 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information and to find out how you can volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Diana Keisner's. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnhem. Chapter 9 That one of the two sitting rooms, which Mrs. Fisher had taken for her own, was a room of charm and character. She surveyed it with satisfaction on going into it after breakfast and was glad it was hers. It had a tiled floor and walls, the color of pale honey, an inlaid furniture, the color of amber, and mellow books, many in ivory or lemon-colored covers. There was a big window overlooking the sea towards Genoa and a glass door through which she could proceed out onto the battlements and walk along past the quaint and attractive watch tower in itself a room with chairs and a writing table. To where on the other side of the tower the battlements ended in a marble seat and one could see the western bay and the point round which began the Gulf of Spezia. The south view between these two stretches of sea was another hill, higher than San Salvatore. The last of the little peninsula with the bland turrets of a smaller and uninhabited castle on the top, on which the setting sun still shone when everything else was sunk in shadow. Yes, she was very comfortably established here. Mrs. Fisher did not examine their nature closely, but they seemed to be small stone troughs or perhaps little sarcophagi ringed round the battlements with flowers. These battlements, she thought, considering them, would have been a perfect place for her to pace up and down gently in moments when she least felt the need of her stick or to sit in on the marble seat having first put a cushion on it. If there had not, unfortunately, been a second glass door opening onto them, destroying their complete privacy, spoiling her feeling that the place was only for her. The second door belonged to the round drawing room which both she and Lady Caroline had rejected as too dark. That room would probably be sat in by the women from Hampstead and she was afraid they would not confine themselves to sitting in it but would come out through the glass door and invade her battlements. This would ruin the battlements. It would ruin them as far as she was concerned if they were to be overrun or even if, not actually overrun, they were liable to be raked by the eyes of persons inside the room. No one could be perfectly at ease if they were being watched and knew it. What she wanted, what she surely had a right to, was privacy. She had no wish to intrude on the others, why then should they intrude on her? And she could always relax her privacy if, when she became better acquainted with her companions, she should think it worthwhile. But she doubted whether any of the three would so develop as to make her think it worthwhile. Hardly anything was really worthwhile, reflected Mrs. Fisher, except the past. It was astonishing. It was simply amazing, the superiority of the past to the present. Those friends of hers in London, solid persons of her own age, knew the same past that she knew, could talk about it with her, could compare it as she did with the tinkling present. And in remembering great men, forget for a moment the trivial and barren young people, who still, in spite of the war, seemed to litter the world in such numbers. She had not come away from these friends, these conversable, ripe friends, in order to spend her time in Italy chatting with three persons of another generation and defective experience. She had come away merely to avoid the treacheries of a London April. It was true what she had told the two who came to Prince of Wales Terrace, that all she wished to do at Sun Salvatore was to sit by herself in the sun and remember. They knew this, for she had told them. It had been plainly expressed and clearly understood. Therefore she had a right to expect them to stay inside the round drawing-room and not to emerge interuptingly onto her battlements. But would they? The doubt spoilt her mourning. It was only towards lunchtime that she saw a way to be quite safe and ringing for Francesca, bade her in slow and majestic Italian, shut the shutters of the glass door of the round drawing-room and then, going with her into the room which had become darker than ever in consequence, but also, Mrs. Fisher observed to Francesca, who was being voluble, would, because of this very darkness, remain agreeably cool. And after all there were the numerous slit windows in the walls to let in light and it was nothing to do with her if they did not let it in. She directed the placing of a cabinet of curios across the door on its inside. This would discourage egress. Then she rang for Domenico and caused him to move one of the flower-filled sarcophagi across the door on its outside. This would discourage egress. No one, said Domenico, hesitating, will be able to use the door. No one, said Mrs. Fisher firmly, will wish to. She then retired to her sitting-room and from a chair placed where she could look straight onto them, gazed at her battlements, secured to her now completely with calm pleasure. Being here, she reflected placidly, was much cheaper than being in a hotel and, if she could keep off the others, immeasurably more agreeable. She was paying for her rooms, extremely pleasant rooms now that she was arranged in them, three pounds a week, which came to about eight shillings a day, battlements, watchtower and all. Where else abroad could she live as well for so little and have as many baths as she liked for eight shillings a day? Of course, she did not yet know what her food would cost, but she would insist on carefulness over that, though she would also insist on its being carefulness combined with excellence. The two were perfectly compatible if the caterer took pains. The servant's wages she had ascertained were negligible, owing to the advantageous exchange, so that there was only the food to cause her anxiety. If she saw signs of extravagance, she would propose that they each hand over a reasonable sum every week to Lady Caroline, which should cover the bills, any of it that was not used to be returned. And if it were exceeded, the loss to be borne by the caterer. Mrs. Fisher was well off and had the desire for comforts proper to her age, but she disliked expenses. So well off was she that had she so chosen, she could have lived in an opulent part of London and driven from it and to it in a Rolls-Royce. She had no such wish. It needed more vitality than went with true comfort to deal with a house in an opulent spot and a Rolls-Royce. Worries attended such possessions and worries of every kind crowned by bills. In the sober gloom of Prince of Wales Terrace she could obscurely enjoy inexpensive yet real comfort without being snatched at by predatory men servants or collectors for charities. And a taxi stand was at the end of the road. Her annual outlay was small. The house was inherited. Death had furnished it for her. She trod in the dining room on the turkey carpet of her father's. She regulated her day by the excellent black marble clock on the mantelpiece which she remembered from childhood. The walls were entirely covered by the photographs her lustrous deceased friends had given either herself or her father with their own handwriting across the lower parts of their bodies. And the windows shrouded by the maroon curtains of all her life were decorated besides with the self-same aquariums to which she owed her first lessons in sea lore and in which still swam slowly the goldfishes of her youth. Were they the same goldfish? She did not know. Perhaps like carp they outlived everybody. Perhaps on the other hand behind the deep sea vegetation provided for them at the bottom they had from time to time as the years went by withdrawn and replaced themselves. Were they or were they not she sometimes wondered contemplating them between the courses of her solitary meals. The same goldfish that had that day been there when Carlisle how well she remembered it angrily strode up to them in the middle of some argument with her father that had grown heated and striking the glass smartly with his fist had put them to flight shouting as they fled oh you death devils oh you lucky death devils you can't hear anything of the blasted blithering daughtering like it fool stuff your master talks can ya or words to that effect. Dear great sold Carlisle such natural gushing's forth such true freshness such real grandeur rugged if you will yes undoubtedly sometimes rugged and startling in a drawing room but magnificent who was there now to put beside him who was there to mention in the same breath her father then whom no one had had more flair said Thomas is immortal and here was this generation this generation of puniness raising its little voice and doubts or still worse not giving itself the trouble to raise it at all not it was incredible but it had been thus reported to her even reading him Mrs. Fisher did not read him either but that was different she had read him she had certainly read him of course she had read him there was Teufelsdruck she quite well remembered a tailor called Teufelsdruck so like Carlisle to call him that yes she must have read him though naturally details escaped her the gong sounded lost in remniscence Mrs. Fisher had forgotten time and hastened to her bedroom to wash her hands