The Thursday Friend by Catherine Cookson

Author:Catherine Cookson [Cookson, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Cookson, saga, fiction, romance, historic, social history, womens general fiction
Publisher: Peach Publishing
Published: 2011-03-23T16:00:00+00:00

‘Oh, don’t thank me; thank Gilly for having his big ears to the ground. It mightn’t have come off. It was just a chance, because, you know, he won’t recommend anything fishy, and, as he says in his own funny way, some shares just need the chips, salt and pepper and a newspaper.’

‘Does he say that? He’s a funny bloke. Ah, here’s Oscar. He’ll tell you there’s something really special on today.’ He made room in the narrow space for the waiter, whose real name was Harry Blyth, but who, from the time of joining this establishment, had been Oscar Demont; but Oscar Demont had one advantage over Harry Blyth: he could assume three foreign tongues, in broken English, of course . . .

When they had the table to themselves Hannah leant towards David, and her voice held a gurgle as she said, ‘I’m in Wonderland again.’

‘What?’ he put his head closer to hers.

‘I said, I’m in Wonderland again. I entered it the other morning when Mr Gilly danced me through the book-lanes singing his poetry; and I was in it in Madame Yvonne’s. She stepped out of Cinderella: she was the fairy godmother and was dressing me for the ball; then immediately I came out of the station today I was back in Alice, because you were there; and now, during these last few minutes’ – her gurgle turned into a laugh – ‘I meet the Mad Hatter again. They’re all here, and the only thing I’m afraid of is that I’ll wake up.’

He did not immediately answer her, but leant back against the partition; then he said, ‘If it rests with me, Hannah, you’ll never wake up.’

They did not linger over their meal, anticipating the moment when they could be alone together, in the safety of David’s flat. They left the restaurant and took neither a taxi nor a bus, but walked, saying little on the way.

The door to the flat was opened by Peter, who seemed so stunned by the new Mrs Drayton as to have lost his voice. When he did speak, it was to say, ‘Madam, may I congratulate you on . . . well, all I can say is, beautifying beauty still further.’

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