Free (6/13) Gossip from Thrush Green by Miss Read

Harrison!' cried Kathleen. He's seen a horrid cat. So upsetting. We'd better bring him in, Ray.'
    Ray began to make for the door.
    By all means go and calm the dog,' said Dorothy, with a touch of hauteur, 'but I think it would be wise to leave him outside while we enjoy our tea.'
    He always has tea with us,' said Ray. He usually has a saucer on the hearth rug. With plenty of milk, of course.'
    But not today,' replied Dorothy firmly, the complete headmistress. 'Now do say hello to dear Agnes who has been looking forward to seeing you so much.'
    Reminded of their manners, Ray and Kathleen greeted her warmly, and did their best to ignore the persistent whining and yelping issuing from their car. But clearly their minds were elsewhere, and conversation had to be carried on at a high pitch to overcome the appalling din made by the unhappy animal.
    'I take it that the management at The Fleece welcomes animals?' ventured little Miss Fogerty.
    'I wouldn't say welcomes ,' said Ray. 'Harrison is being allowed to sleep in his basket in one of the stables. No dogs in the hotel. That's the rule, we were told the minute we arrived.'
    'Why "Harrison"?' asked Dorothy, passing the cucumber sandwiches. Kathleen looked momentarily pleased.
    'Well, you see he is the image of the butcher who used to come round when we were first married. Isn't he, Ray?'
    Exactly. Same brown eyes, same expression—'
    'Same black coat?' murmured Dorothy.
    The visitors laughed politely.
    'Almost,' agreed Kathleen, 'and certainly interested in meat .'
    Agnes, who began to feel that the dog would be better ignored, if such a happy situation should ever be possible with the ear-splitting cacophany engulfing them, asked after Kathleen's health. At once, Ray's wife assumed a melancholy expression.
    I'm having some new treatment for my migraine attacks,' she told them, accepting a second cup of tea.
    'It's terribly expensive, and I have to make two trips a week, but I think it may be doing me good.'
    'I am so glad,' said kind Agnes.
    And I've been having attacks of vertigo,' volunteered Ray, with a hint of pride. 'Something to do with the middle ear. Very disconcerting.'
    Agnes wondered if the dog's powerful voice could contribute to this discomfort, but thought it wiser to remain silent. Not once, she noticed, with rare warmth, had they enquired after poor Dorothy's broken hip—a much more serious business, surely!
    'But there,' continued Kathleen, with sad recognition, 'I suppose we can't expect to be as spry as we were twenty years ago.'
    'Indeed no!' agreed Dorothy, rising to cut the splendid sponge. She walked across to Kathleen, plate in hand. Was her limp rather more pronounced than usual, Agnes wondered? A little stiff from sitting perhaps, she decided.
    'And how is the leg?' enquired Ray, somewhat tardily.
    'I do my best to ignore it,' replied Dorothy. 'No one wants to hear about the troubles of the elderly.'
    Kathleen greeted this pointed remark with a swiftly indrawn breath, and a meaning glance at her husband. He, man-like, pretended to be engrossed with his tea cup.
    'And where are you proposing to go tomorrow?' asked Agnes hastily.
    Before Ray could answer, Kathleen spoke.
    'It's amazing how quickly people get over these hip operations these days. Why, a young curate we know was actually dancing six months after he fell from his bicycle.'
    'He was fortunate,' said Dorothy.
    'Oh, I don't know,' said Kathleen, shouting above the racket from the imprisoned dog. 'I'm sure it's a matter of attitude of mind. He intended to get better, just as quickly as possible. I think some people enjoy being invalids.'
    Agnes noted with alarm that a pink flush was suffusing Dorothy's face, a sure sign of temper, and really, thought her loyal assistant, she had every right to be cross under the circumstances.
    'I don't,' said Dorothy shortly.
    Of course not,' agreed Ray. 'It was exactly what I said to Kathleen when she was so worried about you in hospital.'
    'Indeed?' replied