Odd Girl Out by Elizabeth Jane Howard

Author:Elizabeth Jane Howard [Howard, Elizabeth Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780330527309
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK

PART FOUR

THE next morning was hot and bright and fresh, but Edmund woke feeling only the first of these things, and this, he realized, was because Anne, breathing heavily beside him, seemed to have some kind of fever. She was certainly much too hot, and there were far too many bedclothes on their bed – more than their usual number in summer. He twitched a couple of blankets off his side of the bed and lay on his back for a few minutes remembering a number of disparate occurrences and states of mind. His mouth felt dry and dirty; he had a slight headache and a considerable thirst; in fact, he had a hangover. Anne seemed deeply asleep: he settled for a long, hot bath, some Alka-Seltzer and a good deal of coffee before he woke her. To this end, he took his equipment out of their adjoining bathroom and went along the passage to the one used by Arabella. Then he realized that he had left the Alka-Seltzer behind, and swearing softly, went down to the kitchen where some was usually kept. He drank two in hot water – the taste was like white wool in his mouth and he nearly retched, but he knew it would make him feel better, and so it did. The bath, in which he lay for longer than usual, made him sweat, but that, too, he felt was a good thing. After all, he had a day’s work in front of him whatever he felt like. He decided to make the coffee in his bathrobe to give the sweat time to die down. The breakfast tray that Anne invariably laid at night in the kitchen ready for the morning was not laid, and he was both irritated and surprised to find how long it took him to lay it, and how difficult it was not to forget things and then to find them. As he padded upstairs with the laden tray, he thought of Arabella in her room and an overwhelming desire simply to see her, asleep in bed, overtook him. He put the tray carefully down on a passage table, poured out a mug of black coffee with some sugar, which was how he knew by now that she liked it, and knocked softly on her door. He was only bringing her some coffee after all. There was no answer from within. He opened the door gently. Arabella lay in the half-light of the half-drawn curtains, one arm thrown over Ariadne’s back. Ariadne raised her head and stared steadily at him in an outfacing manner. What was he doing here? her look implied. Arabella did not stir.

‘I’ve brought you some coffee.’

She turned her face towards the door, but did not seem to see him.

‘Too early: too sleepy yet,’ she murmured, turned so that he could only see the silky tangle of her hair and the fact that she seemed naked except for the sheet half covering her shoulder. He moved nearer the bed.

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.