‘It is silly, really,’ Mona told herself, ‘this capacity Michael has for making one feel small and shy.’
After all, what had he accomplished or what, indeed, was he likely to accomplish here in Little Cobble? Yet, nevertheless, she found it difficult to talk to him, she always had.
“Are you glad to be home?”
Michael was questioning her abruptly yet intently, another characteristic she remembered.
“In some ways. It’s a change, at any rate.”
“And for us, too. It’s been dull without you.”
“You’ve had nothing to talk about, I suppose,” Mona said. “Well, you’re all going to be disappointed now. I’m going to settle down and look at the cabbages and behave so discreetly that even Mrs. Gunther will take me to her skinny bosom.”
Michael’s lips twitched and then he laughed.
“Mona, you’re incorrigible. I’m glad you’re back, really glad.”
There was a ring of sincerity in his voice and Mona looked at him with raised eyebrows.
“I really believe you are. What a moment of triumph that is for me! The ancient feuds are buried. Shall we smoke a pipe of peace?”
“I’m sorry – I forgot that you smoke.”
Michael pulled a rather battered packet of cigarettes from his pocket. Mona took one and he held a match for her between his cupped hands.
“Thank you,” she said, “and after this there shall never be a cross word between us.”
“Were there many in the past?”
“A few, but it was not only what you said. Michael, have you any idea how disapproving you can look?”
“I’ve never meant to.”
“Nonsense! You know that you thought me terrible, you made it quite obvious.”
“That’s not true,” Michael protested.
For a moment Mona fancied he looked embarrassed.
“I have never disapproved of you, but, shall I say, I didn’t care for your friends.”
“Or the life I was living. Be honest Michael.”
“If you will have it,” he agreed, “or the life you were living. And being an old friend, I dared to tell you so.”
“Dare!” Mona exclaimed. “You positively bellowed at me. You were so self-righteous, smug and utterly detestable – how I hated you Michael! I suppose it never struck you that I might have been unhappy about what had happened, that I might have regretted some of the things myself.”
“I was a bungling fool,” Michael said. “I did think of all that, but only afterwards.”
“Oh well, it doesn’t matter now, but at the time it struck me as rather unnecessarily brutal. If you want a cliché, it ‘got me on the raw’.”
“I’m sorry Mona. Will you forgive me?”
“Of course, Michael, there’s nothing to forgive. It is what I might have expected of you.”
“That’s the cruellest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Is it? Well, I’ll take it back. I don’t want to be cruel. I want to be kind and pleasant to everyone. I’m going to settle down. I’m going to forget that somewhere, some people are concerned only with enjoying themselves and spending as much money as they can.”
“You sound bitter,” Michael said.
“That’s the last thing I am.”
“Well, we’ll take it at its face value. And how long do you think this idyllic state of mind will last?”
“Until they carry me feet first into the graveyard. So now Michael, you know what to expect. You can help instruct me if you like. I long to know what you plant after cabbages and how many tons of manure you use during the year.”
“It’s no use Mona,” Michael replied. “I refuse to be made angry by your teasing. You’ve always been the same, you know, making me out a dull sort of fellow.”
“Dull! Why Michael dear, I’ve always thought you positively sinister, sitting there in that huge house all by yourself, looking disdainfully down the Merrill nose at the importunate at your gate.”
“One day Mona,” Michael said slowly, “I shall forget myself and give you the spanking you so richly deserve. As it is, I shall leave you – I hope with dignity – as I have to go into Bedford, but we shall meet for dinner. I am dining at the Priory in case you don’t know.”
“I’m not likely to forget it,” Mona retorted. “Mummy and Nanny are clucking round the place like a couple of old hens, wondering how they can tempt your fastidious appetite, and the whole place will be en fête tonight. I assure you.”
“I’m flattered.”
“So you should be. I’ve even been told to get out one of my best dresses for you.”
