Voices in Summer by Rosemunde Pilcher

Author:Rosemunde Pilcher
Format: mobi
Published: 2010-06-02T02:00:00+00:00

PENJIZAL

The weather was changing, the barometer dropping. A wind had arisen, flowing in from the southwest, warm and blustery. On the horizon, clouds banked, in dark billows, but the sky remained blue, crossed by chasing banks of white cumulus. The sea, observed from the gardens of Tremenheere, no longer lay blue and flat as silk, but was whipped into flecks of surf. Doors slammed and windows rattled, and sheets and pillowcases and Joshua's nappies flapped and bellied on the washing line, making a noise like badly set sails.

It was Saturday, and Eve for once had her kitchen blissfully to herself. May had taken a pile of mending up to her room and, hopefully, would not appear again until lunchtime. Drusilla had gone down to the village to do her shopping, pushing Joshua in the old pram. In deference to the wind, she had wound a woollen shawl about her shoulders and as well, Eve was glad to notice, had put clothes on to Joshua: a nappy and a felted sweater that his mother had bought at a jumble sale.

Because it was a Saturday and the factory was closed, Ivan had placed his free day at the disposal of Laura and taken her off in his car to show her the north coast in general and Penjizal Cove in particular. Eve had packed a picnic for them and warned Ivan about letting Laura do too much or walk too far.

'She's been ill; you mustn't forget that. That's why she's here.'

'You are a fussy old hen,' he told her. 'What do you think I'm going to do? Take her on a ten-mile hike?'

‘I know what you're like, and I have a responsibility to Alec'

'What am I like?'

'Energetic,' she told him, thinking that she could have said a great many other things.

'We'll have a picnic and we'll maybe have a swim.'

'Won't it be terribly cold?'

'If the wind stays in this quarter, it'll be sheltered at Penjizal. And don't worry. I'll take care of her.'

So, she was alone and it was eleven o'clock and she was making coffee for herself and Gerald. She put two cups on a tray with the milk and sugar and a ginger biscuit for Gerald and went out of the kitchen and down the passage to where he had his study. She found him sitting behind his desk, dealing with the paper work that nowadays seemed inevitable if one were to run any sort of an establishment. As she appeared, he laid down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and took off his spectacles.

He said, 'The house seems quite extraordinarily quiet.'

'Of course it does. There's nobody in it except you and me and May, and she's upstairs darning your socks.' She put the tray in front of him.

'Two cups,' he observed.

'One is for me. I shall sit and drink it with you and we shall have a companionable five minutes together with no interruptions.'

'That'll make a nice change.'

She picked up her cup and carried it over to the

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