The Forget-Me-Not Sonata(71)

‘The Argentine.’

‘Gosh, you have come a long way, haven’t you!’ she exclaimed. ‘You won’t need to worry about your gels now, Caroline will look after them and Caroline already knows all her sister’s friends.’

‘Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!’ Alicia shrieked, bounding out of the changing room holding up a large pair of brown pants. ‘Look at these, aren’t they hideous!’

‘Oh dear, Brownies are rather grim,’ Dorothy agreed with a smile.

‘What are they for?’ Audrey asked, hoping they weren’t underwear.

‘They’re for sport, the gels wear them over their knickers so their botties don’t get cold beneath their culottes. One doesn’t want one’s daughters flashing their knickers, does one?’ Alicia put them on her head and skipped back into the changing room, which suddenly resounded with laughter. Audrey wanted to ask what Wellington boots were, and Aertex shirts, but she was reluctant to reveal her ignorance in case she embarrassed her daughters, so she waited until the salesgirl had accompanied Dorothy Stainton-Hughes to the counter with armfuls of clothes before she began at the top of the list – one navy blue Guernsey, whatever that was.

As a treat Audrey took the twins to Hamleys where she bought them each a toy and watched happily as they ran through the departments gasping in awe at the shelves and shelves of glossy toys and furry animals. They were in high spirits having met Caroline Stainton-Hughes who had told them all about camps, pony rides and the large cedar tree which they were allowed to climb in the summer and whose branches had special names like Lengthies, Bearhug and Cruisies. Audrey recalled the austere grey stone mansion from the brochure Cicely had sent her and wondered whether a place so cold looking could really be so charming. Exhausted after tearing around the toyshop Audrey took them to Fortnum & Mason for tea and immediately thought of Aunt Edna and how much she would have loved it there in such an English tearoom spilling over with scones.

‘Caroline says that when you’re new you’re given a shadow,’ said Alicia, shovelling a large piece of sponge cake into her mouth.

‘What’s a shadow?’ Audrey asked, glad to be resting her legs and sipping a cup of familiar Earl Grey tea. She smiled at her daughters indulgently, taking pleasure from their excitement.

‘An older girl who looks after you for the first term,’ Alicia mumbled through her cake.

‘It does sound the most delightful school, doesn’t it?’ said Audrey, trying to be positive, ignoring the tightness in her chest. ‘When Caroline mentioned riding ponies over the hills in the early morning I began to want to go there myself.’

‘You’re too old, Mummy,’ Leonora said and laughed.

‘I’m afraid I am. Aunt Cicely will be my shadow.’

‘What’s she like?’ Leonora asked.

‘She’d better be nice seeing as we’re going to spend the holidays with her. I hope she has a big house with a garden. Do you think she has horses and a swimming pool?’

‘Well, she’s older than your father and was married for a number of years,’ Audrey began but was interrupted by Leonora who wanted to know if she had children. ‘No, sadly not.’

‘Did her husband die?’ Alicia asked without the slightest hint of compassion.

‘Yes, he did.’

Her eyes lit up. ‘What of?’ she demanded, hoping for gory details.

‘I’m not sure.’

‘I bet it was something gruesome,’ she said, forking another piece of cake into her mouth. ‘People never seem to die painlessly. When I go, I hope I go in my sleep.’

‘What an unpleasant conversation, Alicia dear, let’s not talk about such morbid things.’

‘Merchi says that death only frightens her because when she passes over into the next world she’ll be faced with her husband and all her lovers and they’ll all fight over her and make a mess of Heaven,’ continued Alicia gleefully.

‘That anxiety must keep her very busy,’ Audrey said ironically. ‘You don’t want to listen to Mercedes, she talks a lot of rubbish.’

‘I miss Merchi already,’ said Leonora.

‘You’ll miss her cooking even more,’ Alicia added with a grin, ‘I imagine school food is horrid.’

‘Don’t worry about that, girls, I’ll ask Aunt Cicely to send you food parcels regularly. I don’t want you fading away.’

‘So does Aunt Cicely live all by herself?’ Leonora asked in a quiet voice. She was no longer so nervous about Colehurst House but the thought of Aunt Cicely’s large and empty mansion filled her with apprehension. She suddenly missed her home in Hurlingham and felt almost choked with longing.