Part 52 (1/2)
”All right,” Ralph said. ”Show Mrs. Waddington up. I'll clear out.”
”Oh, Ralph, what am I to say to her?”
”Tell her the truth, if she wants it. She won't mind.”
”She will--frightfully.”
”Not so frightfully as you think.”
”That's what _he_ said.”
”Well, he's right there, the old beast.”
5
”Barbara _dear_,” said f.a.n.n.y when they were alone together, ”what on earth has happened?”
”Oh, nothing. We just had a bit of a tiff, that's all.”
”About Ralph? He told me it was Ralph.”
”You might say it was Ralph. He came into it.”
”Into what?”
”Oh, the general situation.”
”Nonsense. Horatio was making love to you. I could see by his face....
You needn't mind telling me straight out I've seen it coming.”
”Since when?”
”I don't know. It must have begun long before I saw it.”
”How long do you think?”
”Oh, before Mrs. Levitt.”
”Mrs. Levitt?”
”She may have been only a safety valve. That's why I made him adopt you.
I thought it would stop it. In common decency. But it seems it only brought it to a head.”
”No. It was his canary waistcoat did that, f.a.n.n.y.”
The ghost of dead mirth rose up in f.a.n.n.y's eyes.
”You're muddling cause and effect, my dear. He wasn't in love because he bought the waistcoat. He bought the waistcoat because he was in love.
And those other things--the romantic pyjamas--because he thought they'd make him look younger.”