A Presumption of Death by Sayers Dorothy L. (by Walsh Jill Paton)

Author:Sayers, Dorothy L. (by Walsh, Jill Paton) [Sayers, Dorothy L. (by Walsh, Jill Paton)]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Harriet laughed.

“I think the public are bearing up remarkably,” said Helen, “and no action or reply is required. What do you think, Harriet?”

Harriet took a moment to reply; this was, after all, the first time her sister-in-law had asked her opinion about anything whatever. “Better no answer than a badly made one; a pompous one, for example,” she said. “I don’t think he’s doing any actual harm at the moment. His scriptwriters seem to think that the British working classes go around saying “honest injun” and calling each other “old chap”; he mostly just arouses derision. The other day, when he had been telling us to ask ‘Where is HMS Daring?’ I heard people in the queue at the butcher’s saying in his hee-haw tones, “Where is the Isle of Wight?””

“I don’t understand you,” said Helen. “Everybody knows where the Isle of Wight is; it’s at the mouth of Southampton Water.”

“Never mind, Helen,” said Harriet. “I’m agreeing with you. At the moment Lord Haw-Haw is just a harmless entertainment.”

“Yes. Good,” said Helen. “You ought to reconsider the schooling,” she added, suddenly returning to the attack. “There’s an excellent little prep school at Duke’s Denver that takes boarders from seven. And he would be near his grandmother for weekend outings.”

“Look, Helen, I do see that the situation gives you an interest in how Peter and I raise our children. But it doesn’t put you in charge. I think a child is far too young for boarding school at seven. But I’m not making decisions about that kind of thing without Peter.”

“You may have to,” Helen said.

Harriet let silence lengthen between them.

Then: “I only thought, since your own background was rather different, you might like a little help and advice.”

“I am half my children’s background,” said Harriet, “and the other half is not the Duke of Denver, but the wildly unconventional younger brother.”

“Well, I’ve said my piece,” said Helen, rising abruptly. “I must be going. I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ll just say a word to Mrs. Trapp. I must get her recipe for omelette with dried egg—that was absolutely first class. My friend in the Ministry of Food is urgently seeking palatable recipes.”

She strode down the hallway and into the kitchen, where she found the children, with the addition of Sam Bateson, all happily eating chocolate custard.

Mrs. Trapp, straight-faced, gave her a recipe for making an omelette with reconstituted dried egg. Then Helen left, saying as she went, “I hope that other child brings a ration-book when he eats here!”

Charlie thumbed his nose at the back of his departing aunt. Both Harriet and Mrs. Trapp saw him do it, but neither of them reproached him.

“Where did those eggs come from?” asked Harriet, when Helen had departed. “Ought I to ask?”

“Miss Twitterton let me have two dozen of her bantams’ eggs the day before yesterday, m’lady.”

“Did we pay for them? I didn’t notice them in the accounts for the week.”

“Fair exchange,” said Mrs. Trapp. “She had bought a beautiful silk blouse at a WVS sale, which was far too big for her, and she wondered if it could be taken in.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.