A Handful of Dust - Evelyn Waugh [35]
a terrible effect you seem to have. He's never like this as a rule." When they had gone nanny threw open another window. "Poof!" she said, "making the whole place stink." "Don't you like it? I think it's lovely." Brenda took Polly up to Lyonesse. It was a large suite, fitted up with satinwood for King Edward when, as Prince of Wales, he was once expected at a shooting party; he never came. "How's it going?" she asked anxiously. "Too soon to tell. I'm sure it will be all right." "She's got the wrong chap. John Andrew's mad about her... quite embarrassing." "I should say Tony was a slow starter. It's a pity she's got his name wrong. Ought we to tell her?" "No, let's leave it." "When she was dressing Tony said, "Brenda, who is this joke-woman?" "Darling, don't you like her?" The disappointment and distress in her tone were so clear that Tony was touched. "I don't know about not liking her exactly. She's just a joke, isn't she?" "Is she... oh dear... She's had a terrible life you know." "So I gathered." "Be nice to her, Tony please." "Oh, I'll be nice to her. Is she Jewish?" "I don't know. I never thought. Perhaps she is." Soon after dinner Polly said she was tired and asked Brenda to come with her while she undressed. "Leave the young couple to it," she whispered outside the door. "My dear, I don't believe it's going to be any good... the poor boy's got some taste you know, and a sense of humour." "She didn't show up too well at dinner, did she?" "She will go on so... and after all Tony's been used to me for seven years. It's rather a sudden change." "Tired?" "Mmm. Little bit." "You gave me a pretty long bout of Abdul Akbar." "I know. I'm sorry, darling, but Polly takes so long to get to bed... Was it awful? I wish you liked her more." "She's awful." "One has to make allowances... she's got the most terrible scars." "So she told me." "I've seen them." "Besides I hoped to see something of you." "Oh." "Brenda, you aren't angry still about my getting tight that night and waking you up?" "No, sweet, do I seem angry?" "... I don't know. You do rather... Has it been an amusing week?" "Not amusing, very hard work. Bimetallism you know." "Oh yes... well, I suppose, you want to go to sleep." "Mm... so tired. Goodnight, darling." "Goodnight." "Can I go and say good morning to the Princess, mummy?" "I don't expect she's awake yet." "Please, mummy, may I go and see. I'll just peep and if she's asleep, go away." "I don't know what room she's in." "Galahad, my lady," said Grimshawe who was putting out her clothes. "Oh dear, why was she put there." "It was Mr. Last's orders, my lady." "Well, she's probably awake then." John slipped out of the room and trotted down the passage to Galahad. "May I come in?" "Hullo, Johnny-boy. Come in." He swung on the handles of the door, half in, half out of the room. "Have you had breakfast? Mummy said you wouldn't be awake." "I've been awake a long time. You see I was once very badly hurt, and now I don't always sleep well. Even the softest beds are too hard for me now." "Ooh. What did you do? Was it a motor car accident?" "Not an accident, Johnny-boy, not an accident... but come. It's cold with the door open. Look there are some grapes here. Would you like to eat them?" John climbed on to the bed. "What are you going to do today?" "I don't know yet. I haven't been told." "Well I'll tell you. We'll go to church in the morning because I have to and then we'll go and look at Thunderclap and I'll show you the place we jump and then you can come with me while I have dinner because I have it early and afterwards we can go down to Bruton wood and we needn't take nanny because it makes her so muddy and you can see where they dug out a fox in the drain just outside the wood, he nearly got away and then you can come and have tea in the nursery and I've got a little gramophone Uncle Reggie gave me for Christmas and it plays 'When Father Papered the Parlour,' do you know that song. Ben can sing it, and I've got some books to show you and a picture I did of the battle of Marston Moor." "I think that sounds a lovely