Part 61 (1/2)
”I've a beastly 'pip.' It's catching.”
”Where did you catch it?”
”I've always got it more or less.”
”I'm sorry. I've to thank you for those violets.”
”Rot!”
”I was glad to get them.”
”Really, really glad?” he asked, his face lightening.
”Of course. I love flowers.”
”I see,” he said coldly.
She made as if she would leave him, but, as before, felt a certain inertness in his presence which she was in no mood to combat; instead of going, she turned to him to ask:
”Anything happened to you since I last saw you?”
”The usual.”
”What?”
”Depression and rows with my father.”
”I thought you'd forget your promise.”
”On the contrary, that's what all the row was about.”
”How was that?”
”First of all, I told him that I had met you and all you told me about yourself.”
”That made him angry?”
”And when I told him I wanted to have another shot at something, a jolly good shot this time, he said, 'I suppose that means you want money?'”
”What did you say?”
”One can't make money without. That's what all the row's been about.
He's a fearful old screw.”
”As well as I remember, my father always liked him.”
”That was before I grew up to sour his life.”
”Did you tell him how you saved Jill's life?” asked Mavis.