An Accidental Man Read Online Free PDF

in July, but July was still a long way off. And now there was Gracie.
    Ludwig recognized the little guilty shock as a realization that when Garth came he would no longer be alone. He would no longer be waiting. I am surrendering my aloneness for ever, he thought, clutching Gracie’s hand. What would Garth think about this engagement ? Garth and Gracie, whose families were acquainted, had known each other slightly since childhood. It was through Garth, or more immediately through Garth’s father, Austin Gibson Grey, that Ludwig had met the Tisbournes, Charlotte Ledgard, Mitzi Ricardo, Mavis Argyll and many other of those fearfully English English with whom he now felt so surprisingly at home. Garth had suggested to Ludwig, who was to precede him to England by a year, that he should look up Austin. ‘You may be able to help my father,’ he said cryptically. Austin had certainly helped Ludwig, finding him digs at Mitzi’s place, introducing him to people, setting him on the path to Gracie. Had Ludwig helped Austin? Austin was not easy to help. ‘Austin is hopeless,’ George Tisbourne used to say. ‘Elder brother trouble of course.’ Austin’s elder brother Matthew was a horribly successful diplomat. Austin was not so good at coping. Ludwig rather liked Austin’s hopelessness. It relaxed his nerves to see Austin flounder. Of course poor Austin had serious troubles, but for some reason one could never take them too gravely. How surprised Austin would be about Ludwig and Gracie! ‘Not a chance,’ Austin had judged when Ludwig told his love. And what would Garth say? Garth would say nothing. Garth the lone wolf. But Garth would be in some way disappointed. He would feel that Ludwig had been absorbed into ordinariness. They don’t like each other, Garth and Gracie, Ludwig had earlier intuited from Gracie’s chatter. He could see why. And he felt now with a kind of sadness and a kind of pride what it was like to be responsible for the being of another.
    â€˜Do you find that your ears stick to your head at night?’
    â€˜I don’t know, poppet.’
    â€˜Mine do, it does feel funny. You’ve got such nice sleek animal ears. Some men have such coarse ears. Ludwig, do do something for me. Cut your hair very short, the way it used to be. I love it furry.’
    â€˜OK, honey. But it looks so sort of grey when it’s short.’
    â€˜I like it nice and grey.’
    He had begun to grow his hair, it occurred to him guiltily, to please another girl.
    â€˜And another thing, Ludwig darling.’
    â€˜What, angel?’
    â€˜Don’t go to see Dorina like that any more.’
    Feminine intuition.
    â€˜Why not, sweetheart? You know it’s not —’
    â€˜I know it’s not. I know it’s for Austin. But I hate your being a sort of emotional go-between for them.’
    Dorina was Mrs Austin Gibson Grey. Something had happened to poor Austin’s second marriage. But what had happened no one could make out, least of all perhaps Austin and Dorina.
    â€˜Austin trusts me. I can help.’
    â€˜Austin must unravel all that muddle for himself. Please keep out of it. Don’t go to Valmorana.’
    Valmorana was a sort of hostel for distressed girls which was run by Dorina’s elder sister Mavis Argyll. Mavis was a social worker and generally agreed to be ‘wonderful’, one of those dedicated single women on whom society so much depends. Dorina, fleeing for reasons unknown from her husband, had taken refuge there.
    â€˜You see, at present Dorina just wants to be by herself, but they each want to know how the other —’
    â€˜Yes, yes, Ludwig, I understand. It’s not that I’m against Dorina, one couldn’t be. She’s so touching and sort of caught. And with Austin as a husband — It’s that it’s all such a mess and you can’t really help them, no one can, and you’ll just get