A Charmed Circle by Anna Kavan

Author:Anna Kavan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers
Published: 2014-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER LII

IN spite of his determination to take no further interest in Beryl, Will Trenchard was disappointed when Olive returned to the breakfast-room without her sister. He could not hide from himself the fact that Beryl’s presence in the room, even if she did not speak, made everything seem more vital and entertaining. It was pleasant to watch her, to observe the

obscure changes in her face, and the supple, careless poses of her body. There was always the chance, too, that she would suddenly notice him and become gracious and attentive. He wondered why he did not find Olive equally intriguing, and he began, for once, to consider her more carefully with a view to finding out where the difference lay. He was struck immediately by the unexpected animation of her face. He had always had the impression that there was something limp and apathetic and negative about her, but now she appeared quite different. Her cheeks were rather flushed, and there was altogether an effect of life and colour in her appearance. The change was so remarkable that he was surprised that Mrs. Deane failed to notice it.

‘She’s really quite attractive,’ he thought, and was so impressed by the alteration in her that he felt obliged to comment upon it.

‘There’s something different about you to-day,’ he said. ‘Have you done your hair differently, or what is it? I’ve been puzzling over it for hours.’

‘No, there’s nothing different, really,’ she answered smiling.

Evidently she did not wish to talk, for during the next half-hour she said very little, but he was conscious all the time of the change in her, and vaguely puzzled by it. It was not only in her appearance, her whole attitude seemed, in spite of her silence, to have become freer, more contented and more genial.

The church clock had just finished striking three, and the breakfast-room clock had reached its second stroke, when Doris came into the room. She was plainly very excited.

‘Oh, ma’am,’ she exclaimed in a thrilled, shocked voice, ‘Miss Beryl’s gone now!’

There was a moment of dead silence, then Mrs. Deane asked coldly:

‘Whatever do you mean?’

‘She’s gone away, ma’am. Packed up and taken all her things. I went up to her room just now to ask if she was going to arrange the strawberries for tea, because, as you know ma’am, she always does the fruit, and there was bits of tissue paper all over the floor and all her things gone. I’ve hunted all over the house, ma’am, and there’s not a sign of her.’

Mrs. Deane stared incredulously.

‘It’s ridiculous,’ she said shortly.

‘No, mamma, it’s quite true,’ Olive remarked calmly.

Immediately all the eyes in the room were focused upon her, but she did not feel nervous or embarrassed. On the contrary, she was aware of a quiet satisfaction, a sort of triumph that she, for once, was mistress of the situation.

‘All right, Doris, you can go,’ Olive said curtly, and when the girl had gone, handed the note to her mother. ‘Beryl left this for you, mamma.

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