Air and Angels Read Online Free PDF Page B

might, of course, be all for the bad.’
    ‘Too late to worry about that by then, I shouldsay – wouldn’t you?’
    ‘And then …’
    But she had foundered and he knew it, and waited calmly for her to finish.
    ‘The fact is,’ he said, ‘it would be a charity to these – young women, to put them in a Home in the country. They would be spared the prying eyes and the malicious tongues. They might even salvage a little of their reputations by being out of sight until they can return. And besides,surely the air would be healthier.’
    ‘Well – perhaps you are right. At any rate, I am grateful to you for letting me talk it over.’
    ‘And you will talk it over again at your Committee.’
    ‘It will have to be decided, yes. But most likely we shall have to spend too much of the time talking about money.’
    Thomas got up from the table. ‘It is disturbing that the subject should have to take up anybody’stime at all.’
    ‘I daresay. But I’m afraid that, human nature being what it so often is …’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Are you going back to the study?’
    He hesitated.
    ‘Only so that I may tell Alice where to bring the coffee. And perhaps I may join you a little later?’
    For she had still not broached the other matter.
    Thomas nodded. ‘Whatever you wish, of course,’ walking briskly to the door.
    Out in the darkgarden, among the dismal rhododendron bushes, the cat which had made Thomas so agitated, prowls, and will soon slip even nearer to his house, confident of mice, but also sensing rarer prey.
    And in other corners, other cats, yowling for lust as well as blood.
    Out on the marshes miles away, a thousand wild birds roost, secret among the sandbanks, the hollows and the fidgeting reeds.
    But in India,the gaudy birds that are two a penny, shriek and cackle all day, and flaunt themselves.
    And in other hiding places, very different creatures, warm, pliant girls and urgent, persuasive young men, press together against tree trunks, in outhouses and boat-houses and alleyways and even on the memorial bench in the pretty little overgrown garden behind St Botolph’s church, and whisper and kiss andattend only to the moment, never to their futures, which Georgiana and her Committee may sooner or later oversee.
    She did a thing that she had not done for years.
    In a drawer of one of the back bedrooms, lay oddments of uncompleted sewing, and she rummaged about until she found something acceptable, a cushion-cover, half embroidered, and with the remaining silks and needles stuffed inside. Shedid not remember it, had no idea at all whether it had been a project of hers from girlhood, or even of some nursemaid or companion half a lifetime ago.
    It was not unattractive, a modest circlet of pansies and violets interlocked in shades of mauve and blue, with white. And perhaps she should make an effort herself to provide some things, if they were to have a Sale of Work.
    But that was notthe real reason. She felt awkward, suddenly, wanting to sit with Thomas, wanting to talk to him, and to broach the subject of tomorrow evening, yet hesitant and embarrassed. Fearful of his reaction.
    But how perfectly ridiculous, she thought, I am a grown woman, intending to invite an old friend to dinner, and that is all.
    And took up the bag of embroidery and swept calmly through her brother’sstudy and out into the conservatory.
    Only that, of course, was very far from being ‘all’.
    He sat in a basket chair in the shadows, the birds busy here and there secretly among the leaves.
    He said, ‘But you never sew! You are not that kind of woman.’
    And what kind of woman am I? she might have asked, or what kind of woman is it who sews? But did not, only threaded another needle clumsily, inexpertly,as he watched her. And set aside the consideration of what kind of woman she felt herself to be – aspired to be, perhaps – until she was alone and brave enough to face it.
    Instead, she simply looked across at him, and said, ‘I have asked