A Spy in the Family by Alec Waugh

Author:Alec Waugh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 1970-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

Myra slept late next morning. She fixed her breakfast before she took her bath. She was still sipping her coffee when Lena came into the kitchen.

‘I’m afraid I have bad news,’ she said. ‘I shall have to leave.’

‘Why?’

‘My sister is getting married to a German. She is going to live in Hamburg. That means that my mother will be all alone.’

‘Are you going to live with your mother?’

‘Oh no, that wouldn’t work at all. There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s not an invalid. She’s not fifty yet. She’s not infirm. But she’s a widow. She’s lonely. She does need a daughter that she can talk to on the telephone, whom she can run-round to at a moment’s notice, who’ll be five minutes away if she’s not feeling well.’

‘I can see that.’

‘She wants to have someone she can do things for.’

‘I can see that too. You will be missed though. You don’t need telling that.’

‘I’m sorry to go. I’ve been very happy here. You’ve been most kind to me. I love the children.’

‘What about Anna? Is she going too?’

‘She said she would.’

It was what Myra had expected. She did not feel that it was any use trying to persuade Anna to stay on, but she made the attempt. She waited till they were alone together.

‘I don’t suppose it is any good my asking you to stay on with us?’

Anna shook her head. ‘I’m afraid it isn’t.’

‘I understand.’

‘I believe you do.’

Once again there flashed between them a look of understanding, almost a conspiratorial look. They could talk in shorthand. ‘If things change for you, if you were alone, if ever you should want to come back…’

‘I’ll write, don’t worry.’ There was a wistful expression in her face. ‘I’d like to think I had a harbour here.’

‘Yes, think of it that way.’ There was no hurry about their leaving. They would stay on till after Myra’s return from her tour of the Middle East. In the meantime Anna was going to try to find another Swedish couple.

‘Do you think they’ll be such a team as those were?’ Victor wondered.

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