Clothes-Pegs by Susan Scarlett

Author:Susan Scarlett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dean Street Press
Published: 2022-07-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Elizabeth was lying on her chair. Freda sat on the end of it. There were crimson patches on her cheeks.

“It’s the injustice that gets me. Because I slip down the stairs in one of the models to talk to a friend there’s no need to speak to me the way Miss Petoff did.”

“It’s a shame,” Elizabeth agreed.

“I suppose us girls must be allowed to speak to our friends sometimes. I wonder she doesn’t shut us up in convents right away and have done with it.”

Elizabeth giggled.

“You’d be a scream in a convent.”

Freda was too angry to see the funny side of anything.

“Tony was only here a minute, just long enough to arrange about to-night.”

“Did Miss Petoff catch you talking?”

Freda wriggled.

“Not so much talking. I suppose it’s up to us girls whether we kiss our friends or not. Or does Bertna’s think they’ve bought us?”

Obviously if you were found kissing on the stairs there must be trouble. Elizabeth could think of nothing better to say than to repeat:

“It’s a shame.”

“I wouldn’t mind so much,” Freda raged, “if it wasn’t for the injustice. She said ‘I’m always having trouble of this sort with you and Elizabeth.’”

Elizabeth sighed at the truth of this statement.

“They shouldn’t be so nosey.”

“Nosey!” Freda sniffed. “They’re not nosey enough. I nearly said that to Miss Petoff. I nearly said ‘Suppose you stop spying on Elizabeth and me for a bit and have a look at Bernadette and Annabel. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll find.’”

Elizabeth sat up.

“What would she? Have you found where Bernadette goes in that Rolls?”

Freda got up and went to the cupboard. She mixed herself a bromo seltzer.

“Not yet, but I will. But I could tell you something about Annabel which would surprise you.”

“I bet you don’t. You said the other day you were keeping it to yourself.”

Freda stirred her bromo seltzer thoughtfully. She had made five pounds out of what she knew. It was unlikely there was any more in it.

“She goes out with Lord de Bett.”

“What!” Elizabeth was so surprised that for a moment she could not collect her wits. “Are you sure?”

Freda nodded.

“I’d love to see our dear Octavia’s face if she knew.”

“She does know.” Freda’s voice took on a note of righteous indignation. “It’s a shame. To think that one of us from this room should behave like that. And then Miss Petoff dares to say it’s always you and me.”

The gross unfairness suddenly struck Elizabeth:

“My word! It is a nerve. And us two the only decent ones most likely.”

“If Miss Petoff knew,” Freda broke in, stimulated to flights of fancy by her bromo seltzer, “she’d have to apologise to us on her knees.”

Elizabeth nodded:

“And give both the others the sack.”

Bernadette came in. She raised her eyebrows to Freda in sympathetic enquiry.

“Did she give you hell?”

Freda gave her a dirty look.

“Yes. But if she knew what I knew it wouldn’t be me that was getting it.”

Bernadette’s head was inside the dress she had been showing. She pulled it off and began to put on another:

“Wonderful imagination you’ve got.

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.