The Angel in the Corner - Monica Dickens [119]
‘There’ll be no divorce,’ Virginia said. ‘I’m not leaving Joe, and you can’t make me.’
‘All right then, I’m not giving you any money. Why should I support that drunken tramp, who hasn’t the guts to do anything for his wife and family?’
‘It isn’t like that at all,’ Virginia lied angrily. ‘Joe is only out of work for the moment. He’ll get something very soon, but you’ve no idea how difficult it is in London now. Good jobs are hard to find. You have to take what you can get, and it isn’t enough while I’m like this. Helen, you must help us.’ She was ashamed of the appeal in her voice. ‘I hate asking you. I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t pretty desperate.’
‘Leave him, and then I will help you.’
‘I can’t leave him. Don’t you understand that?’
‘As far as understanding it goes,’ Helen said lightly, walking over to a table to get a cigarette, ‘you might as well be talking a foreign language.’ She lit the cigarette and sat down, taking an ash-tray on to her knee, as if she were prepared to fight this out in a long session. ‘You say that you are desperate. That is no surprise to me, now that I’ve seen what your marriage has done for you. You’ve made your mistake. Have the grace to admit it, and get out while the getting is good. I’ve shown you the way. For God’s sake, child, have some sense and take it.’
‘Walking out on your husband isn’t the way.’ Virginia began to move restlessly about the room, unpleasantly conscious of her shape in the tight red dress. She saw herself in a mirror. I look awful, she thought. Pregnant and sullen. Pregnant women should have beautiful, serene expressions, if they’re going to carry it off.
She continued to look sullen. ‘Do you think my father did the right thing by walking out on you?’ she demanded, stopping in front of Helen. ‘I don’t believe you minded too much. I believe it was harder in the end on him than it was on you. I know that you and he weren’t happy together, but leaving you didn’t make him any happier. I know. I saw him after he was alone. You didn’t. I didn’t realize how things were for him then, but I do now.’
‘Don’t let’s drag poor Harold into it,’ Helen said with a sigh. ‘He has nothing to do with it, though no doubt if he knew what was going on, he would feel the same as I do.’
‘He wouldn’t. No one who has made the mistake of breaking up their marriage would ever advise anyone else to do it.’
‘But there is really no comparison, you see.’ As Virginia’s voice grew more vehement, Helen’s became more airy. ‘Harold left a perfectly good wife. You are leaving a perfectly worthless husband.’
‘Can’t you understand that I’m not leaving him? It’s no use sitting there trying to talk me into it as calmly as if we were discussing whether to send back a hat that didn’t suit me. No one could talk me into it, but you would be the last person. You’re prejudiced and snobbish, and you don’t care two straws for people’s happiness, as long as they do what you want them to do.’
‘Thank you,’ Helen said. ‘Thank you for such a delightful description of your mother.’
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.’ Virginia picked up her coat from the bed. ‘I think I’ll go before I say anything else. Forget about the money. We’ll manage. Other people do.’
‘I know,’ Helen said. ‘I saw plenty of them in the street where you live.’ She stood up. Virginia looked at her, and suddenly they both smiled. The battle was over. Neither had won, but they smiled as if they had reached some unspoken agreement not to fight any more.
Helen helped Virginia with her coat. ‘Wait, honey,’ she said. ‘I’ve got a hat that will look just darling on you. I want you to have it.’ She searched among tissue paper and reached up to place on Virginia’s head a little red hat with a turned-up brim that immediately transformed Virginia and the sloppy coat and the tight dress into an object of charm and assurance. As Virginia looked at herself in the mirror, her smile widened. All was not lost. She could still look attractive in the right clothes,