and smooth her hair she did not wish to be late and set a bad example and perhaps find her seat ahead of the table taken one could put no trust in the manners of the younger generation especially not in those of that Mrs. Wilkins she was however the first to arrive in the dining room Francesca in a white apron stood ready with an enormous dish of smoking hot glistening macaroni but nobody was there to eat it Mrs. Fisher sat down looking stern lax lax served me she said to Francesca who showed a disposition to wait for the others Francesca served her of the party she liked Mrs. Fisher least in fact she did not like her at all she was the only one of the four ladies who had not yet smiled true she was old true she was unbeautiful true she therefore had no reason to smile but kind ladies smiled reason or no they smiled not because they were happy but because they wished to make happy this one of the four ladies could not then Francesca decided be kind so she handed her the macaroni being unable to hide any of her feelings morosely it was very well cooked but Mrs. Fisher had never cared for macaroni especially not this long worm shaped variety she found it difficult to eat slippery wriggling off her fork making her look she felt undignified when having got it as she supposed into her mouth ends of it yet hung out always to when she ate it she was reminded of Mr. Fisher he had during their married life behaved very much like a macaroni he had slipped he had wriggled he had made her feel undignified and when at last she had got him safe as she thought there had invariably been little bits of him that still as it were hung out Francesca from the sideboard watched Mrs. Fisher's way with macaroni gloomily and her gloom deepened when she saw her at last take her knife to it small Mrs. Fisher really did not know how else to get hold of the stuff she was aware that knives in this connection were improper but one did finally lose patience macaroni was never allowed to appear on her table in London apart from its tiresomeness she did not even like it and she would tell Lady Caroline not to order it again years of practice reflected Mrs. Fisher chopping it up years of actual living in Italy would be necessary to learn the exact trick Browning managed macaroni wonderfully she remembered watching him one day when he came to lunch with her father and a dish of it had been ordered as a compliment to his connection with Italy fascinating the way it went in no chasing round the plate no sliding soft the fork no subsequent protrusions of loose ends just one dig one whisk one thrust one gulp and low yet another poet had been nourished shall I go and seek the young lady asked Francesca unable any longer to look on a good macaroni being cut with a knife Mrs. Fisher came out of her remniscent reflections with difficulty she knows lunches at half past twelve she said they all know she may be asleep said Francesca the other ladies are further away but this one is not far away beat the gong again then said Mrs. Fisher what manners she thought what what manners it was not a no tell and considerations would do she must say she was surprised at Mrs. Arbuthnot who had not looked like somebody unpunctual Lady Caroline to she had seemed amiable and courteous whatever else she might be from the other one of course she expected nothing Francesca fetched the gong and took it out into the garden and advanced beating it as she advanced close up to Lady Caroline who still stretched in her low chair waited till she had done and then turned her head and in the sweetest tones poured forth what appeared to be music but was really invective Francesca did not recognize the liquid flow is invective how was she to when it came out sounding like that and with your face all smiles for she could not but smile when she looked at this young lady she told her the macaroni was getting cold when I do not come to meals it is because I do not wish to come to meals said the irritated scrap and you will not in future disturb me is she ill asked Francesca sympathetic but unable to stop smiling never never had she seen hair so beautiful like pure flax like the hair of northern babes on such a little head only blessing could rest on such a little head the nimbus of the holiest saints could fitly be placed scrap shut her eyes and refused to answer in this she was injudicious for its effect was to convince Francesca who hurried full of concern to tell mrs. Fisher that she was indisposed and mrs. Fisher being prevented she explained from going out to lady Caroline herself because of her stick said the two others instead who had come in at that moment heated and breathless and full of excuses while she herself proceeded to the next course which was a very well made omelet bursting most agreeably at both its ends with young green peas served me she directed Francesca who again showed a disposition to wait for the others why won't they leave me alone scrap asked herself when she heard more scrunchings on the little pebbles which took the place of grass and therefore knew someone else was approaching she kept her eyes tight shut this time why should she go into lunch if she didn't want to this wasn't a private house she was in no way tangled up in duties towards the tiresome hostess for all practical purposes and salvatore was an hotel and she ought to be let alone to eat or not to eat exactly as if she really had been in an hotel but the unfortunate scrap could not just sit still and close her eyes without rousing that desire to stroke and pet in her beholders with which she was only too familiar even the cook had patted her and now a gentle hand how well she knew and how much she dreaded gentle hands was placed on her forehead I'm afraid you're not well said a voice that was not Mrs. Fisher's and therefore must belong to one of the originals I have a headache murmured scrap perhaps it was best to say that perhaps it was the shortest cut to piece I'm so sorry said Mrs. Arbuth not softly for it was her hand being gentle and I said scrap to herself who thought if I came here I would escape mothers don't you think some tea would do you good as Mrs. Arbuth not tenderly tea the idea was abhorrent to scrap in this heat to be drinking tea in the middle of the day no she murmured I expect what would really be best for her said another voice is to be left quiet how sensible thought scrap and raised the eyelashes of one eye just enough to peep through and see who was speaking it was the freckled original the dark one then was the one with the hand the freckled one rose in her esteem but I can't bear to think of you with a headache and nothing being done for it said Mrs. Arbuth not wouldn't a cup of strong black coffee scrap said no more she waited motionless and dumb to Mrs. Arbuth not should remove her hand after all she couldn't stand there all day and when she went away she would have to take her hand with her I do think said the freckled one that she wants nothing except quiet and perhaps the freckled one pulled the one with the hand by the sleeve for the hold on scraps forehead relaxed and after a minute silence during which no doubt she was being contemplated she was always being contemplated the footsteps began to scrunch the pebbles again and grew fainter and were gone Lady Caroline has a headache said Mrs. Arbuth not re-entering the dining room and sitting down in her place next to Mrs. Fisher I can't persuade her to have even a little tea or some black coffee do you know what aspirin is in Italian the proper remedy for headaches said Mrs. Fisher firmly is castor oil she hasn't got a headache said Mrs. Wilkins Carlile said Mrs. Fisher who had finished her omelet and had leisure while she waited for the next course to talk suffered at one period terribly from headaches and he constantly took castor oil as a remedy he took it I should say almost to excess and called it I remember in his interesting way the oil of sorrow my father said it colored for a time his whole attitude to life his whole philosophy but that was because he took too much what Lady Caroline wants is one dose and one only it is a mistake to keep on taking castor oil do you know the Italian for it asked Mrs. Arbuth not ah that I'm afraid I don't however she would know you can ask her but she hasn't got a headache repeated Mrs. Wilkins who was struggling with the macaroni she only wants to be let alone they both looked at her the word shovel crossed Mrs. Fisher's mind in connection with Mrs. Wilkins actions at that moment then why should she say she has asked Mrs. Arbuth not because she's still trying to be polite soon she won't try when the place has got more into her she'll really be it without trying naturally Lauday you see explained Mrs. Arbuth not smiling at Mrs. Fisher who sat waiting with the stony patients for her next course delayed because Mrs. Wilkins would go on trying to eat the macaroni which must be less worth eating than ever now that it was cold Lauday you see has a theory about this place but Mrs. Fisher had no wish to hear any theory of Mrs. Wilkins I am sure I don't know she interrupted looking severely at Mrs. Wilkins why you should assume Lady Caroline is not telling the truth I don't assume I know said Mrs. Wilkins and pray how do you know I asked Mrs. Fisher I silly Mrs. Wilkins was actually helping herself to more macaroni offered her