In Pursuit of the English - Doris Lessing [37]
I heard Mr Ponsonby say: ‘A nice little sideline for a man with a few hundred to spare.’
The Colonel, peevishly fiddling with his empty glass, listened.
‘Needs doing up. But it’s in good repair. All it really needs is some paint and a bar.’
‘Your cousin …’
‘He’s not my cousin.’
‘Of course not. Ah, well, these people have their uses, I suppose! He appears to have irons in the fire.’
‘Dozens. He’s a man of enterprise.’
‘That’s what this country lacks, these days.’
‘He was in the Commandos, too.’
But the Colonel’s face expressed nothing but distaste. ‘Was he? I like clean fighting myself. Still, I suppose those fellows were necessary.’
‘My principal needs a quick decision,’ said Mr Ponsonby. ‘You can give me a ring in the morning.’ He got off his stool and turned to us, not immediately recognizing us, so great was his preoccupation. ‘Well,’ he asked. ‘Everything fixed?’ He spoke as if this little matter could only be kept in the forefront of his attention by the greatest concentration.
‘About the rent.’ I asked.
‘Well, my dear,’ said the Colonel. ‘I know one can get anything one asks these days, but I don’t like to take advantage. For you I’d make it ten guineas.’
‘You could easily get fifteen or twenty,’ I said.
‘Yes. I know. Those Yanks’d pay that. But I don’t like ’em.’
‘But I haven’t got the money to pay that, anyway.’
‘Well, it doesn’t matter, because I don’t really want to let it. It’s an idea that came into my head last week. But I suppose I’ll have to end my days here. In the old country. The trouble is, it isn’t the old country any longer. I used to be proud to call myself English. I’m damned if I am these days.’
Mr Ponsonby was examining his watch.
‘This proposition you were discussing with that fellow,’ said the Colonel.
‘A night-club. Perhaps you might be interested?’
‘A night-club?’ said the Colonel, livening up. ‘Well, I might be interested to have some details.’
Mr Ponsonby had by now replaced me beside the Colonel. His manner with him was quite different than with me. He looked, perhaps, like a sergeant-major in mufti, rather bluff and responsible. ‘My principal,’ he said, ‘is very concerned about the hands it might get into. Needs decent people, you know.’
‘Ah,’ said the Colonel, a trifle suspiciously.
‘Shall I ring you in the morning, sir?’
‘Yes, you could do that.’
We parted, the Colonel wishing me well, but without much confidence, because, as he said, I should have come to England before the First World War, it had never been the same since.
Walking home. I was offered a share in the night-club. He also said that if I had four hundred he would double it for me in a month. There was a house for sale for one thousand five hundred; and he knew a man he could sell it to for two thousand three hundred. ‘And what would you get out of it?’ I asked.
‘Your confidence in me,’ he said. ‘Of course, I’d charge a small commission. There’s nothing in it. I can’t understand it, people slaving away, when it’s so easy to make money. All you have to do, is use your intelligence.’
‘All I want at the moment is a flat.’
‘You’ll never find another flat like the Colonel’s, at that price.’
‘But he didn’t want to let it.’
‘That’s not my fault.’ We were now at the house, and he said: ‘I’ll tell you what. I’ll drop around tomorrow and take you to another little place I know about.’
‘Goodnight,’ I said.
‘I like a person like you, who thinks twice about risking their money. I’ll be in touch,’ he said.
Chapter Three
Next day I began to look for a job, and the attitude of the household changed. Rose said: ‘Now you’re going to be a working girl like me. I’m glad.’ But Flo was disappointed in me, even offended. ‘You should have told us, shouldn’t you,’ she said. ‘Told you what?’ ‘Now you’re nice