< previous page page_253 next page >

Page 253
''Oh, I say, do you think Mother and General Barthemeles are . . . er . . . making eyes at each other?"
Linda had to laugh at the deliberately antiquated slang, but she still was reluctant to say too much.
"It would be wonderful," Rose-Anne went on rather wistfully. "We worry about her, you knowI mean about her being lonely. Our lives are so different, and she doesn't understand or like our friends. We're being pulled apart all the time."
"Well," Linda said tentatively, "they were doing the flowers for the evening together when I left the house. He's lonely and wants someone to take care ofhis attitude would drive me nuts, but your mother didn't seem to mind. Look, I'd better get back. I'll tell Donald I'm interested in someone else. Then if he still wants to use me as a lever, I don't mind, although I don't think it will do any good."
Rose-Anne smiled. "Maybe you'd better hint about Mother and the generalno, I'll tell him that, and it'll be more than a hint." Suddenly the smile was replaced with an expression of anxiety. "You won't tell him about this talk, will you?"
"No, of course not," Linda assured her. "I'll just say I felt we were seeing an awful lot of each other and I ought to warn him I was already spoken for."
"Thanks. You don't mind going back to the house yourself, do you? It isn't far. I have a

 
< previous page page_253 next page >