The Sweet Dove Died Read Online Free PDF Page A

interesting?’ James asked.
    ‘Not really. She was in love with some man – you know the kind of thing.’
    ‘Yes, of course,’ said James awkwardly. ‘Is the village nice?’
    ‘Not bad, but there’s such oppressive greenness and too many trees. And all the people are elderly and keep dropping in.’
    The idea of the country conjured up an exaggeratedly romantic picture to James; he imagined remoteness and distance until Phoebe explained that the village was within easy reach of London by train or Green Line bus.
    James nearly said that he would come and see her but his natural prudence held him back. He could see that he might not want to go into the country in winter, yet he found Phoebe interesting and suggested that they might meet at some future unspecified date. He gave her the telephone number of the antique shop but not of his flat. One never knew. For the same reason he did not kiss her goodnight though he offered to take her wherever she was staying. But she dismissed his offer brusquely, saying that she was spending the night with a friend in West Hampstead, and walking off into the darkness leaving James feeling that he had in some way behaved unchivalrously. All the same he felt that he had made an impression on the girl and he looked on the encounter as something of his own, a private thing that neither Leonora nor his uncle need ever know about.

V

    Humphrey and Leonora had been lunching together and now, as it was a fine afternoon, he proposed a drive into the country.
    ‘I shall enjoy it all the more because I shall feel slightly guilty leaving poor Miss Caton to cope with any possible customers,’ he declared, ‘but who could work on such an afternoon?’
    ‘What about James?’ Leonora asked. ‘Won’t he be working?’
    ‘Not exactly – I’ve sent him off to have a look round some country antique shops. It’ll be good practice for him to see other dealers’ stuff.’
    ‘I suppose he’ll be incognito,’ said Leonora fondly, ‘or even heavily disguised.’
    ‘Oh, there’ll be no need for that – nobody in the trade knows him yet,’ said Humphrey. He hoped they weren’t going to talk about James all the time. Indeed, he had chosen this afternoon because he wanted to get Leonora to himself – it was much more suitable that she should spend her time with him rather than with James. As they waited at the traffic lights he leaned over towards her and was about to lay a hand on her when they changed to green and he was forced to attend to his driving.
    ‘Where are we going?’ asked Leonora, moving just the merest fraction of an inch away from him. ‘Somewhere interesting and remote?’
    ‘Not remote,’ Humphrey admitted. ‘Interesting, yes, in a way – somewhere you said you’d never been.’
    ‘That might be almost anywhere,’ Leonora teased. ‘Surbiton or Slough or those places where commuters live.’
    ‘Well, I suppose people could commute from where we’re going and probably do. But I shan’t tell you till we get there.’
    Leonora leaned back in pleasurable expectation. Humphrey’s car was very comfortable and the good lunch had made her a little drowsy, but of course it would never do to go to sleep. One simply mustn’t allow oneself to drop off…
    Suddenly – had she perhaps nodded for just a second? – the car turned off and they were among trees.
    Humphrey stole a glance at her to see her reaction. At intervals during lunch his lips had curved into a secret smile as he imagined Leonora’s pleasure at Virginia Water, her exclamations over trees, water and ruins.
    ‘How beautiful!’ She clasped her hands together in a gesture of delight. ‘And so quiet and peaceful.’
    ‘Yes, of course one couldn’t possibly come here at the weekend – it would be intolerably crowded and vulgar. But in the middle of the week on a working day . . his voice boomed out among the young beech trees.
    ‘A working day,’ Leonora mocked, thinking how pompous dear old