officially and unnecessarily a second time by Francesca when I was out there just now I saw inside her well Mrs. Fisher wasn't going to say anything to that she wasn't going to trouble to reply to downright idiocy instead she sharply wrapped the little tablegong by her side though there was Francesca standing at the sideboard and said for she would wait no longer for her next course serve me and Francesca it must have been willful offered her the macaroni again end of chapter 9 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information and to find out how you can volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Diana Keisner's The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnhem Chapter 10 there was no way of getting into or out of the top garden at San Salvatore except through the two glass doors unfortunately side by side of the dining room and the hall a person in the garden who wished to escape unseen could not for the person to be escaped from could be met on the way it was a small oblong garden and concealment was impossible what trees there were the Judas tree, the Tamarisk, the Umbrella Pine grew close to the low parapets rosebushes gave no real cover one step to right or left of them and the person wishing to be private was discovered only the northwest corner was a little place jutting out from the great wall a kind of excrescence or loop no doubt used in the old distrustful days for observation where it was possible to sit really unseen because between it and the house was a thick clump of Daphne scrap after glancing round to see that no one was looking got up and carried her chair into this place stealing away as carefully on tiptoe as those steal whose purpose is sin there was another excrescence on the walls just like it at the northeast corner but this, though the view from it was almost more beautiful for from it you could see the bay and the lovely mountains behind Mitzago was exposed no bushes grew near it nor had it any shade the northwest loop then was where she would sit and she settled into it and nestling her head in her cushion and putting her feet comfortably on the parapet from whence they appeared to the villagers on the piazza below as two white doves thought that now indeed she would be safe Mrs. Fisher found her there guided by the smell of her cigarette the incautious scrap had not thought of that Mrs. Fisher did not smoke herself and all the more distinctly could she smell the smoke of others the virile smell met her directly she went out into the garden from the dining room after lunch in order to have her coffee she had been Francesca set the coffee in the shade of the house just outside the glass door and when Mrs. Wilkins seeing a table being carried there reminded her very officiously and tactlessly Mrs. Fisher considered that Lady Caroline wanted to be alone she retorted, and with what propriety that the garden was for everybody into it accordingly she went and was immediately aware that Lady Caroline was smoking she said to herself these modern young women and proceeded to find her her stick now that lunch was over being no longer the hindrance to action that it was before her meal had been securely as Browning once said surely it was Browning, yes, she remembered how much diverted she had been roped in nobody diverted her now reflected Mrs. Fisher making straight for the clump of Daphne the world had grown very dull and had entirely lost its sense of humor probably they still had their jokes these people in fact she knew they did for Punch still went on but how differently it went on and what jokes Thackeray in his inimitable way would have made mincemeat of this generation of how much it needed the tonic properties of that astringent pen it was of course unaware it no longer even held him at least so she had been informed in any particular esteem well she could not give it eyes to see and ears to hear in a heart to understand but she could and would give it represented and united in the form of Lady Caroline a good dose of honest medicine I hear you are not well she said standing in the narrow entrance of the loop and looking down with the inflexible face of one who is determined to do good at the motionless and apparently sleeping scrap Mrs. Fisher had a deep voice very like a man's for she had been overtaken by that strange masculinity that sometimes pursues a woman during the last laps of her life scrap tried to pretend that she was asleep but if she had been her cigarette would not have been held in her fingers but would have been lying on the ground she forgot this Mrs. Fisher did not and coming inside the loop sat down on a narrow stone seat built out of the wall for a little she could sit on it for a little till the chill began to penetrate she contemplated the figure before her undoubtedly a pretty creature and one that would have had a success at Feringford strange how easily even the greatest men were moved by exteriors she had seen with her own eyes Tennyson turned away from everybody turn positively his back on a crowd of eminent people assembled to do him honour and withdraw to the window with a young person nobody had ever heard of who had been brought there by accident and his one and only merit if it be a merit that which is conferred by chance was beauty beauty all over before you can turn around an affair one might almost say of minutes well while it lasted it did seem able to do what it liked with men even husbands were not immune there had been passages in the life of Mr. Fisher I expect the journey has upset you she said in her deep voice what you want is a good dose of some simple medicine I shall ask Domenico if there is such a thing in the village as castor oil Scrap opened her eyes and looked straight at Mrs. Fisher ah said Mrs. Fisher I knew you were not asleep if you had been you would have let your cigarette fall to the ground waste said Mrs. Fisher I don't like smoking for women but I still less like waste what does one do with people like this scrapped asked herself her eyes fixed on Mrs. Fisher in what felt to her an indignant stare but appeared to Mrs. Fisher as really charming docility now you'll take my advice said Mrs. Fisher touched and not neglect what may very well turn into an illness we are in Italy you know and one has to be careful you ought to begin with to go to bed I never go to bed snapped scrap and it sounded as moving as for Lorne as that line spoken years and years ago by an actress playing the part of poor Joe in dramatized version of Bleak House I'm always moving on said poor Joe in this play urged to do so by a policeman and Mrs. Fisher then a girl had laid her head on the red velvet parapet of the front row of the dress circle and wept aloud it was a wonderful scraps voice it had given her in the ten years since she came out all the triumphs that intelligence and wit can have because it made whatever she said seem memorable she ought with the throat formation like that to have been a singer but in every kind of music scrap was dumb except this one music of the speaking voice and what a fascination what a spell lay in that such was the liveliness of her face and the beauty of her colouring that there was not a man into whose eyes at the sight of her there did not leap a flame of intensest interest but when he heard her voice the flame in that man's eyes was caught and fixed it was the same with every man educated and uneducated old, young, desirable themselves are undesirable men of her own world and bus conductors generals and tommys during the war she had had a perplexing time bishops equally with vergers round about her confirmation startling occurrences had taken place wholesome and unwholesome rich and penniless brilliant or idiotic and it made no difference at all what they were or how long and securely married into the eyes of every one of them when they saw her leapt this flame and when they heard her it stayed there Scrap it had enough of this look it only led to difficulties at first it had delighted her she'd been excited triumphant to be apparently incapable of doing or saying the wrong thing to be applauded, listened to, patted adored wherever she went and when she came home to find nothing there either but the most indulgent, proud fondness how extremely pleasant and so easy too no preparation necessary for this achievement no hard work, nothing to learn she need take no trouble she had only to appear and presently say something but gradually experiences gathered round her after all she had to take trouble she had to make efforts because she discovered with astonishment and rage she had to defend herself that look, that leaping look meant that she was going to be grabbed at some of those who had it were more humble than others especially if they were young but they all according to their several ability grabbed and she who had entered the world so jauntily with her head in the air and the completest confidence in anybody's hair was grey began to distrust and then to dislike and soon to shrink away from and presently to be indignant sometimes it was just as if she didn't belong to herself wasn't her own at all but was regarded as a universal thing a sort of beauty of all work really, men and she found herself involved in queer, vague quarrels being curiously hated really, women and when the war came and she flung herself into it