Free Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson

at the girl for reading what did not concern her. Or had something else happened in the club? Worried now, she walked quickly back to the main staircase, hoping to be able to call Lucy back and talk to her—but the girl was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter Three
    â€˜Fucking charity,’ said Ronnie, shutting the door to the workroom behind her and leaning heavily against it as though something savage were at her heels. ‘It may well begin at home, but I didn’t expect to have to live with it morning, noon and night. I don’t know why we do it to ourselves.’
    Lettice looked up from the design she was working on and rinsed her paintbrush vigorously in a Staffordshire harvest jug which stood on her desk, chipped and missing its handle like most of the antiques she collected. ‘Cheer up, darling,’ she said brightly. ‘It’s nearly over.’
    â€˜Is it, though? I know we’ve almost finished the costumes, but somebody’—Ronnie looked pointedly at her sister—‘somebody agreed to make the do-gooders’ evening gowns for them and donate all the profits to the charity. So now we’ve got to clothe the whole of the bloody Cowdray Club as well as their ridiculous gala night.’ Lettice caught her eye accusingly. ‘All right, I know there are only eight of them, but it feels like the whole club.’
    â€˜Seven, darling—you can’t count Josephine. It’ll be so nice to see her.’
    â€˜Of course it will, but I’ll never understand how she can bear to rattle around with those harridans in Cavendish Square for weeks at a time.’
    â€˜It’s convenient for her, and she couldn’t have come to usthis time—it’s chaos here and even worse at Maiden Lane. She says the club’s very comfortable, though.’
    â€˜I’m sure it is, but all those women in one place …’ Ronnie shuddered. ‘It can’t be healthy, and they’re so dull . It’s as much as I can do to stay awake for the duration of a fitting. Fittings that your generosity has thrust upon us, I might add.’
    â€˜I thought it would be a nice gesture to make the dresses as well,’ Lettice said defensively, sucking the tip of her paintbrush to make a fine point. ‘The nurses are a very good cause, after all, and those ladies on the committee work so hard to raise money for them.’
    â€˜Hard my arse! Swanning around with a glass of free champers in their hand?’
    â€˜Oh, I’m sure it’s not all galas.’
    â€˜No—you’re right. Twice a year they swap their designer gowns for some overalls and imagine they know what it’s like to be a working girl. Jesus!’ She held up her hands in exasperation. ‘I can think of a nice gesture, too, but I can make mine sitting down.’ She lit a cigarette and demonstrated. ‘It would all have to happen when we’ve got work coming out of our ears, wouldn’t it? There’s all of Wendy’s ballet to do before Christmas and we haven’t even thought about Bitter Harvest yet—it’s only a matter of time before the director asks to see the designs. In fact, we seem to have forgotten that we work in the theatre at all. Celia Bannerman and Amy Coward will be laughing their way to the bank in a haze of silk and chiffon, while our whole business goes to the dogs in tatters.’
    â€˜Oh for goodness’ sake, darling—you do exaggerate.’ There was a knock at the door, and an attractive dark-haired girl poked her head round without waiting for a response. It was a face which would have been more at home on a cinema screen thanbehind a sewing machine, and Lettice smiled at her, glad of some respite from Ronnie’s tirade. ‘Yes, Marjorie—what is it?’
    â€˜Mrs Reader says we’ve run out of black bugle beads, Miss, and someone from the club has just telephoned to see where the samples for the