Modern Art by Evelyn Toynton

Author:Evelyn Toynton [Toynton, Evelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781883285180
Publisher: Delphinium
Published: 2000-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

15

ONE MORNING A WEEK after Belle’s return, Lizzie walks into the kitchen to find Nina at the stove with tears running down her face.

“Don’t,” Nina says, as Lizzie, fighting off panic, pats her awkwardly on the shoulder. It has never occurred to her that Nina is anything but serenely happy. “Please don’t. Please just go away.” Her eyes are red and swollen, even her beautiful shiny hair is disheveled. Lizzie goes back to the dining room in a state of acute distress.

“What’s happened to my cup of tea?” Belle wants to know.

“I forgot.”

“What do you mean, you forgot? That’s why you went to the kitchen.”

Lizzie hangs her head.

“Stop looking like that,” Belle says. “It’s Nina, isn’t it? What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing.”

“Then where is she? Why hasn’t she come to say hello?”

Lizzie is silent.

“Tell her to come here,” Belle says, “go ahead. And then you take a walk. Go down to the beach. The sea air will do you good.”

Lizzie returns to the kitchen to fetch Nina, who looks at her reproachfully. “I didn’t tell her anything,” Lizzie says, close to tears herself. “She just knew.”

“It’s not your fault,” Nina says sadly, blowing her nose. “It’s me. I shouldn’t have come in today, I knew that.”

“So he’s done it again,” Belle says, as soon as the front door shuts behind Lizzie.

“He hasn’t done anything.”

“He’s been hitting you.”

“That’s not true. Look.” She turns her face from side to side and then holds up her bare arms, twisting them this way and that. “See? He hasn’t touched me.”

“Not this time, maybe. But he’s done it before, and he’ll do it again. Don’t tell me different.”

“You talk like he’s some kind of monster, like he’s not even a human being or something. Why do you hate him so much?” The tears are still running down her face. Belle tries a different tack.

“I don’t hate him,” she says, more gently. “I just want him to behave better. I want him to make you happy. And he doesn’t seem to. That’s what concerns me.”

“Only because he’s so unhappy himself,” Nina says and bursts out sobbing. “Oh God.” She gropes on Belle’s night-table for a tissue and wipes her face. “I’m sorry. I hate this, I hate you seeing me like this.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Belle says. “I’ve seen a few people cry in my time.”

Nina lets out a shuddery sigh.

“And I know a thing or two about being a good soldier, too,” Belle tells her.

“Yes … I know. I mean, people have told me.”

“I’m sure they have,” Belle says drily. “I’m sure they’ve told you all sorts of things.”

“But I didn’t necessarily believe them,” Nina says with sudden fierceness. “I knew it wasn’t as simple as they made out, I knew you must have had your reasons.”

“Everybody has reasons. They’re just not very good ones sometimes. That’s what I want you to think about.”

“What are you saying? That I ought to leave him? As if I bought a dress and now I’m going to take it back to the store and maybe get something else? I know people who act that way about marriage.

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