No Fond Return of Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

Victoria plums,’ echoed Senhor MacBride-Pereira with deep satisfaction. ‘My grandfather was at Balmoral once. That was before he came to Sao Paulo, of course.’
    Mrs Beltane had advanced towards the fence to receive the dish, which was an ordinary glass casserole.
    ‘They will look delightful on my Rockingham fruit plates,’ she said. ‘What beautiful ones they are! And how did you enjoy your conference?’
    ‘Oh, it was great fun!’ said Dulcie enthusiastically, and then began to wonder if it had been exactly that. ‘A lot of people doing the same kind of thing always find plenty to talk about,’ she explained, conscious that this was a dreary description.
    ‘I never remember what it is that you do, exactly,’ said Mrs Beltane graciously. ‘Some kind of secretarial work, isn’t it?’
    ‘Yes, you might call it that, really. I do odd jobs for people.’
    ‘And did you meet anyone nice at this conference?’ asked Mrs Beltane, her tone rising a little with expectancy.
    ‘There were some nice people there, and interesting people too,’ said Dulcie, wondering if the two qualifications could go together. ‘Aylwin Forbes,’ she said, pronouncing his name with conscious pleasure. ‘He’s very well known in certain circles,’ she added quickly, sensing Mrs Beltane’s boredom. ‘And a very attractive young woman called Viola Dace.’
    ‘Oh, I see. Dace. Isn’t that a kind of fish?’
    ‘I don’t know, perhaps it is. I haven’t ever had it.’
    ‘Not to eat, but I think it is a fish. Senhor MacBride-Pereira, isn’t dace a kind offish?’
    He smiled and spread out his hands in a helpless gesture. ‘Perhaps it is eaten by Roman Catholics here?’ he suggested.
    Dulcie felt a sense of unreality coming over her, as she often did when in conversation with her neighbours. It was one of their chief charms, their being so out of touch with everyday life and reminding her of England in the ‘twenties or Sao Paulo in the ‘nineties.
    Later that evening Dulcie looked up Viola Dace in the telephone directory, but could not find her name. Then she looked up Aylwin Forbes. He lived in the Holland Park or Notting Hill area to judge by the address – 5 Quince Square, W.11. I might see him one day, Dulcie thought. She imagined herself in various places but could not exactly visualize the meeting. Perhaps, she told herself with a quicken-ing of excitement, it would have to be contrived. Women were often able to arrange things that men would have thought impossible.

Chapter Four

    ONE isn’t safe anywhere, thought Aylwin Forbes, turning his head away quickly. He had just spent a fruitless morning discussing his matrimonial affairs with his solicitor, and now this had happened.
    And yet it had been a small harmless incident with no danger apparent in it. He had been walking through the Temple, and, attracted by the fine weather, had made a slight diversion into the gardens in front of Temple station which were now full of office workers enjoying their lunch hour in the sunshine. They sat crowded together on seats among the dahlias, reading books and newspapers, holding hands, talking, or doing nothing. Those who had found no seat lay sprawled on the grass, some prudently on newspapers or macintoshes, others not caring or asking themselves if the grass might be damp after yesterday’s rain. And among these last he had suddenly noticed Viola Dace, sitting upright, her hands clasped around her knees, her face raised to the sun. He had looked at her with curiosity before he recognized her, for his attention had been drawn to her feet in red canvas laced-up shoes, which he thought distinctly odd. That was why he had not realized at first who she was, for such a lapse of taste was not to be expected of the Viola he knew, though Vi or Violet might well have been capable ofit.
    He hurried past her and into the station. As he sighed with relief and bought his ticket to South Kensington, he wondered what she had been doing