along with everybody else it finished her really, generals the war finished scrap it killed the one man she felt safe with whom she would have married and it finally disgusted her with love since then she'd been embittered she was struggling as angrily in the sweet stuff of life as a wasp got caught in honey just as desperately did she try to unstick her wings it gave her no pleasure to outdo other women she didn't want their tiresome men what could one do with men when one had got them none of them would talk to her of anything but the things of love and how foolish and fatiguing that became after a bit it was as though a healthy person with a normal hunger was given nothing whatever to eat but sugar love, love the very word made her want to slap somebody why should I love you why should I she would ask amazed sometimes when somebody was trying somebody was always trying to propose to her but she never got a real answer only further incoherence a deep cynicism took hold of the unhappy scrap her inside grew hoary with disillusionment while her gracious and charming outside continued to make the world more beautiful what had the future in it for her she would not be able after such a preparation to take hold of it she was fit for nothing she had wasted all this time being beautiful presently she wouldn't be beautiful and what then scrap didn't know what then it appalled her to wonder even tired as she was of being conspicuous she was at least used to that she'd never known anything else and to become inconspicuous to fade to grow shabby and dim would probably be most painful and once she began what years and years of it there would be imagine thought scrap having most of one's life at the wrong end imagine being old for two or three times as long as being young stupid, stupid everything was stupid it wasn't a thing she wanted to do there were thousands of things she didn't want to do avoidance, silence invisibility if possible unconsciousness these negations were all she asked for a moment and here, even here she was not allowed a minutes piece and this absurd woman must come pretending merely because she wanted to exercise power and make her go to bed and make her hideous drink castor oil that she thought she was ill I'm sure, said Mrs. Fisher who felt the cold of the stone beginning to come through and knew she could not sit much longer you'll do what is reasonable your mother would wish have you a mother? a faint wonder came into Scrap's eyes have you a mother? if ever anybody had a mother it was Scrap it did not occur to her that there could be people who had never heard of her mother she was one of the major Marchaneses there being as no one knew better than Scrap Marchaneses and Marchaneses and it held high positions at court her father too in his day had been most prominent his day was a little over, poor dear because in the war he had made some important mistakes and besides he was now grown old still there he was an excessively well-known person how restful how extraordinarily restful to have found someone who had never heard of any of her lot or at least had not yet connected her with them she began to like Mrs. Fisher perhaps the originals didn't know anything about her either when she first wrote to them and signed her name that great name of Dester which twisted in and out of English history like a bloody thread for its bearers constantly killed she'd taken it for granted that they would know who she was and at the interview of Shaftesbury Avenue she was sure they did know because they hadn't asked as the otherwise would have for references Scrap began to cheer up if nobody at San Salvatore had ever heard of her if for a whole month she could shed herself get right away from everything connected with herself be allowed really to forget the clinging and the clogging and all the noise why perhaps she might make something of herself after all she might really think really clear up her mind really come to some conclusion what I want to do here she said leaning forward in her chair and clasping her hands round her knees looking up at Mrs Fisher whose seat was higher than hers almost with animation so much pleased was she that Mrs Fisher knew nothing about her is to come to a conclusion that's all it isn't much to want is it? just that she gazed at Mrs Fisher and thought that almost any conclusion would do the great thing was to get hold of something catch something tight and drift Mrs Fisher's little eyes surveyed her I should say she said that what a young woman like you wants is a husband and children well that's one of the things I'm going to consider said Scrap amiably but I don't think it would be a conclusion and meanwhile said Mrs Fisher getting up for the cold of the stone was now through I shouldn't trouble my head if I were you with both considerations and conclusions women's heads weren't made for thinking I assure you I should go to bed and get well I am well said Scrap then why did you send a message that you were ill I didn't then I've had all the trouble of coming out here for nothing but wouldn't you prefer coming out and finding me well then coming out and finding me ill asked Scrap smiling even Mrs Fisher was caught by the smile well you're a pretty creature she said forgivingly it's a pity you weren't born 50 years ago my friends would have liked looking at you I'm very glad I wasn't said Scrap I dislike being looked at absurd said Mrs Fisher growing stern again that's what you are made for young women like you for what else pray and I assure you that if my friends had looked at you you would have been looked at by some very great people I dislike very great people said Scrap frowning there had been an incident quite recently really potentates what I dislike said Mrs Fisher now as cold as that stone she had got up from is the pose of the modern young woman it seems to me pitiful positively pitiful in its silliness and her stick crunching the pebbles she walked away that's alright Scrap said to herself dropping back into her comfortable position with her head in the cushion and her feet on the parapet if only people would go away and she didn't in the least mind why they went don't you think darling Scrap is growing a little just a little peculiar her mother had asked her father a short time before that latest peculiarity of the flight to San Salvatore uncomfortably struck by the very odd things Scrap said and the way she had taken to slinking out of reach whenever she could and avoiding everybody except such a sign of age quite young men almost boys a what peculiar well let her be peculiar if she likes a woman with her looks can be any damn thing she pleases was the infatuated answer I do let her said her mother meekly and indeed if she did not what difference would it make Mrs Fisher was sorry she had bothered about Lady Caroline she went along the hall towards her private sitting room and her stick as she went struck the stone floor with a vigor in harmony with her feelings sheer silliness these poses she had no patience with them unable to be or do anything of themselves the young of the present generation tried to achieve a reputation for cleverness by decrying all that was obviously great and obviously good and by praising everything however obviously bad that was different apes thought Mrs Fisher roused apes apes and in her sitting room she found more apes or what seemed to her in her present mood more for there was Mrs Arbuthnaught placidly drinking coffee while at the writing table the writing table she had already looked upon as sacred using her pen her own pen but for her hand alone from the Prince of Wales Terrace set Mrs Wilkins writing at the table in her room with her pen isn't this a delightful place said Mrs Arbuthnaught cordially we have just discovered it I'm writing to Malerche said Mrs Wilkins turning her head and also cordially as though Mrs Fisher thought she cared a straw who she was writing to and anyhow knew who the person she called Malerche was he'll want to know said Mrs Wilkins optimism induced by her surroundings that I've got here safely end of chapter 10 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information and to find out how you can volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Diana Keisner's The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnhem Chapter 11 the sweet smells that were everywhere in San Salvatore were alone enough to produce Concord they came into the sitting room from the flowers on the battlements and met the ones from the flowers inside the room and almost thought Mrs Wilkins could be seen greeting each other with a holy kiss who could be angry in the middle of such gentlenesses who could be acquisitive selfish in the old rasped London way in the presence of this bounteous beauty yet Mrs Fisher seemed to be all three of these things there was so much beauty so much more than enough for everyone that it did appear to be a vain activity to try and make a corner in it yet Mrs Fisher was trying to make a corner in it and had railed off a portion for her exclusive use well, she would get over that presently she would get over it inevitably Mrs Wilkins was sure after a day or two in the extraordinary atmosphere of peace in that place meanwhile she obviously hadn't even begun to get over it she stood looking at her and Rose with an expression that appeared