The Angel in the Corner - Monica Dickens [69]
‘Don’t forget what happened with the schoolmistress, Mollie,’ Paul said, blinking and stretching his eyes to keep himself awake.
‘There you go again, being perfectly dreadful. Of course I wouldn’t dream of gate-crashing the love nest. I know when people want to be alone.’ She made the harmless remark sound offensively lewd. ‘I just want Virgie to feel free to come up and chat with me whenever she likes. No man is ever such a good confidante as another woman, in my opinion.’
‘Don’t expect Virginia to run up and cry on your shoulder every time we have a row,’ Joe said. ‘She’s not that kind.’
‘And we don’t have rows,’ Virginia added. ‘Joe, why don’t you get Mr and Mrs Mortimer a drink? They must have something, now that they’re here. We’ve only got whisky, I’m afraid, but nobody has drunk our health yet. You can be the first.’
She sounded wistful, and Joe had a sudden vivid picture of what her wedding would have been like if she had married the kind of man her mother expected. White lace, and yards of that flimsy stuff they hung over the heads of brides to make them look like virgins, and champagne, and people making speeches, and Virginia radiant as a queen. She had looked radiant enough in her plain blue dress in the registry office, but not like a queen, more like an excited child.
He put his arm round her. ‘You shouldn’t have said that,’ he whispered.
At the word whisky, Paul’s eyelids had flown up like shutters, and he had leaned forward in his chair. Mollie had stood up and gone to him, holding out her hand to help him to his feet.
‘We’ll have to be running along,’ she said. ‘It was so nice meeting you, Virgie. I hope we’ll see a lot more of you.’
‘I hope so too. I’m sorry you won’t stay to drink our health, Mrs Mortimer.’
‘Mollie to you, I insist. We don’t drink dear. Thank you all the same.’ She departed quickly, hustling Paul’s stumbling feet up the stairs, and leaving the smell of stale lavender water in the air behind her.
‘What’s the matter with her?’ Virginia asked. ‘I tried to be as nice as I could, though I don’t think she likes me. Did I say something wrong?’
‘You did, but it wasn’t your fault. It was the whisky that sent her scuttling off like a scared rabbit. Paul’s an alcoholic.’
‘Oh, dear.’
‘No harm in him. He manages to get the stuff, when he can get away from her, but he’s perfectly respectable about it. You just won’t see him around for two or three days sometimes, but he’ll come out of it looking as innocent as a baby. It all goes to his feet. I can’t think how he does it. The only time I was ever on a real bender, I ended up in hospital. Scared the pants off me. Don’t look so alarmed. I won’t do it again.’
‘I hope not. It must be dreadful for Mollie, but I dare say she drives him to it.’
‘She’s not so bad, compared to some of the landladies I’ve had. We’ll have to keep in with her in case we ever can’t pay the rent, but I hope she doesn’t come crashing down here every time we – where were we, Jin?’
‘In the kitchen. You were kissing me. Like this.’ She put her arms round his neck and kissed him lightly. ‘Not quite like that.’
‘Don’t, Joe. I want to hang out that white dress if I’m going to wear it tonight. Put that case on the bed for me, will you?’
He lifted the case, and opened it for her. Virginia came quickly across the room. ‘Don’t bother. I’ll do it.’ She shut down the lid so swiftly that she grazed the back of his hand.
‘What’s the matter? What’s in there that I can’t see?’
‘Nothing. What would there be? It’s just that it’s a mess. I packed in a hurry. I don’t want you to think your wife is untidy.’
She spoke quickly. She was covering something up. Well, let it go. He would find out what she was hiding. Perhaps it was a present for him, or the picture of some old boy-friend she couldn’t bear to leave behind. Old love letters. They would have some fun with those. After he had read them, he would scrounge some