I had brought one of my new cocktail dresses with me when I came to stay with Julia, not because I expected an opportunity to wear it, but simply for the depressing reason that it was clothing and clothing should be worn rather than wasted. So I had something to wear. I could also have my hair done. Still, it would be rude to go out for the evening and leave Julia, my hostess. Then I discovered that Julia had another meeting to attend on Tuesday night. I made up my mind firmly to refuse Henry’s invitation: then, somehow, I did have my hair done, and saw to my nails, and found myself picking up the telephone on Tuesday afternoon. Hearing Henry’s light, soft, amused voice saying how delighted he was I could come somehow helped to bring the whole thing on to a plane of normality. I kept my mind levelly on the fact that life was full of mild and meaningless coincidences. I was going to forget all about fortunetellers. Definitely.
I managed to feel quite suitably brainwashed by the time I arrived at the Dorchester to meet Henry. Dressing in my new clothes, wearing my hair loose and painting my finger-nails made me feel like New Charlotte again, too—though my hair wasn’t orange this time. I had a small flutter of panic as I walked into the hotel foyer in case I didn’t recognize him—or he me—but he was waiting for me and came straight over towards me. I had forgotten he was so small, but although having to look down at him made me feel like a giraffe, it didn’t seem to discompose him in the least: he greeted me with a solemn courtesy belied by the twinkle in his eyes.
‘Good evening, Shah. How very nice you look.’ He held out his hand to shake mine, his touch light but firm and, if I hadn’t told myself sternly that I was imagining it, slightly lingering. He said, ‘It’s a great pleasure to see you again. I’m so glad you agreed to come.’
‘It’s very nice of you to ask me out to dinner.’
‘My dear, it’s entirely my pleasure. It’s very nice of you to accept.’ For a fleeting second he gave me his curly leprechaun grin, and I had the odd but comforting feeling that I had been inspected and approved. But he was talking again, saying that he hoped I didn’t mind eating at the hotel (I didn’t) whose dining-room he felt was tolerable (a word I didn’t feel the Dorchester would have felt was strong enough). We were ushered into the dining-room, and as we sat down, he gave me an alert, considering expression which ought to have made me feel self-conscious but somehow didn’t, and asked,
‘And what have you been doing with yourself, Shah, since I saw you last?’
‘Having a holiday between jobs.’ I looked at him, and grinned suddenly. ‘And being very serious-minded!’
‘You should be more careful. It’s shockingly catching.’ He gave his curly grin again, making me feel gay. It was remarkable how infectious his twinkle was. ‘I’ve been far too dull myself recently. My sister—I told you about my sister, didn’t I?—has been lecturing me. As usual. Now I’m on my way home, where I’ve no doubt I’ll find Esther behaving more like a stable-boy than ever. I’m sure I told you about Esther.’
‘Yes, you did.’ His seventeen-year-old daughter, I remembered. ‘I—er—hope she’s well,’ I said politely.
‘In rude health, no doubt,’ he said, and pulled a face which made me laugh. ‘But we were talking about you. Or are you still stubbornly refusing to talk about you?’
‘There isn’t really anything to say,’ I said airily, hoping that that truthful statement would sound more interesting than it really was. ‘What have you been doing? Did you win at your race meeting?’
‘I came out of it very well, as a matter of fact,’ he said, and named a figure which made me try not to gasp. ‘I backed an outsider called Eastern Potentate, and it came in at twenty-five to one. Entirely thanks to you—so you see, I really do owe you a dinner!’
‘To me?’
‘Of course. A Shah’s an Eastern Potentate, wouldn’t you say? Too much of a tip to miss!’
‘Oh, I see.’ I caught his grin, smiled back, and said demurely, ‘I’m glad I brought you luck.’
‘Of course you did. I’m sure you will again. You know,’ he added cheerfully, ‘if I’d gone on psychoanalysing you with my little drawings, I’m sure I would have guessed your job without your telling me. It’s remarkable how many clues there are. But I promised not to frighten you away again, didn’t I? But if you will be such a mystery...!’
‘I didn’t deliberately—’ I floundered a little, caught his eye, and laughed. ‘One doesn’t have to look like a nurse all the time, does one?’ I asked—reflecting at the same moment that Old Charlotte would never have thought of saying that.
