[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.‘Of course, a man must have meat,’ pronounced Mrs.Mayhew.‘Certainly he must,’ said a pleasant voice in the porch.Jane looked up to see a tall, good-looking man of about forty, with a marrow in his arms, coming towards them.‘Oh, Mrs.Cleveland, have you met Mr.Driver yet?’ asked Miss Doggett, taking command of the situation, as if the other ladies might not be equal to making the introduction.‘No, I don’t think I have,’ said Jane, taking in at a glance the rather worn, perhaps ravaged — if one could use so violent a word — good looks, the curly hair worn rather too long and touched with grey at the temples, also the carefully casual tweed suit and brogued suede shoes, which gave the impression of a town-dweller dressed for the country.‘This is a great pleasure,’ said Fabian as they shook hands.Jane looked up at him frankly and then lowered her eyes, embarrassed at being confronted by such an excellent likeness of the photograph she had just been looking at on his wife’s grave.She felt that she knew more about him than one usually does on a first meeting, remembering Miss Morrow’s words about his having been more interested in other women than in his wife and the possibility of his taking the wrong flowers to the grave.That might be a stumbling block between them, she felt, the photograph and the infidelities, but perhaps there might come a time when they would speak frankly of these things and even laugh, though, when one came to think of it, neither graves nor infidelities were really any laughing matter.‘What a fine marrow, Mr.Driver,’ said Miss Doggett in a bright tone.‘It is the biggest one we have had so far, isn’t it, Miss Morrow?’Miss Morrow, who was scrabbling on the floor among the vegetables, mumbled something inaudible.‘It is magnificent,’ said Mrs.Mayhew reverently.Mr.Driver moved forward and presented the marrow to Miss Doggett with something of a flourish.Jane felt as if she were assisting at some primitive kind of ritual at whose significance she hardly dared to guess.‘We are so much looking forward to hearing our new vicar’s first sermon,’ said Fabian gallantly, looking at Jane rather intently.‘Nicholas isn’t one of these dramatic preachers,’ she said quickly, feeling a little confused.The ladies looked interested, as if hoping that she might be guilty of further disloyalties, but Jane recollected herself in time and said: ‘Of course, he’s a very good preacher; what I meant was that he doesn’t go in for a lot of quotations and that kind of thing.’‘Much wiser not to,’ agreed Miss Doggett.‘Simple Christian teaching is what we want, isn’t it, really?’Jane had to agree, but she was conscious that Miss Doggett’s tone was a little patronising and was not surprised when she went on to add that Canon Pritchard had been a very fine preacher, ‘… most eloquent.Such a fine mellow voice and never at a loss for a word….’‘Nicholas is never at a loss for a word, and his voice is very mellow; I think one could call it that,’ said Jane, feeling ridiculous now, and wishing she could think of some excuse to leave the gathering.‘I’m sure we shall find it to our liking,’ said Fabian kindly.‘And now I really must be going,’ said Jane.‘There is the meal to see to,’ she added vaguely, remembering that both Flora and Mrs.Glaze were at the vicarage that morning, so that her presence there was really quite unnecessary.‘Yes, of course,’ said Mrs.Crampton sympathetically.‘Why, here is your husband now,’ said Miss Doggett.‘How nice of him to come and see us.We shall work all the better for this encouragement.’‘Oh, there you are, darling,’ said Jane, stepping backwards on to a heap of vegetables.‘I was just going to see about lunch.Goodbye, everybody,’ she said, leaving Nicholas to make his own impression.She had noticed that he seemed a good deal more at ease with the decorators than she had been, but perhaps that was to be expected.She hurried away down the church path and found Fabian at her side.‘I don’t feel I can do much good there,’ he explained.‘I too must see about lunch [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]