The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn

Author:Judith Kinghorn [Kinghorn, Judith]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: fiction, General
ISBN: 9780451416636
Publisher: Windsor
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-two

I didn’t want to go back to London, but I knew Mama would. She didn’t want to stay and watch what was left of her home be dismantled, packed into crates. She’d said to me the previous day, “I shouldn’t have to do this . . . I shouldn’t have to see this.” And she was right, I thought.

“I’ve been thinking, Mama, perhaps I should stay here with Henry,” I suggested over breakfast. “It seems wrong for us to leave him, for him to be here on his own—sorting everything.”

“But what about Charlie?” she asked.

“He’ll be fine. We have Sonia now,” I said, referring to our new maid. “She’ll look after him. I can stay here until the end of the week, and get Charlie to come down and fetch me then.”

She looked at me quizzically, and I saw the thought flash through her mind: Tom Cuthbert. Then she said, “You’re right, of course, I would feel better if one of us were to stay here with him. But are you quite certain that Charlie shan’t mind?”

“Quite. I’ll telephone him now.

“Mama would prefer it if I were to stay here with Henry. Would you mind awfully if I did?”

“Yes, I jolly well would. Do you really have to? There’s no doubt a bloody army of helpers there—and those two friends of his.”

“There’s not an army of helpers here, Charlie. And Julian certainly can’t do anything,” I added. “I think Henry only brought him down for a break. And to be honest, Henry’s not much use either. He’s simply not able to cope with it all on his own.”

“Really, Clarissa, I need you here . . . I need you here with me.”

“But it’d only be for the week.”

“The week! You mean I shan’t see you all week?”

“I’ll call you. Every day. I promise. And on Friday, you can drive down here.”

He muttered something, then said, “Well, it doesn’t seem as though I have any choice in the matter. But it’s really not on, you know. You’re my wife . . . you’re meant to be here for me.”

“You’ll be fine, dear. And they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder . . .”

It wasn’t as though I was planning anything sinister. I simply wanted to stay a little while longer at Deyning. And even if Tom Cuthbert hadn’t been there, I’d have elected to stay and help Henry. But yes, I wanted to see Tom again too. I couldn’t leave him. Not yet.

After waving off Mama, I spent the morning sorting china and crockery with Mabel in the dining room, listing each dinner and tea service, checking for chips and cracks before she wrapped them in newspaper and placed them into a crate. Henry had gone down to the farm, where there was to be an auction of livestock the following week, and I wasn’t altogether sure where Michael and Julian were, or even if they were still at Deyning.

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