‘Of course not,’ Henry said, approvingly. ‘Though I’m sure you look almost as charming in uniform as you do out of it. I can’t imagine you as a starched and uniformed dragon.’
‘I hope I’m not.’ I added, with curiosity getting the better of me, ‘How did you come to know my address?’
‘Ah, I wondered if you’d wonder. You left me this.’ He fished in a pocket and brought out a crumpled envelope—the one we’d played noughts and crosses on. ‘Readdressed from a vicarage in Hertfordshire to a hospital in a place called Grimsbridge. What a horrible name! I hope it was better than it sounded.’
‘It wasn’t,’ I said grimly, remembering it—not to mention what had taken me there.
‘Then I’m glad to hear you’ve left it,’ Henry said equably. ‘I make a very good detective, don’t I? Perhaps I should have taken it up.’
‘But you’ve still only got as far as my home address—’
‘Elementary, my dear Watson. I rang you up, and your mother—I suppose it would be your mother?—She had a most attractive voice, much like yours. She was kind enough to tell me where you would be staying, and for how long.’
‘Oh,’ I said weakly, wondering what my mother had made of it—though nothing, probably, since she was always in the middle of some committee work or other. Henry seemed to throw compliments lightly at me as easily as he breathed, and I wondered if I had got an attractive voice—like my mother’s. No one else had ever told me so. It also seemed that Henry had gone to some trouble to find me. I crushed down thoughts of the letter H., and answered while he asked polite questions about my family, which, he said wickedly, sounded a great deal nicer than his. Talking to Henry was remarkably easy: he had a knack of looking as if everything one said was interesting.
He went on being easy to talk to, and to listen to, as we sat over a delicious meal chosen with a flattering care for my tastes. I began to feel as if I had known him for a long time, and, after a while, I found myself telling him about Robert, and about my present inability to decide what to do next. It was easy to explain things to such a sympathetic audience, and it wasn’t until we had been sitting for some time over coffee and brandy that I realized how much I had been saying, and that I was probably boring him. Abruptly, the conversation died.
‘I’m sorry. You—don’t want to hear about all this. I shouldn’t start talking about my problems anyway—’
‘Nonsense, of course you should. Some more brandy?’
‘No, thank you.’
‘So you haven’t decided what you want to do next?’
‘It seems difficult somehow. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been talking about it—’
‘Stop saying you’re sorry, Shah!’ He grinned at me, his eyes friendly. ‘I can see it was very lucky I found you, or you might have gone back into being thoroughly serious! As it is, you’ve only just escaped in time! I must say, I think you’re very well rid of this Robert.’
‘So do I. It isn’t that. It’s just ... well, I expect I’ll be able to make up my mind what to do sooner or later.’ I pulled myself together, and smiled at him. ‘Let’s talk about something else. I’m sorry—’ I caught his reproachful look, and corrected myself. ‘All right, I’m not sorry.’ I added, rather shyly, ‘It’s nice of you to be so easy to talk to.’
‘Not at all. I’m very interested. Besides, I’ve been deliberately leading you on.’ He smiled at me. ‘I can quite see that you don’t want t
o go back into your rut now you’ve climbed out of it. It would be a pity. Wouldn’t it?’
‘Yes ... I suppose so. It’s not that I’m not interested in nursing as a job—I am—’
‘But you need a break.’ Henry regarded me with his head on one side, apparently appreciating what he saw. ‘I must admit, I did have a certain idea in my mind when I came to see you.’
‘You—did?’ A warning bell rang in my mind, and at the same time Gypsy Rose’s predictions flooded back at me, however hard I tried to stop them.
‘I have a suggestion to make. Quite by chance, just as you’re looking for a job, I’m looking for a social secretary.’
‘A what?’
‘Please. Wait a moment.’ He looked at me quite seriously for a second, the twinkle usually present in his eyes gone. ‘I really do need a social secretary. At least, that’s what I shall call it, though it’s something more than that. It’s a question of my daughter.’
‘Oh,’ I said faintly.
