Free Cards of Identity by Nigel Dennis Page B

His name’s Towzer, hers is Tray. They’re going to sleep together on mats in the west greenhouse. She’s so pretty, Florrie, such lovely red cheeks and she does give herself airs.’
    ‘She’d better not round me. Now you go away and fetch that other Chirk woman or I’ll never get this house to rights.’
    ‘All I really wanted to say, Florrie, was that it’s heavenly to have you up again.’
    ‘Well, you’re a sweet boy underneath, and I’ve always known it, if no one else has.’
    ‘Do you think I’ve got charm, Florrie?’
    ‘You know quite well you have. But it’s not charm that takes a man through life.’
    ‘No, you have to have some money, too.’
    ‘And it’s not money either I mean. It’s faith.’
    ‘But isn’t charm a kind of faith, Florrie?’
    ‘Now, we’re downstairs, so stop your prattling and go away. I must speak to Mr Jellicoe.’
    Beaufort vanished, and Mrs Paradise entered the huge kitchen. The very sight of its incredible filth and disorder stopped her heart, but she marched bravely through to one of the back passages where she heard a rumbling noise and saw a huge Indian cabinet edging towards her. ‘Mr Jellicoe!’ she cried.
    His head appeared over the back of the cabinet. ‘Thank God you’re back, Mrs Paradise,’ he said. ‘I’m at the end of my tether.’
    ‘I didn’t expect to find furniture being pushed through my kitchen,’ she replied, looking distastefully at his dirty face. ‘Nor did I expect to see my kitchen like a pigsty.’
    ‘I’ve done my best, Mrs Paradise. No one has heard me complain.’
    ‘I should hope not.’
    ‘All this furniture down from the town-house. They want it for the house-party. I’ve moved every ton of it with these two hands. It’s nearly broken my constitution.’
    ‘Well, Mr Jellicoe, if I may say so, the past always revenges itself We dissipate in youth what we should be glad to draw on in middle-age.’
    He blushed. ‘You have not come back in a very friendly mood, Mr Paradise,’ he said. ‘Only the thought of the loss you have sustained keeps me from retorting with the rough side of my tongue.’
    ‘I hope we are not going to resume relations with bitterness, quarrelling, and personal remarks,’ replied Mrs Paradise. ‘I am really still too ill to be about, and only poor Mrs Mallet’s illness has brought me down at all.’
    ‘Is her condition grave?’
    ‘That is for the doctors to decide, Mr Jellicoe. It is for us to stick to our lasts.’
    ‘I have had to couple my duties with yours, Mrs Paradise. It is not surprising if I have fallen between two stools. I trust some new staff will be arriving shortly. Two months alone is a long time.’
    ‘Surely it has not been as long as that?’
    ‘I believe it has. But I have not been in much state to judge. There have been moments when I have quite lost my head.’
    ‘Talking won’t find it again, Mr Jellicoe. At least you have got the stove going for me, I see. Now, will you kindly get that heavy thing of yours through my kitchen so I can start work?’
    ‘Gladly,’ he said, bending out of sight behind the cabinet, and pushing. The little castors began to chatter over the stone floor and as Jellicoe passed by, doubled up like a bow, a light shone in his bloodshot eye. ‘You could say any words you liked to me, Mrs Paradise,’ he panted; ‘and still just the sight of you would put me in heaven. I have dreamt of your return for nights on end, and from this moment I am a new man, starting a new life.’
    ‘Thank you, Mr Jellicoe,’ she answered coldly, and began slowly and grimly to roll up her sleeves.
    *
    ‘This passage, doctor,’ said the captain. ‘No, no, turn round, down here, another turn – that’s better; now, pray, follow me.’
    ‘Which door, which door? ’cried Dr Towzer, racing down the long corridor. His bag was in his left hand, his right winked eager fingers at every passing knob. He was in a sweat; his eyes were ready to fly from their