Free Cover Your Eyes by Adèle Geras Page A

up in dark cellars. How can Mama say she loves us so much and then send us away?’
    Eva said nothing. She was frightened of stopping the flow of Angelika’s words. This was the first time her sister had ever spoken so many words to her all at once. And not shouting at her, either. Not telling her she must go away and play somewhere else. Eva couldn’t help feeling a little happy, and she fell asleep while Angelika was still speaking.
    *
    Enough of such thoughts, Eva told herself. What’s the point of going over the past again and again? She sighed and picked up her cardigan from the back of the chair. It was time to go downstairs.
    Rowena was standing in the hall next to a tall man. ‘Ma, do you remember Luke Fielden?’
    ‘Of course,’ Eva said. ‘You were here the other day, viewing the house.’
    ‘Luke … Mr Fielden … has come to have another look around.’
    ‘Lovely,’ said Eva.
    ‘It’s a great pleasure to see you again, Mrs Conway,’ Luke Fielden said. He was probably in his late thirties but looked younger because there was not a single thread of grey in his hair. ‘I’ve admired your designs for years. My mother used to love your dresses. She waited for every collection, to see what you’d do.’
    Eva bowed her head and smiled. She never quite knew what to say when paid a compliment. Antoine, years ago, had told her:
just thank the person. That’s it. No need for anything else
. So obediently she now said: ‘Thank you very much.’
    Men could be classified into animal types; she’d thought that since she was very young. Most of them were either bears, foxes, horses or pigs. This one, however, was a wolf: dark with yellowish-brown eyes set at a slanting angle in a dark-complexioned, longish face. A thin nose, which made almost a perfect triangle in profile. Good teeth. She’d often noticed this type of face in the latest fashion spreads. She had determined to be out when people were looking around Salix House but today she hadn’t quite managed it. Was Luke Fielden going to buy it? Rowena said: ‘We must get on, Ma … maybe see you later.’
    Rowena was leading Mr Fielden down the corridor to the dining room and drawing room when the doorbell rang again. Eva called out to Phyllis in the kitchen: ‘I’ll get it. I’m in the hall,’ and she walked to the door and opened it.
    ‘How do you do?’ she said, smiling at the young woman standing in the portico. ‘Have you come to look around the house too? Do come in out of the cold. I’m sure my daughter won’t be long, she’s showing a man round at the moment.’
    The woman looked vaguely familiar: dark and pretty, with a good figure and even better skin. Grey eyes. She was wearing a scarf in a pleasing mixture of reds and mauves wound round her neck. It’ll never leave me, Eva thought. This instant weighing up of everything a person is wearing. The young woman said, ‘Oh, no, I’m not here about the house. In fact, I had no idea it was for sale. It was quite … well, it was a bit of a shock to see the board.’
    Eva remembered her then. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘You must forgive me. I’m getting old. You’re the young woman from
lipstick
. I’m afraid I can’t recall your name, though of course once you started to speak, I knew immediately who you were. Come in, come in. It’s very chilly. I’ll ask Phyllis to get us a cup of tea and some biscuits.’
    They went into the kitchen. Phyllis was preparing supper but broke off to say:
    ‘Oh, hello Miss. How very nice to see you again. Miss Pritchard, isn’t it?’
    ‘Megan, please,’ said the woman. ‘I’ve come because the issue of
lipstick
with my article in it came out today. I’ve brought it to show you.’
    ‘How kind of you!’ said Eva but thought: why has she driven all this way? She could easily have sent the magazine through the post, or rung up and told me about it.
    ‘I promised I’d bring it,’ Megan said. ‘Do you remember?’
    ‘That’s true,’