The Letter by Josephine Cox

Author:Josephine Cox [Cox, Josephine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-31T17:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

WHEN BELLA GOT home that afternoon, she felt more desolate about the fire than ever. It had been a mistake to go to look at the beach hut again so soon. The air at that end of Theddleton was still heavy with the smell of smoke, and there was hardly anyone on the beach or walking along the Promenade, as if the townspeople had an unspoken agreement to stay away as a mark of respect for the Hailshams. There was no one to show off the newly painted stripes to, no one to whom she could recommend Millie’s skills. It didn’t matter: in the circumstances, the subject of painted beach huts was too frivolous to mention anyway.

Bella broke the sad news of the deaths of Rosemary and Marjory Hailsham to her father, who was back from the Three-Mile and pottering around in the garden. Thomas took off his cap and bowed his head. When he looked up, his face was etched with sadness.

‘Ah, what a terrible thing. I wonder when the funeral will be and who is to organise it. I’ll ask at the Informer office when I’m next passing, see if anyone knows, but if you hear owt, please be sure to tell me, Bella.’

‘Of course, Dad.’

Bella decided a discussion about her father growing flowers for her wedding bouquets could wait until another day. Now was not the time for such things. Nor would she be doing anything about her wedding dress this evening.

‘You’re back a bit earlier than usual, love,’ said Thomas. ‘Or have I lost track of time?’ He glanced up at the sky, trying to gauge the hour by the level of light.

‘It’s not long after five o’clock now. Mrs Warminster let me have the rest of the afternoon off after we’d dealt with the rush of children. That’s how I came to see Muriel Chalfont, who told me about the Hailshams. The Warminsters’ son, Toby, turned up as I was leaving work.’

‘They’ll be pleased to see him. Doesn’t he work in London?’

Bella related what she knew of Toby Warminster. She recalled his smiling eyes and thought that her encounter with him, brief and full of social conventions though it had been, had been something of a high point today, especially set against the terrible news about the Hailshams and the unpleasantness of Muriel Chalfont. And quite why Sidney was having tea with Muriel when he said he’d only gone to enquire about her welfare after the fire was still a mystery. Probably she had just invited him to show off, playing the hostess in her father’s grand hotel. That would be typical.

Bella went indoors, swapped her work shoes for older ones, and her coat for two ancient cardigans, and came back out to help weed around the rose bushes in the last of the afternoon light.

‘Did you ask Mr Fairbanks if he’d consider Millie when the girl who’s leaving goes?’ asked Bella.

‘Ah, yes,’ said Thomas. ‘The job’s hers if she wants it. Of course, it’ll be up to Millie, but I think she ought to take it.

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