‘She’s seventeen, and it’s time I did something about her. She has no idea of the social graces at all—she barely speaks to anyone who isn’t a horse! Now you, Shah, could be a very good example to her. Did I mention that I would want my social secretary to come and work in Suffolk?’
‘No, you didn’t. But—’
‘I’m intending spending the winter there, which promises to be very dull; unless, of course, we enliven it a little.’ He grinned at me, before becoming serious again. ‘It’s difficult without a woman in the house—apart from Mrs. Mott, my housekeeper—and I’m determined that Esther shall learn to wear something other than jodhpurs and talk about something other than strained fetlocks. I will not be father to a—a cross-bred mare!’ Henry snorted, making me want to giggle. ‘I propose to give a series of parties for Esther—dances, and so on—and to make her meet people socially as well as on horseback. No doubt the conversation will be horsy—it’s apt to be unavoidable!—but at least she can learn to dress like a lady! You see my point?’
‘Yes,’ I said doubtfully. ‘But—I’m not very—’
‘Nonsense, Shah. Of course you’re very.’ The twinkle was back now, and very much in evidence. ‘You’re very suitable in every way. You’re attractive, graceful, and you know how to dress. You can listen when a man talks, and you’re good company. Besides, you’re a responsible young woman who doesn’t feel it’s necessary to be endlessly solemn about it. And you don’t like horses.’ He counted the points off on his fingers while I tried, vainly, to recognize myself in the picture he was painting. He said, ‘I think you’d be an extremely good influence on Esther. Somehow, by hook or by crook, I’ll make her learn to be feminine if it’s the last thing I do. But—’ he paused, looking at me conspiratorially, ‘we mustn’t, of course, let her know we’re doing it!’
‘I haven’t any qualifications as a secretary at all,’ I pointed out. ‘You’re being very kind, but—’
‘It’s more of a hostess than a secretary. And I think you’d do it admirably. I really can’t give parties without a hostess.’
‘But I don’t know anything about—’
‘You’re used to meeting people—and from what you’ve told me about your home, quite used to organizing things too.’ He seemed determined to override my objections. ‘If it’s the domestic arrangements you’re worried about, those will be taken care of.’ He waved the domestic arrangements away with one airy hand.
‘What I need is someone to be about the place and look after things. The feminine touch. It really is sadly lacking at the moment.’ He made a plaintive face at me. ‘Now really, Shah, you wouldn’t condemn me to a complete stranger, would you? I must have someone who can be part of the family. And think,’ he added, smiling at me, ‘of the dreary winter we’re both going to spend, if you go and take a job just like your last one, and I have to cope with Esther all by myself!’
I drew a deep breath, my thoughts in confusion. Finally I said, ‘But I’m really not a—secretarial hostess. I’m a nurse.’
‘But you wouldn’t mind having a change for a while, would you? Try this for a few months. After that,’ he added, looking at me thoughtfully, ‘we’ll see.’
That made my heart give an uneven lurch. It all seemed too much like fate—but I couldn’t imagine myself acting as Henry’s hostess. The nearest I’d ever got to anything similar was entertaining the Bishop for lunch because both my mother and Jill were in bed with ‘flu and I happened to be there. I said, helplessly, ‘I don’t think I’m the right type at all. I mean, thank you for suggesting it, but—you don’t really know anything about me!’
‘I know a great deal about you. Come, come, Shah.’ He studied me with amusement. ‘I’m quite a good judge of character, you know—better than my relations give me credit for! I could probably tell you more about you than you know yourself!’ His eyes, suddenly, were kind as well as humorous. ‘I know for example that you’ve been suppressing your natural self for years to fit in with the ideas of this stupid Robert—who must have very little taste! Besides, you’d be doing me a great favour if you’d come. Won’t you consider it?’
‘I really don’t know.’ It was a tempting offer, coming out of the blue like this, and Henry was far too nice anyway for me to be able to say a direct no. And it would, certainly, be different... perhaps too different for me to cope with. ‘I don’t really know if I could do that kind of job.’
