He put his hand across the table and held mine.
Then I heard my own name. “Lenore! How wonderful to see you!”
Charles was standing by our table. Embarrassed, I hastily removed my hand.
“Lenore… and my respected brother-in-law! How are you, Lenore? You look well.”
I was blushing, for being so discovered by him.
He was not alone. There was a woman with him and her face was vaguely familiar.
“This,” he said, “is Signorina de’ Pucci.”
She smiled and bowed her head. She was outstandingly beautiful; her almost coal black hair was visible under the jaunty white straw hat with its black and white ribbons; her costume was black with white stripes, and the frilly silk blouse she wore was white. She was a very elegant woman.
“This is Madame Lenore of the Lenore Salon of which, dear Signorina, you will be aware if you spend much time in London. Lenore is a very clever business woman; and this is my brother-in-law, Drake Aldringham.”
She said she was charmed. She had a faint accent which like everything else about her was charming. Her name was familiar as was her face… although it was many years since I had seen her.
I said: “I remember now. You had an accident and came to The Silk House.”
Her face lit up. “So you remember.”
“It was hardly the sort of thing one forgets.”
“You were the new bride. Oh, I recall it so well… such a charming couple. And your husband … ?” She looked at Drake in puzzlement.
“Yes,” I said, “Philip Sallonger. He died soon after.”
“Oh … how sad.”
Charles was giving me that speculative look which I remembered so well.
“We have just had tea,” he said. “Those maids-of-honour are delicious. I was determined to introduce Signorina de’ Pucci to them while she is in London.”
I said: ”It all comes back to me so vividly. You left us suddenly.”
“I did not think it was sudden. My brother sent for me … and I went.”
“I was furious, wasn’t I, Lenore?” said Charles.
“Yes, you were.”
“But why?” she asked. “Why should you be furious?”
“Because you had left us. I wanted us to get more and more acquainted. We were making good progress.”
“Has Julia met the Signorina?” I asked.
Charles shook his head. “She will, though. She will be interested. We all remember your visit so well.”
“I trust there were no ill effects from the injury?”
“Injury?” she murmured.
“Didn’t you hurt your ankle in the carriage upset?”
“Yes … so I did. It soon healed.” She smiled charmingly at Drake. “I do not know what would have become of me but for these good friends.”
“We were glad to do what we could,” said Charles. “By great good fortune I ran into the Signorina close to the house. We stared at each other. I’m afraid I was rather rude.”
“No … no,” she protested.
“I was so delighted,” said Charles.
“And how long will you be in England this time?” I asked.
“It depends on my brother. He does much business. He is in your Midlands. When he comes I go back with him.”
“I remember your maid … Maria. Is she still with you?”
“Maria is with me.”
“Well, I hope you enjoy your stay.”
“I shall see that she does,” promised Charles. “Well… I did enjoy seeing you both.” He looked from one to the other of us significantly. ”I daresay we shall see you again. I am taking the Signorina to see Julia now. Au revoir.”
I watched them go. Then I said: ”That was most unfortunate. I mean … Charles’s seeing us together here.”
Drake lifted his shoulders. I thought then that he was so desperately immersed in his own unfortunate situation that he refused to see the danger. But I did not like the manner in which Charles had looked at us; nor did I like the implication of his words.
I told Drake what had happened, how the Italian had had her accident outside The Silk House and had stayed there for a few days, and how she had left to join her brother and there were only letters of thanks sent from a London hotel, so that she had completely disappeared from our lives.
“It was soon after that that Philip died,” I said. “I forgot all about the incident. In fact at first I could not recall who she was, although she seemed familiar.”
“It’s interesting that Charles should have met her…just by chance.”
“It seems to me that almost everything happens just by chance.”
After I was back in the salon I could not help thinking about that meeting in the tea shop, and I felt rather uneasy because Charles had discovered Drake and me there together, and of the construction which I was afraid a man of his nature might put upon it.
It was Cassie who told me about Charles and Madalenna de’ Pucci.
“She is staying in a hotel with her maid while she is waiting for her brother to join her.”
“Yes. She mentioned that when I met her.” I had told Cassie about seeing her in the tea shop where Drake and I had decided to have some tea.
Cassie looked a little subdued. She knew about my friendship with Drake. In fact she knew a good deal. Cassie was inclined to live vicariously. She was very interested in what happened to other people. She was kindly and deeply understanding and I had always thought that this was due to her interest in people. She knew them so well that she understood their motives and that made her sympathetic towards them.
“Charles,” she told me, “is very taken with her. Of course she is very beautiful … exceptionally so and I suppose being foreign makes her look more so. It is very sad about Charles and Helen.” Helen was his wife. “He has never been a faithful husband. I think she has long accepted that. But in this case he seems to be deeply involved.”
I said: “He was attracted to her when she came to the house before. I remember how angry he was when she went away without letting him know where.”
“It is very distressing. When I think of that marriage … and Julia and Drake … I come to the conclusion that one is often better off single.”
“It makes life less complicated,” I agreed. “One is on an even keel. There are lots of ups and downs in most relationships.”
“I should hate to be Helen with an unfaithful husband … or Julia to love so intensely and be rejected. It was different with you and Philip. That was wonderful but he died.”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry,” went on Cassie. “I should not have mentioned it and reminded you. Oh dear, you ought to have married Drake. It is clear that he loves you. It was what your grandmother wanted.”
“Things don’t always turn out as people want them to.”
“I do wish Julia could be happy. But I don’t think she ever will be. I am afraid she is getting worse. She is drinking all the time … far more than we see. She was lying down when I last called and I went to her bedroom. I was sure she was intoxicated. I went to the wardrobe to get her a wrap and I saw several bottles there. She drinks in secret as well as in front of everybody. How did she get like that, Lenore? Was it unhappiness?”
”Her first husband was a great drinker. She may have learned the habit from him. I expect she found it to her liking and now it seems to be a solace. She is ruining her health and her life and her chance of happiness.”
“It is a tragedy. I often think of those days when she was coming out. Do you remember how excited she was? Then the Countess came … and how frightened she grew. Poor Julia. She used to eat too much then and now it is drink. She was so sure of herself at one moment and so unsure the next. And how awful it was for her during that first season when she didn’t come up to expectations!”