Long Summer Day by Delderfield R. F

Author:Delderfield, R. F.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2014-07-21T16:00:00+00:00

II

Celia’s second letter arrived towards the end of January, more than six months after Grace had left. Her first, replying to his angry demands for news of his wife’s whereabouts had merely annoyed him for he concluded from it that Celia was not much surprised by what had occurred and that it was not, in her view, an astonishing thing for her stepdaughter to have abandoned home, husband and a six-month-old child after an apparently trivial disagreement. The letter, moreover, expressed a neutrality that he would not have expected from her in view of her eagerness to arrange the marriage and he thought, bitterly, ‘Damn the woman! She might at least have said something sympathetic, even if she does make it very plain she won’t accept the job of umpire!’ He had not written again and was therefore surprised by a message from Coombe Bay one grey morning, informing him that she had returned to the Valley and would be glad if he would call as soon as convenient. He rode over that same afternoon but as he stood outside the door awaiting an answer to the bell his mind returned to the first occasion he had stood here, also in response to Celia’s urgent invitation; it seemed to him more like fifty than two years ago. She received him graciously when the trim maid showed him up the narrow stair to her little boudoir, looking out across the restless winter sea but he was in no mood for polite preliminaries and said, bluntly, ‘I could make no sense at all of your first letter and can only suppose that you now regard the marriage as a mistake on everybody’s part!’

She looked at him with her head on one side and then, laughing heartily, took his hand on both of hers and kissed him on the cheek.

‘Paul,’ she said, ‘you might have frightened Grace with that baronial approach but it doesn’t impress me in the least! Sit down, unbutton your coat and tell me exactly what led up to it. More important still, tell me how you got along before it happened.’

He was nonplussed by her heartiness but her charm began to reassert itself after a few moments so that he found himself thinking not so much of Grace or his own situation, but how she managed to look so young and attractive. He discovered too that he envied her assurance, reflecting that it was no wonder she had taken his news so lightly for there was so much experience behind her friendly brown eyes. He told her, without embroidery, of the passive period of their marriage and the sense of security it had given him, and then of their two quarrels, one over Smut Potter and the other over Roddy Rudd, and their exchange of ultimatums in respect of the rally and the visit to the ballet. She was a good listener and he saw that she did not miss a point but when he had finished, describing how

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