![]() Look, have your coffee in there, and chuck out your clothes so that I can start them drying.'ĭodie watched her daughter organising the child – she was not very old, nineteen or so, perhaps. There's a towel, and a spare robe, shampoo, a comb. I'd better get a taxi.' She stifled a sob and brushed wet hands across her face.Įlena persuaded her to come in, and led her, protesting through her tears that she was frightfully sorry to be such a nuisance, through the dining room and into the shower-room across the hall. 'If you're sure? I was going to ring a friend, but he – well, his car's a new one – new to him, I mean, and anyway I'm not sure he's at home. She swallowed nervously, then came up to the doorway. The girl hesitated, sniffed again, this time at the aroma of coffee which reached her as Dodie was filling three mugs. 'I can rinse your clothes and put them in the dryer, while you have a cup of coffee,' Elena suggested. Whatever can I do?' She glanced across at the Aga. 'The local taxi-drivers won't bless you for soaking their upholstery, either.' I can't go back to – walk back, in bare feet.' If I – or perhaps you'd do it for me – I need to call someone to come and fetch me.' She shivered and began to pick off some shreds of river weeds that clung to her clothes. Come in and strip off while I get you a towel.' May I – but I'll drip all over your floors!' I can't swim very well, I was so glad it wasn't far. 'I got onto that island, then managed to swim across. The boat caught in some weeds, I think, and tipped up.' She gulped, and brushed angrily at her eyes. She glanced nervously behind her, then shook herself, and seemed to register Elena's question. The mermaid sniffed, and somewhat fruitlessly tried to wipe her face dry with the edge of the sopping tee-shirt. 'Need help? Were you on your own, or is there anyone else?' Hello,' she added to the sorry-looking girl who was hesitating at the edge of the terrace. 'I don't know what it is about this stretch of the river, but that's the third shipwrecked rower I've succoured so far. Elena sighed and moved across to the door. The placidly-flowing river behind her was hardly the sea, dotted as it was with pleasure boats and racing skiffs, willow trees fringing the far bank, and a blaze of colour all around her in Elena's garden. The girl walking slowly across the lawn, her long green skirt clinging to her legs, her skinny pink tee-shirt outlining her ample breasts, and gleaming swathes of black hair plastered across her face, did bear some resemblance to Matthew Arnold's mermaid. 'A what?' Elena left the coffee to drip and came to stand behind her mother's chair in the big bay window. ![]() You're almost respectable.'ĭodie chuckled. 'Come off it! I don't believe half your tall stories about your past. 'I was quite envious, it's a long time since I got involved in an orgy.' 'It sounded like an orgy,' Dodie insisted. ![]() It's the first disturbance I've heard since I moved in, and I've been here over three months, since March.' 'That racket last night wasn't typical, Mum. And she had high hopes that Elena might be contemplating marriage at last.Įlena, busy with the coffee filter on the far side of the big kitchen, laughed. Some more modern villas sat among the older ones bordering the Thames. The large green was surrounded with clusters of thatched cottages, a squat-towered Norman church, and several gracious old houses. She'd thought it idyllic when she'd arrived the previous day. 'You said Markenlea was a peaceful, sedate village when you moved here,' Dodie Fanshaw said accusingly.
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