‘Try. Go on, Shah, break out!’ He grinned at me very wickedly, and then became brisk. ‘Let’s talk about the practical details. You’d have to live in the house, of course—but I think you’d find it comfortable, and I’d want you to treat it as your home. Working hours would be irregular. I’d pay you ...’ he named a sum of what seemed astronomical proportions, without blinking an eyelid, ‘and of course you’d have your keep. And you’d need a car to drive—that we could provide—you do drive, I believe you said. It’s rather quiet at Thurlanger, but we’ll cure that once we start entertaining. Dreadfully dull people, I expect, but we can always do our best. I think,’ he added mischievously, ‘between us we might make the task quite amusing! I’m short of kindred spirits down at Thurlanger. So do come, Shah! What else can I tell you, I wonder?’
‘Er...’ I tried to think of something. ‘What would I do?’ I asked. ‘Housework?’
‘Good gracious, no. Mrs. Mott deals with all that. With a varying selection of local help. I’m not inviting you down to scrub floors, my dear!’
‘Sorry.’ I smiled back at him, unable to help catching his amusement at the thought—though I’d scrubbed plenty of floors in my time. ‘I was just,’ I admitted, ‘trying to think of something I ought to ask!’
‘Then you will consider it?’ he asked eagerly. ‘Good! As to your duties—oh, entertain, organize things, choose Esther’s clothes—that’s very necessary—and generally be there to supervise. And you and I can keep each other amused while everyone else talks about hunting, as they undoubtedly will!’
I was feeling dazed—at the prospect of such a job falling into my lap, and by the effort I was having to stop myself feeling as if fate was pushing me straight into Henry Thurlanger’s arms. After all, he was only offering me a job ... even if he had called me a kindred spirit, and described me in startlingly flattering terms. I told myself firmly that Henry probably looked on me in as fatherly a way as he did Esther—and had to restrain an inner comment that his manner towards me wasn’t at all paternal. He said,
‘If you dislike the idea too much, I won’t press it. But you don’t really—do you?’
‘No, of—of course not. But—’
‘There is just one thing. I think we’d do better to conceal the fact that you’re a nurse. We just won’t bother to mention it.’
‘Why?’ I asked—surprised, and put a little on my guard.
‘Because one of two things would happen. Either—and most probably—people would assume I’m suffering from some dreadful disease, which I don’t want to mention, but that I’ve br
ought you down to look after me. The vultures, in the shape of my relations, would gather hopefully.’ He grinned unrepentantly. ‘Or Esther would jump to the conclusion that you’re not there as my secretary but as her nursemaid, and would rebel accordingly. We need subtlety. You see what I mean? Would you object to that?’
‘I—suppose not.’ It made sense: Henry looked extremely healthy to me, but if he suddenly employed a living-in secretary who admitted to being a nurse, people might well draw the wrong conclusions. ‘If—if I decided to take the job, I mean. May I—think about it?’
‘You really will think about it? I’m glad you haven’t said no.’
‘It’s too good an offer to refuse point-blank,’ I said frankly—doing a further job on crushing the voice of Gypsy Rose, whispering inside my head. Journeys, and a change coming into my life. I pushed the thought away and hoped I wasn’t blushing. ‘How soon,’ I asked, trying to sound businesslike, ‘would you want an answer?’
‘As soon as you can give me one. A few days? I’m sorry if I seem to be rushing you, but if you’ll agree to come it would be pointless to waste time. I’d have liked you to come to Thurlanger as soon as possible—if you will.’ He gave me a charming smile. ‘Now we’ll talk about something else, shall we? It’s not at all late yet, so let’s enjoy the rest of the evening, while I have the pleasure of your company. And—’ he twinkled at me—‘I’ll do my best to put in some subtle persuasions while you’re not looking!’
If being an entertaining companion was one of his ‘subtle persuasions ‘he could manage that without any effort at all. He talked well, and amusingly; and while half my mind was wrestling with the idea of the proffered job and trying not to give it any deep implications, the other half began to relax again in the ease of Henry’s company. He insisted on having a taxi called to take me all the way back to Julia’s flat when the evening was over—and paid it in advance—and we parted laughing, because he had been telling me a long and probably apocryphal story about the time all his relations had decided to visit him at Thurlanger at once, and he had disliked them all so much that he had simply packed up and left for the South of France. We left it that I would write to him and let him know whether I would accept his job, since he was off to Thurlanger in the morning. He hoped I would decide to come...
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