admitting, then I can certainly drive David's car. Don't forget, I often sat in it when I was staying there. It was very easy to drive. David always said so.'
    'Nevertheless,' said Charles, 'I think you should have someone with you. If need be, I will accompany you myself.'
    'Rubbish! Stuff and nonsense!' exclaimed Dotty, making for the door.'I never heard such a lot of fuss about nothing. I wish I hadn't told you about my little legacy.'
    She began to storm along the corridor to the front door, Dimity following her.
    'Don't be upset, Dotty dear, and do think over Charles's offer. And, by the way, what is Connie's address, just in case we want to get in touch while you're away?'
    'The Limes; Friarscombe, will find me,' said Dotty, struggling with the front door.
    'And perhaps we'd better have the telephone number,' continued Dimity, opening the door. 'Just in case the goats come to any harm, you know.'
    Dotty, for a brief moment, remained motionless, as the full horror of this possibility burst upon her.
    'Sensible, Dimity. Friarscombe Two One Three. I'll see you about, probably, before I go.'
    She set off down the path without so much as one backward look. Her stockings, Charles noticed, were in a highly dangerous state of decline.
    Dimity returned to the kitchen, looking determined.
    'Charles, we must get in touch with Connie and see that Dotty is kept from driving that car alone.'
    'I quite agree. She really wouldn't be safe.'
    'And nor would anyone in her path,' added Dimity.

    'Heard about Miss Harmer's car?' enquired Betty Bell of her employer the next morning.
    'No,' said Harold, removing a glass ash tray, in the nick of time, from the path of Betty's onslaught with a duster.
    'She told me yesterday while I was giving her kitchen a going over. And did it need it? She's got a great cardboard box standing on that dresser of hers – why, it's been there ever since I started doing for her, and that's how long?'
    She stood transfixed, frowning with concentration. Harold took advantage of the lull to rescue The Times hoping to find a more peaceful spot in which to peruse