Free house of women by Yelena Kopylova Page B

on the couch and be enfolded in j I
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    the upraised arm. This then was the great-gran, the boss. And now her strident voice was directed towards him as she cried, "Come along in.
    Don't stand there; there's a draught from that door. Close it behind you. "
    He did as he was bidden, then moved up the room and, holding his hand out to Victoria Pollock, he said politely, "How d'you do?"
    Victoria didn't actually answer him, but smiled widely at him and shook his hand. Then he was shaking the old lady's hand and saying, "How d'you do?" She, however, did answer: "I do very well, young man," she said.
    "How d'you do?" His wide mouth stretched and he laughed as he said,
    "Splendidly, thank you."
    "Oh. Oh, splendidly." Emma Funnell looked at her
    great-granddaughter.
    "That signifies that you've had a very good week," she said.
    "Yes, Great-gran; and it was most enjoyable. I like Harrogate. We are going back there again. They were so nice at the hotel."
    "Sit down. Sit down, and have a cup of tea; we've just had ours, but there's plenty in the pot."
    Victoria was now bustling around the sofa table that stood at the end of the couch. So they both sat down, Peggy next to her
    great-grandmother and Andrew in a leather chair to the side of the fireplace. But when Emma Funnell demanded now, "Well, let's have all your news," Peggy said, "Where's Mam?"
    "Oh, the last I saw of her she was about to slip across to May's. She didn't expect you until later, not until this evening, really."
    "Oh. Then I'll keep it until she comes back."
    "You'll do no such thing, miss, or missis as you are now." The old lady turned to Andrew.
    "Anyway, young man, how did you find your week?
    What was the hotel like really? "
    "Oh, very upstage."
    "What? What do you mean by upstage?"
    He looked uneasy for a moment, then gave a little laugh before he said,
    "Well, the usual term is posh ... it was really high-class."
    "And your father paid for that?"
    "Yes."
    "Well, well! Tell me what it was like in this upstage-posh-high-class hotel."
    He glanced at Peggy; then his neck jerked in his collar, and this brought his chin out: it was as if he had come to a decision. Smiling at the woman he had already stamped in his mind as a quaint old bossy boots, he went into a detailed description, not only of the hotel itself but also of the treatment they had received from the staff; of the champagne sent with the manager's compliments to their table the evening of their
    arrival, and of his bidding them goodbye when they left.
    As Peggy listened she again saw the man emerging. She also noticed that her great-gran was not only listening to his description of their week in Harrogate but that she was also weighing him up and favourably, too, she thought. As for her grandmother, she was beaming:
    she had never seen her look so relaxed, even happy. There could, how ever, be another reason for both their attitudes: her father was no longer in the house. She had forgotten about him being away; now she realised there was a lightness everywhere, that her grandmother was actually laughing. She had been in her presence now about fifteen minutes and she hadn't heard her complain about one of her ailments.
    Wouldn't it be wonderful if her father never came back!
    "Eeh! dear me.
    Dear me . "What's the matter, child? You feeling faint?" Emma Funnell had held her hand up towards Andrew to check his flow and, taking Peggy's hand, she asked her, "Something wrong?"
    "No, no. Great-gran; just for the moment I felt a little queasy, that's all. If you don't mind I'll go and get a breath of air. I'll tell you what, I'll go across to the Conways and tell Mam we're
    back."
    As she rose from the couch Andrew, too, got to his feet, but hastily she said, "No; you stay and go on telling them all about it. Tell them about the old gentleman who kept taking snuff and his wife
    sneezing, saying, " A-tishoo! Pardon! "
    "Yes . Oh yes," and he smiled as he nodded at her.
    And when Emma Funnell said imperiously,