A Quality Street Christmas by Penny Thorpe

Author:Penny Thorpe [Thorpe, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2022-09-15T12:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

‘What was so urgent that you had to send a messenger girl? I was in the middle of my weekly accounts.’ Diana Moore didn’t come down to the stables much, but she conceded that when they needed to talk privately it was useful to have them at their disposal.

‘We can’t talk here.’ Mary nodded in the direction of the stable stall and Diana walked over and peered inside.

‘Hullo, who are you?’

A girl who Diana dimly recognised from her dinner-plate eyes sat nervously on the edge of a hay bale beside the long-suffering Ruffian.

‘I’m Ada Helliwell. Reenie Calder told me I could come and eat my lunch with her. This is her horse.’

In unison Diana and Mary said, ‘We know.’ Ada sneezed twice, and then the horse sneezed and then a sort of relay of sneezes ricocheted back and forth between the two.

‘I think you’re allergic to the hay,’ Diana said. ‘Perhaps you should come out into the yard.’

‘Oh, I don’t mind it,’ Ada said, resigning herself to needless discomfort.

‘Suit yourself.’

‘You’re both here! I am pleased!’ Reenie turned the corner into the yard and saw her two friends before her waiting visitor.

‘I think Mary and I ought to go back to my office.’ Diana didn’t look in the direction of Ada because although she was blunt, she wasn’t rude.

‘No!’ Mary blurted out quickly, and gave Diana a look which said that they couldn’t speak freely in her office. ‘I need to tell—’

‘Ada!’ Reenie called into the stable. ‘Come out and meet my friends, Mary and Diana.’ Then to the friends who were quite evidently not in the mood for social introductions, ‘Mary, Diana; this is Ada, the cousin of my supervisor. She’s new, but she’s not really found her place. I thought we could make her feel at home, all girls together. We’ve got the factory dance coming up, and I’m thinking of getting a lipstick. What do you reckon?’

Ruffian snorted loudly and Ada gave another sneeze. Diana attempted to ask questions of Mary with looks, and Reenie – intent on her plan to get her job back by impressing her manager – ploughed on with her oblivious and determined small talk. ‘I’ve never bothered with lipstick, I’ve always thought you can be a bit too young to pull it off, if you know what I mean, but I was eighteen the other week and I think I might push the boat out.’

Mary ignored Reenie and persevered – in guarded terms – with Diana. ‘If someone on my line was planning to hand in their notice …’

‘Then they can give it to you. You’re an overlooker now, it’s part of the job. Let Hiring know you want someone new to fill the position and induct them. There’s no need to summon me down from my office to tell me that in a stable yard with cloak and dagger.’

‘Will you be wearing lipstick to the dance, Ada?’ Reenie asked.

Ada looked as though she were about to sneeze, but the moment passed. ‘I’m not sure if I want to go or not.

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