to be one of anger anger? fancy silly old nerve-wracked London feelings thought Mrs Wilkins whose eyes saw the room full of kisses and everybody in it being kissed Mrs Fisher as copiously as she herself and Rose you don't like us being in here said Mrs Wilkins getting up and at once after her manner fixing on the truth why? I should have thought said Mrs Fisher leaning on her stick you could have seen that it is my room you mean because of the photographs said Mrs Wilkins Mrs Arbuthnot who was a little red and surprised got up too and the note paper said Mrs Fisher note paper with my London address on it that pen she pointed it was still in Mrs Wilkins hand is yours I'm very sorry said Mrs Wilkins laying it on the table and she added smiling that it had just been writing some very amiable things but why? asked Mrs Arbuthnot who found herself unable to acquiesce in Mrs Fisher's arrangements without at least a gentle struggle ought we not to be here it's a sitting room there is another one said Mrs Fisher you and your friend cannot sit in two rooms at once and if I have no wish to disturb you and yours I'm unable to see why you should wish to disturb me and mine but why? began Mrs Arbuthnot again it's quite natural Mrs Wilkins interrupted for Rose was looking stubborn and turning to Mrs Fisher she said that although sharing things with friends was pleasant she could understand that Mrs Fisher still steeped in the Prince of Wales Terrace attitude to life did not yet want to but that she would get rid of that after a bit and feel quite different soon you'll want us to share said Mrs Wilkins reassuringly why? you may even get so far as asking me to use your pen if you knew I hadn't got one Mrs Fisher was moved almost beyond control by this speech to have a ramshackle young woman from Hampstead patting her on the back as it were in breezy certitude that quite soon she would improve stirred her more deeply than anything had stirred her since her first discovery that Mr Fisher was not what he seemed Mrs Wilkins must certainly be curbed but how? there was a curious imperviousness about her at that moment for instance she was smiling as pleasantly and with as unclouded a face as if she were saying nothing in the least impertinent would she know she was being curbed? if she didn't know if she were too tough to feel it then what? nothing except avoidance precisely one's own private sitting room I'm an old woman said Mrs Fisher and I need a room to myself I cannot get about because of my stick as I cannot get about I have to sit why should I not sit quietly and undisturbed as I told you in London I intended to if people are to come in and out all day long chattering and leaving doors open you will have broken the agreement which was that I was to be quiet but we haven't the least wish began Mrs Arbuthnot who was again cut short by Mrs Wilkins we're only too glad said Mrs Wilkins for you to have this room if it makes you happy we didn't know about it that's all we wouldn't have come in if we had not till you invited us anyhow I expect she finished looking down cheerfully at Mrs Fisher you soon will and picking up her letter she took Mrs Arbuthnot's hand and drew her towards the door Mrs Arbuthnot did not want to go she the mildest of women was filled with the curious and surely un-Christian desire to stay and fight not of course really nor even with any definitely aggressive words no she only wanted to reason with Mrs Fisher and to reason patiently but she did feel that something ought to be said and that she ought not to allow herself to be rated and turned out as if she were a schoolgirl caught in ill behavior by authority Mrs Wilkins however drew her firmly to and through the door and once again Rose wondered at Lottie at her balance her sweet and equitable temper she who in England had been such a thing of gusts from the moment they got into Italy it was Lottie who seemed the elder she certainly was very happy blissful in fact did happiness so completely protect one did it make one so untouchable so wise Rose was happy herself but not anything like so happy evidently not for not only did she want to fight Mrs Fisher she wanted something else something more than this lovely place something to complete it she wanted Frederick for the first time in her life she was surrounded by perfect beauty and her one thought was to show it to him to share it with him she wanted Frederick she yearned for Frederick ah if only only Frederick poor old thing said Mrs Wilkins shutting the door gently on Mrs Fisher and her triumph fancy on a day like this she's a very rude old thing said Mrs Arbuthnot she'll get over that I'm sorry we chose just her room to go and sit in it's much the nicest said Mrs Arbuthnot and it isn't hers oh but there are lots of other places and she's such a poor old thing let her have the room whatever does it matter and Mrs Wilkins said she was going down to the village to find out where the post office was and post her letter to Malerche and would Rose go to I've been thinking about Malerche said Mrs Wilkins as they walked one behind the other down the narrow zigzag path up which they had climbed in the rain the night before she went first Mrs Arbuthnot quite naturally now followed in England it had been the other way about Laudy timid hesitating except when she burst out so awkwardly getting behind the calm and reasonable Rose whenever she could I've been thinking about Malerche repeated Mrs Wilkins over her shoulder as Rose seemed not to have heard have you said Rose a faint distaste in her voice for her experiences with Malerche had not been of a kind to make her enjoy remembering him she had deceived Malerche therefore she didn't like him she was unconscious that this was the reason of her dislike and thought it was that there didn't seem to be much if any of the grace of God about him and yet how wrong to feel that she rebuked herself and how presumptuous no doubt Laudy's husband was far far nearer to God than she herself was ever likely to be still she didn't like him I've been a mean dog said Mrs Wilkins a what? asked Mrs Arbuthnot in credulous of her hearing all this coming away and leaving him in that dreary place while Irolic in heaven he planned to take me to Italy for Easter himself did I tell you no said Mrs Arbuthnot and indeed she had discouraged talk about husbands whenever Laudy had begun to blurt out things she had swiftly changed the conversation one husband led to another in conversation as well as in life she felt and she could not she would not talk of Frederick beyond the bare fact that he was there he had not been mentioned Malerche had had to be mentioned because of his obstructiveness but she'd carefully kept him from overflowing outside the limits of necessity well he did said Mrs Wilkins he had never done such a thing in his life before and I was horrified fancy just as I'd planned to come to it myself she paused down the path and looked up at Rose yes said Rose trying to think of something else to talk about now you see why I say I've been a mean dog he had planned a holiday in Italy with me and I had planned a holiday in Italy leaving him at home I think she went on her eyes fixed on Rose's face Malerche has every reason to be both angry and hurt Mrs Arbuthnot was astonished the extraordinary quickness with which hour by hour under her very eyes Lottie became more selfless disconcerted her she was turning into something surprisingly like a saint here she was now being affectionate about Malerche Malerche who only that morning while they hung their feet into the sea had seemed a mere iridescence Lottie had told her a thing of cause that was only that morning and by the time they had had lunch Lottie had developed so far as to have got him solid enough again to write to and to write to at length and now a few minutes later she was announcing that he had every reason to be angry with her and hurt and that she herself had been the language was unusual but it did express real penitence a mean dog Rose stared at her astonished if she went on like this soon a nimbus might be expected round her head was there already if one didn't know it was the sun through the tree trunks catching her sandy hair a great desire to love everybody to be friends with everybody seemed to be invading Lottie a desire for sheer goodness Rose's own experience was that goodness the state of being good was only reached with difficulty and pain it took a long time to get into it in fact one never did get to it or if for a flashing instant one did it was only for a flashing instant desperate perseverance was needed to struggle along its path and all the way was dotted with doubts Lottie simply flew along she had certainly thought Rose not got rid of her impetuousness it had merely taken another direction she was now impetuously becoming a saint could one really attain goodness so violently wouldn't there be an equally violent reaction I shouldn't said Rose with caution to Lottie's bright eyes the path was steep so that Lottie was well below her I shouldn't be sure of that too quickly but I am sure of it and I've written and told him so Rose stared why but only this morning she began it's all in this interrupted Lottie tapping the envelope and looking pleased what everything you mean about the advertisement and my savings being spent oh no not yet but I'll tell him