The Town in Bloom Read Online Free PDF Page A

sorry, infant,’ called Macgregor. ‘But anyway, you won’t stay innocent long, not in this village.’
    I said, ‘Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m quite unshockable .’ And I believed it to be true. Aunt Marion, a great admirer of Shaw – many of her triumphs in amateur theatricals had been as Shavian heroines – had brought me up on what she considered emancipated lines. Had I presented her with an illegitimate baby she would have uttered no word of reproach. But flippancy about sex had never come my way and when it did – there was a good deal of it at the Club – perhaps I was, at first, a little shocked; or to say the least of it, astonished, particularly by the fact that girls I took to be living perfectly respectable lives could regale each other with highly indecent stories. Macgregor, a dab-hand at these, was said to have a private line to the Stock Exchange.
    The sixth occupant of our village soon arrived and joined the Frobisher-Macgregor conversation. She was addressed as Lofty, short for Loftus. I was to find that most Club members were called by their surnames, or abbreviations of them. But Molly and Lilian were called by their Christian names and I, from the first, was ‘Mouse’.
    Molly soon came in for my tooth mug and brought it back filled with tea. She then went to drink her own tea in bed. Conversation continued until she called: ‘It’s time we all went to sleep. Mouse, you should brush your teeth after that bread and butter. You have good teeth and should take care of them.’
    I got up and did as I was told, and heard Molly and Lilian also busily brushing. Then Molly called: ‘And in case you have need, there is a lav. just across the landing. In this village we only use our pots in emergencies.’
    When I came back, Molly and Lilian had put their lights out but the others were still talking loudly.
    ‘Friends, I should appreciate silence,’ called Molly.
    There were groans from Frobisher, Macgregor and Lofty but they did slightly lower their voices; and before long, they too put their lights out. I remember thinking it was strange to be sleeping so close to other people. Except during a few of our holidays I had never shared a room even with my aunt. I also remember thinking that I would describe the recent conversation in my journal. But I never did; the journal was in for a period of neglect. Had I written in it the next day, should I have recorded that I now thought Molly and Lilian would become real friends of mine? I doubt it. I think we slid into close friendship so easily that I never noticed it was happening.
    No one in the village snored. It seems to me that no one so much as turned over in bed. Perhaps the six of us slept the profound sleep of youth; or perhaps it was just that the depth of my own youthful sleep blanketed out all sound.

2
    I was awakened at nine-thirty by the clatter of crockery in the next cubicle: a maid was bringing Molly her breakfast in bed. Remembering, from the Club prospectus, that breakfast in the dining-room was served only until nine-forty -five, I sat up and wailed that I should never get down in time.
    ‘Of course you won’t,’ said Molly cheerfully. ‘Darling Charlotte will bring you something.’
    Darling Charlotte was heard saying she would do no such thing. She then informed me that breakfast in bed had to be ordered the night before. ‘You need to write your name in a book, miss.’
    ‘But she didn’t know that,’ Molly explained. ‘And you’ll want to help her, because she’s a poor small mouse in mourning for her aunt.’
    I wasn’t. Aunt Marion had disapproved of mourning.
    Charlotte then told me she would see what she could do. ‘But it’ll only be toast and marmalade – it’s too late for a fried egg. Tea or coffee, miss?’
    I chose coffee and thanked her profusely. While she was gone I went along to the lavatory and saw, as I passed between the two rows of cubicles, that Frobisher,Macgregor and Lofty were already out