La Lucia by Hugh Ashton

Author:Hugh Ashton [Ashton, Hugh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-912605-65-1
Publisher: j-views Publishing

Eleven

It must not be supposed that on the whole, the inhabitants of Riseholme felt themselves to be unduly “put upon”, as Mrs Weston’s maid, Elizabeth, would have expressed it. Engaging in Parliamentary politics, after all, was a pursuit fit only for those who had made their choice to reside in London, and had little better to occupy their time.

The members of Riseholme society, though they might deplore the Quantocks’ behaviour in the hoarding of their guests, nonetheless heaved secret sighs of relief that they would not have to ensure endless lectures on the bimetallic question or the importance of battle-cruisers in the naval estimates for the coming year – topics which they were sure would be the principal subjects of conversation were they to be invited to meet Mr Griffiths and his secretary.

It was true that Colonel Boucher had on one occasion found himself in the Ambermere Arms at the same time as the visitor who had been identified by Georgie as the secretary of Mr Griffiths, who was sitting in a corner of the saloon bar, nursing what appeared to be a small whisky and soda, and apparently listening to the other conversations in the bar as if, as the Colonel put it, “the dashed man was some sort of foreign spy or someone come here to steal our secrets”.

Though it had initially been Colonel Boucher’s intention to strike up a conversation with the stranger and introduce himself, there was something in the other’s countenance that precluded any attempts at intimacy, and the Colonel retired without having acknowledged the other’s presence, or indeed, having been himself acknowledged.

On another occasion, the Member for Llanfair was seen with Robert Quantock. Both were carrying a bag of golf-clubs, and walking in the direction of the links, so the purpose of their walk seemed apparent. Although they passed within hailing distance of Mrs Weston and Colonel Boucher, who were engaged in conversation on the green, neither of the golfers seemed to see fit to greet or even to acknowledge the presence of the Riseholmeites. As if to make up for their silence, Mrs Weston had a great deal to say on the subject later on when she met Georgie.

Meanwhile, Lucia was engaged in various projects. She had set herself to learn a Bach fugue, but found that it was beyond the capability of one pair of hands – at least if that pair was hers – to play it, and she enrolled Georgie to assist her. The resulting sound was quite attractive, and Pepino was moved to applaud and praise them both with “Brava! Bravo!” in the most correct Italian at the end of their unveiling to him of the results of their practice.

Georgie worked on his petit point, and on his charming cushion cover, and in the end was pleased enough with it to assign it a place in his pretty little drawing-room.

“Well, that is very nice and pretty, sir,” Foljambe told him when she first saw it in its intended position. “And if I may say so, sir, there’s not that many gentlemen who could produce such a thing.

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.