all that when he comes when he comes repeated Rose I've invited him to come and stay with us Rose could only go on staring it's the least I could do besides look at this Lottie waved her hand disgusting not to share it I was a mean dog to go off and leave him but no dog I've ever heard of was ever as mean as I'd be if I didn't try and persuade Malers to come out and enjoy this too it's barest decency that he should have some of the fun out of my nest egg after all he has housed me and fed me for years one shouldn't be churlish but do you think he'll come oh I hope so said Lottie with the utmost earnestness and added poor lamb at that Rose felt she would like to sit down Malersh a poor lamb that same Malersh who a few hours before was a mere shimmer there was a seat at the bend of the path and Rose went to it and sat down she wished to get her breath gained time if she had time she might perhaps be able to catch up to Lottie and perhaps be able to stop her before she committed herself to what she probably presently would be sorry for Malersh at San Salvatore Malersh from whom Lottie had taken such pains so recently to escape I see him here said Lottie as if in answer to her thoughts Rose looked at her with real concern for every time Lottie said in that convinced voice I see what she saw came true then it was to be supposed that Mr. Wilkins too would presently come true I wish said Rose anxiously I understood you don't try said Lottie smiling but I must because I love you dear Rose said Lottie swiftly bending down and kissing her you're so quick said Rose don't follow your developments I can't keep touch it was what happened with Frederick she broke off and looked frightened the whole idea of our coming here she went on again as Lottie didn't seem to have noticed was to get away wasn't it well we've got away and now after only a single day of it you want to write to the very people she stopped the very people we were getting away from finished Lottie it's quite true it seems idiotically illogical but I'm so happy I'm so well I feel so fearfully wholesome this place why it makes me feel flooded with love and she stared down at Rose in a kind of radiant surprise Rose was silent a moment then she said and do you think it will have the same effect on Mr. Wilkins Lottie laughed I don't know she said but even if it doesn't there's enough love about to flood fifty Mr. Wilkins's as you call him the great thing is to have lots of love about I don't see she went on at least I don't see here though I did at home that it matters who loves as long as somebody does I was a stingy beast at home and used to measure and count I had a queer obsession about justice as though justice mattered as though justice can really be distinguished from vengeance it's only love that's any good at home I wouldn't love Malish unless he loved me back exactly as much absolute fairness did you ever and as he didn't neither did I and the aridity of that house the aridity Rose said nothing she was bewildered by Lottie one odd effect of san salvatore on her rapidly developing friend was who sudden free use of robust words she'd not used them in hamstead beast and dog were more robust than hamstead cared about in words too Lottie had come unchained but how she wished oh how Rose wished that she too could write to her husband and say come the Wilkins Menage however pompous Malish might be and he had seemed to Rose pompous was on a healthier more natural footing than hers Lottie could write to Malish and would get an answer she couldn't write to Frederick for only too well did she know he wouldn't answer at least he might answer a hurried scribble showing how much bored he was at doing it with perfunctory thanks for her letter but that would be worse than no answer at all for his handwriting her name on an envelope addressed by him helped her heart too acutely did it bring back the letters of their beginnings together the letters from him so desolate with separation so aching with love and longing to see apparently one of these very same letters arrive and open it to find dear Rose thanks for letter glad you're having a good time don't hurry back say if you want any money I'll lend it here yours Frederick no it couldn't be born I don't think I'll come down to the village with you today she said looking up at Lottie with eyes suddenly gone dim I think I want to think alright said Lottie had once starting off briskly down the path but don't think too long she called back over her shoulder invite him at once invite whom asked Rose startled your husband end of chapter 11 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information and to find out how you can volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Diana Keisner's The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnhem Chapter 12 at the evening meal which was the first time the whole four sat round the dining room table together scrap appeared she appeared quite punctually and in one of those wrappers or teagounds which are sometimes described as ravishing this one really was ravishing it certainly ravished Mrs. Wilkins who could not take her eyes off the enchanting figure opposite it was a shell-pink garment and clung to the adorable scrap as though it too loved her what a beautiful dress exclaimed Mrs. Wilkins eagerly what this old rags said scrap glancing down at it as if to see which one she had got on I've had it a hundred years and she concentrated on her soup you must be very cold in it said Mrs. Fisher thin-lipped for it showed a great deal of scrap the whole of her arms for instance and even where it covered her up it was so thin that you still saw her who me said scrap looking up a moment oh no and she continued her soup you mustn't catch a chill you know you must be very cold in it you must be very cold in it you mustn't catch a chill you know said Mrs. Arbathnaut feeling that such loveliness must at all costs be preserved unharmed there's a great difference here when the sun goes down I'm quite warm said scrap industriously eating her soup you look as you had nothing at all on underneath said Mrs. Fisher I haven't at least hardly anything said scrap finishing her soup how very imprudent said Mrs. Fisher and how highly improper whereupon scrap stared at her Mrs. Fisher had arrived at dinner feeling friendly towards Lady Caroline she at least did not intrude into her room and sat at her table and written with her pen she did Mrs. Fisher had supposed know how to behave now it appeared that she did not know for was this behaving to come dressed no undressed like that to a meal such behavior was not only exceedingly improper but also most inconsiderate for the indelicate creature would certainly catch a chill and then infect the entire party Mrs. Fisher had a great objection to other people's chills they were always the fruit of folly and then they were handed on to her who had done nothing at all to deserve them bird brained thought Mrs. Fisher sternly contemplating Lady Caroline not an idea in her head except vanity but there are no men here said Mrs. Wilkins so how can it be improper have you noticed she inquired of Mrs. Fisher who endeavored to pretend she did not hear how difficult it is to be improper without men Mrs. Fisher neither answered her nor looked at her but Scrap looked at her and did that with her mouth which in any other mouth would have been a feign grin seen from without role of nasturtiums it was the most beautiful of brief and dimpled smiles she had a very alive sort of face that one thought Scrap observing Mrs. Wilkins with a dawn of interest it was rather like a field of corn swept by lights and shadows both she and the dark one Scrap noticed had changed their clothes but only in order to put on silk jumpers the same amount of trouble would have been enough to dress them properly reflected Scrap naturally they looked like nothing on earth in the jumpers it didn't matter what Mrs. Fisher wore indeed the only thing for her short of plumes and ermine was what she did wear but these others were quite young still and quite attractive they really definitely had faces how different life would be for them if they made the most of themselves instead of the least and yet Scrap was suddenly bored and turned away her thoughts and absently ate toast what did it matter if you did make the most of yourself you only collected people around you who ended by wanting to grab I've had the most wonderful day began Mrs. Wilkins her eyes shining Scrap lowered hers she thought she's going to gush as though anybody were interested in her day thought Mrs. Fisher lowering hers also in fact whenever Mrs. Wilkins spoke Mrs. Fisher deliberately cast down her eyes thus would she mark her disapproval besides it seemed the only safe thing to do with her eyes for no one could tell what the uncurbed creature would say next that which she had just said for instance about men addressed too to her what could she mean better not conjecture thought Mrs. Fisher and her eyes though cast down yet saw Lady Caroline stretch out her hand to the Chianti flask and fill her glass again again she had done it once already and the fish was only just going out of the room Mrs. Fisher could see that the other respectable member of the party Mrs. Arbuthnot was noticing it too Mrs. Arbuthnot was she hoped and believed respectable and well meaning it is