Poppy and mandragora; you drifted there, on a dark lake, asleep.
‘I’ll do Lady Charmington,’ he said presently. ‘What does it matter? I shall be bored – but after all, painters must eat. There’s Mr Pots the painter, Mrs Pots the painter’s wife, and Miss Pots the painter’s daughter – all needing sustenance.’
‘Absurd boy!’ said Isobel. ‘Talking of our daughter – you ought to go and see Jane some time. She was here yesterday, and said she hadn’t seen you for months.’
‘Jane was here?’
‘Yes – to see Winnie.’
Alan brushed Winnie aside.
‘Did she see the picture of you?’
‘Yes.’
‘What did she think of it?’
‘She said it was splendid.’
‘Oh!’
He frowned, lost in thought.
‘Mrs Lemprière suspects you of a guilty passion for Jane, I think,’ remarked Isobel. ‘Her nose twitched a good deal.’
‘That woman!’ said Alan, with deep disgust. ‘That woman! What wouldn’t she think? What doesn’t she think?’
‘Well, I don’t think,’ said Isobel, smiling. ‘So go and see Jane soon.’
Alan looked across at her. She was sitting now on a low couch by the fire. Her face was half turned away, the smile still lingered on her lips. And at that moment he felt bewildered, confused, as though a mist had formed round him, and, suddenly parting, had given him a glimpse into a strange country.
Something said to him: ‘Why does she want you to go and see Jane? There’s a reason.’ Because with Isobel, there was bound to be a reason. There was no impulse in Isobel, only calculation.
‘Do you like Jane?’ he asked suddenly.
‘She’s a dear,’ said Isobel.
‘Yes, but do you really like her?’
‘Of course. She’s so devoted to Winnie. By the way, she wants to carry Winnie off to the seaside next week. You don’t mind, do you? It will leave us free for Scotland.’
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