true she also had invaded her sitting room but no doubt she had been dragged there by the other one and Mrs. Fisher had little if anything against Mrs. Arbuthnot and observed with approval that she only drank water that was as it should be so indeed to give her her dues did the freckled one and very right at their age she herself drank wine but with what moderation one meal one glass and she was 65 and might properly and even beneficially have had at least two that she said to Lady Caroline cutting right across what Mrs. Wilkins was telling them about her wonderful day and indicating the wine glass is very bad for you Lady Caroline however could not have heard for she continued to sip her elbow on the table and listened to what Mrs. Wilkins was saying and what was it she was saying she had invited somebody to come and stay a man Mrs. Fisher could not credit her ears yet it evidently was a man for she spoke of the person as he suddenly and for the first time but then this was most important Mrs. Fisher addressed Mrs. Wilkins directly she was 65 and cared very little what sorts of women she happened to be with for a month she had to be mixed with men it was a different proposition altogether she was not going to be made a cat's paw of she had not come out there to sanction by her presence what used in her day to be called fast behaviour nothing had been said at the interview in London about men if there had been she would have declined of course to come what is his name asked Mrs. Fisher abruptly interposing Mrs. Wilkins turned to her with a slight surprise Wilkins she said Wilkins yes your name and his a relation not blood a connection a husband Mrs. Fisher once more cast down her eyes she could not talk to Mrs. Wilkins there was something about the things she said a husband suggesting one of many always that unseemly twist to everything why could she not say my husband besides Mrs. Fisher had she herself knew not for what reason taken both the hamstead young women for widows war ones there had been an absence of mention of husbands at the interview which would not she considered be natural if such persons did after all exist and if a husband was not a relation who was not blood what a way to talk why a husband was the first of all relations how well she remembered Ruskin no it was not Ruskin it was the bible that said a man should leave his father and mother and cleave only to his wife showing that she became by marriage an even more than blood relation and if the husband's father and mother were to be nothing to him compared to his wife how much less than nothing ought the wife's father and mother be to her compared to her husband she herself had been unable to leave her father and mother in order to cleave to Mr. Fisher because they were no longer when she married alive but she certainly would have left them if they had been there to leave not blood indeed silly talk the dinner was very good succulents succeeded succulents Costanza had determined to do as she chose in the matter of cream and eggs the first week and see what happened at the end of it when the bills had to be paid her experience of the English was that they were quiet about bills they were shy of words they believed readily besides who was the mistress here in the absence of a definite one it occurred to Costanza that she might as well be the mistress herself so she did as she chose about the dinner and it was very good the four however were so much preoccupied by their own conversation that they ate it without noticing how good it was even Mrs. Fisher she who in such matters was manly did not notice the entire excellent cooking was to her as though it were not which shows how much she must have been stirred she was stirred it was that Mrs. Wilkins she was enough to stir anybody and she was undoubtedly encouraged by Lady Caroline who in her turn was no doubt influenced by the Chianti Mrs. Fisher was very glad there were no men present for they certainly would have been foolish around Lady Caroline she was precisely the sort of young woman to unbalance them especially Mrs. Fisher recognized at that moment perhaps it was the Chianti momentarily intensifying her personality but she was undeniably most attractive and there were few things Mrs. Fisher disliked more than having to look on while sensible intelligent men who the moment before were talking seriously and interestingly about real matters became merely foolish and simpering she'd seen them actually simpering just because in walked a bit of birdbrained beauty even Mr. Gladstone that great wise statesman whose hand had once rested for an unforgettable moment on her head would have she felt on perceiving Lady Caroline left off talking sense and horribly embarked on badinage you see Mrs. Wilkins said a silly trick that with which she mostly began her sentences Mrs. Fisher each time wished to say pardon me I do not see I hear but why trouble you see said Mrs. Wilkins leaning across towards Lady Caroline we arranged didn't we in London that if any of us wanted to we could each invite one guest so now I'm doing it I don't remember that said Mrs. Fisher her eyes on her plate oh yes we did didn't we Rose yes I remember said Lady Caroline only it seemed so incredible that one could ever want to one sole idea was to get away from one's friends and one's husbands again that unseemly plural but how altogether unseemly thought Mrs. Fisher such implications Mrs. Arbuth not clearly thought so too for she had turned red and family affection said Lady Caroline or was it the Chianti speaking surely it was the Chianti and the want of family affection said Mrs. Wilkins what a light she was throwing on her home life in real character that wouldn't be so bad said Lady Caroline I'd stay with that it would give one room oh no no it's dreadful cried Mrs. Wilkins it's as if one had no clothes on but I like that said Lady Caroline really said Mrs. Fisher it's a divine feeling getting rid of things said Lady Caroline who was talking altogether to Mrs. Wilkins and paid no attention to the other two oh but in a bitter wind to have nothing on and no there never will be anything on and you're going to get colder and colder till at last you die of it that's what it was like living with somebody who didn't love one love one these confidences thought Mrs. Fisher and no excuse whatever for Mrs. Wilkins who was making them entirely on plain water Mrs. Arbuth not judging from her face quite shared Mrs. Fisher's disapproval she was fidgeting but didn't he asked Lady Caroline every bit as shamelessly unredecent as Mrs. Wilkins malersh he showed no signs of it delicious murmured Lady Caroline really said Mrs. Fisher I didn't think it was at all delicious I was miserable and now since I've been here I simply stare at myself being miserable as miserable as that and about malersh you mean he wasn't worth it really said Mrs. Fisher no I don't I mean I suddenly got well Lady Caroline slowly twisting the stem of her glass in her fingers scrutinized the lit up face opposite and now I'm well I find I can't sit here and gloat all to myself I can't be happy shutting him out I must share I understand exactly what the Blessed Demoiselle felt like what was the Blessed Demoiselle asked Scrap really said Mrs. Fisher and with such emphasis this time that Lady Caroline turned to her odd I to know she asked I don't know any natural history sounds like a bird it is a poem said Mrs. Fisher with extraordinary frost oh said Scrap I'll lend it to you said Mrs. Wilkins over whose face laughter rippled no said Scrap and its author said Mrs. Fisher though not perhaps quite what one would have wished him to be was frequently at my father's table what a bore for you said Scrap that's what mothers always doing inviting authors I hate authors I wouldn't mind them so much if they didn't write books go on about Malour she said turning to Mrs. Wilkins really said Mrs. Fisher all those empty beds said Mrs. Wilkins what empty beds asked Scrap the ones in this house why of course they each ought to have somebody happy inside them 8 beds and only 4 people it's dreadful dreadful to be so greedy and keep everything just for one self I want Rose to ask her husband out too you and Mrs. Fisher haven't got husbands but why not give some friend a glorious time Rose bit her lip she turned red she turned pale if only Lottie would keep quiet she thought it was all very well to have suddenly become a saint and want to love everybody but need she be so tactless Rose felt that all her poor sore places were being danced on if only Lottie would keep quiet and Mrs. Fisher with even greater frostiness than that with which she had received Lady Caroline's ignorance of the Blessed Damosel said there is only one unoccupied bedroom in this house only one echoed Mrs. Wilkins astonished then who are in all the others we are said Mrs. Fisher but we're not in all the bedrooms there must be at least six that leaves two over and the owner told us there were eight beds didn't he Rose there are six bedrooms said Mrs. Fisher for both she and Lady Caroline had thoroughly searched the house on arriving in order to see which part of it they would be most comfortable in and they both knew that there were six bedrooms two of which were very small and in one of these small ones Francesca slept in the company of a chair and a chest of drawers and the other similarly furnished was empty Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnot had hardly looked at the house having spent most of their time out of doors gaping at the scenery and had in the agitated inattentiveness of their minds when first they began negotiating for San Salvatore got into their heads that the eight beds that the owner spoke were the same as eight bedrooms which they were not there were indeed eight beds but four of them were in Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnot's rooms there are six bedrooms repeated Mrs. Fisher we have four Francesca has the fifth and the sixth is empty so that said scrap however kind we feel we would be we can't isn't it fortunate but then there's only room for one said Mrs. Wilkins looking round at the three faces yes and you've got them said scrap Mrs. Wilkins was taken aback this question of the beds was unexpected in inviting Malerche she had intended to put him in one of the four spare rooms that she imagined were there were plenty of rooms and enough servants there was no reason why they should as they did in their small two-servanted house at home share the same one love even universal love the kind of love with which she felt herself flooded should not be tried much patience and self-effacement were needed for successful married sleep placidity a steady faith these two were needed she was sure she would be much fonder of Malerche and he not mind her nearly so much if they were not shut up together at night if in the morning they could meet with the cheery affection of friends between whom lies no shadow of differences about the window or the washing arrangements or of absurd little choked down resentments at something that had seemed to one of them unfair her happiness she felt and her ability to be friends with everybody was the result of her sudden new freedom and its peace would there be that sense of freedom that peace after a night shut up with Malerche would she be able in the morning to be full towards him as she was at that moment full of nothing at all but loving kindness after all she hadn't been very long in heaven suppose she hadn't been in it long enough for her to have become fixed in blandness and only that morning what an extraordinary joy it had been to find herself alone when she woke and able to pull the bed clothes anyway she liked Francesca had to nudge her she was so much absorbed that she did not notice the pudding if, thought Mrs. Wilkins distractedly helping herself I share my room with Malerche I risk losing all that I now feel about him if on the other hand I put him in the one spare room I prevent Mrs. Fisher and Lady Caroline from giving somebody a treat true they don't seem to want to at present but at any moment in this place one or the other of them may be seized with a desire to make somebody happy and then they wouldn't be able to because of Malerche what a problem she said aloud her eyebrows puckered what is asked Scrap where to put Malerche Scrap stared why isn't one room enough for him she asked oh yes quite but then there won't be any room left at all any room for somebody you may want to invite I shan't want to said Scrap or you said Mrs. Wilkins to Mrs. Fisher Rose of course doesn't count I'm sure she would like sharing her room with her husband it's written all over her really said Mrs. Fisher really what asked Mrs. Wilkins turning hopefully to her who she thought the word this time was the preliminary to a helpful suggestion it was not it stood by itself it was as before mere frost challenged however Mrs. Fisher did fasten it onto a sentence really am I to understand she asked that you propose to reserve the one spare room for the exclusive use of your own family he isn't my own family said Mrs. Wilkins he's my husband you see I see nothing Mrs. Fisher could not this time refrain from interrupting for what an intolerable trick at the most I hear and that reluctantly but Mrs. Wilkins as impervious to rebuke as Mrs. Fisher feared immediately repeated the tiresome formula and launched out into a long excessively indelicate speech about the best place for the person she called Malerche to sleep in Malerche Mrs. Fisher remembering the Thomas's and John's and Alfred's and Robert's of her day plain names that yet had all become glorious thought it sheer affectation to be christened Malerche was it seemed Mrs. Wilkins husband and therefore his place was clearly indicated why this talk she herself as if foreseeing his arrival had had a second bed put in Mrs. Wilkins room there was certain things in life which were never talked about but only done most things connected with husbands were not talked about and to have a whole dinner table taken up with a discussion as to where one of them should sleep was in a front to the decencies how and where husband slept should be known only to their wives sometimes it was not known to them and then the marriage had less happy moments but these moments were not talked about either the decencies continued to be preserved at least it was so in her day to have to hear whether Mr. Wilkins should or should not sleep with Mrs. Wilkins and the reasons why he should and the reasons why he shouldn't was both uninteresting and indelicate she might have succeeded in imposing propriety in changing the conversation if it had not been for Lady Caroline Lady Caroline encouraged Mrs. Wilkins and threw herself into the discussion with every bit as much unreserve as Mrs. Wilkins herself no doubt she was impelled on this occasion by Chianti but whatever the reason there it was and characteristically Lady Caroline was all for Mr. Wilkins being given the solitary spare room she took that for granted any other arrangement would be impossible she said her expression was barbarous had she never read her Bible Mrs. Fisher was tempted to inquire and they too shall be one flesh clearly also then one room but Mrs. Fisher did not inquire she did not care even to allude to such texts to someone unmarried however there was one way she could force Mr. Wilkins into his proper place and save the situation she could say she herself intended to invite a friend it was her right they had all said so apart from propriety it was monstrous that Mrs. Wilkins should want to monopolise the one spare room when in her own room was everything necessary for her husband perhaps she really would invite somebody not invite but suggest coming there was Kate Lumley for instance Kate could perfectly afford to come and pay her share and she was of her own period and knew and had known most of the people she herself knew and had known Kate of course had only been on the fringe she used to be asked only to the big parties not to the small ones and she still was only on the fringe there were some people who never were off the fringe and Kate was one often however such people were more permanently agreeable to be with than the others in that they remained grateful yes she really might consider Kate the poor soul had never married but then everybody could not expect to marry and she was quite comfortably off not too comfortably but just comfortably enough to pay her own expenses if she came and yet be grateful yes Kate was the solution if she came at one stroke Mrs. Fisher saw would the Wilkins's be regularised and Mrs. Wilkins be prevented from having more than her share of the rooms also Mrs. Fisher would save herself from isolation spiritual isolation she desired physical isolation between meals but she disliked that isolation which is of the spirit such isolation would she feared certainly be hers with these three alien minded young women even Mrs. Arbuthnot was owing to her friendship with Mrs. Wilkins necessarily alien minded in Kate she would have a support Kate without intruding on her sitting-room for Kate was tractable would be there at meals to support her Mrs. Fisher said nothing at the moment but presently in the drawing-room when they were gathered round the wood-fire she had discovered there was no fireplace in her own sitting-room and therefore she would after all be forced so long as the evenings remained cool to spend them in the other room presently while Francesco was handing coffee round and Lady Caroline was poisoning the air with smoke Mrs. Wilkins looking relieved and pleased said well if nobody really wants that room and wouldn't use it anyhow I shall be very glad if Malerche may have it of course he must have it said Lady Caroline then Mrs. Fisher spoke I have a friend she said in her deep voice and sudden silence fell upon the others Kate Lumley said Mrs. Fisher nobody spoke perhaps continued Mrs. Fisher addressing Lady Caroline you know her no Lady Caroline did not know Kate Lumley and Mrs. Fisher without asking the others if they did or she was sure then you know one proceeded I wish to invite her to join me said Mrs. Fisher complete silence then Scrap said turning to Mrs. Wilkins that settles Malerche then it settles the question of Mr. Wilkins said Mrs. Fisher although I am unable to understand that there should ever have been a question in the only way that is right I'm afraid you're in for it then said Lady Caroline again to Mrs. Wilkins unless she added he can't come but Mrs. Wilkins her brow perturbed for suppose after all she were not yet quite stable in heaven could only say a little uneasily I see him here end of chapter 12