An Education by Lynn Barber Read Free Book Online

– ‘Fancy it, Danny?’ ‘Why not?’ So Simon parked the car and we all marched up to the door. An old lady answered it: ‘The agent didn't tell me you were coming.’ ‘Oh dear, oh dear,’ said Danny, ‘how very remiss of him.’ She must have liked his posh accent, which was so much more convincing than Simon's, because she said, ‘Well, come in anyway – I'll show you round.’
    The cottage was full, over-full, of antique furniture: I found it gloomy and was bored within minutes. But Simon and Danny both seemed enchanted and kept admiring the beams, the polished floorboards, the pictures, the furniture. Having been rather crabby, the owner blossomed into friendliness and invited us to stay for coffee. While she was making it, Simon asked if he could go upstairs to the bathroom. A few minutes later I saw him going out to the car carrying something. Then he joined us for coffee and, after half an hour chatting, we left. In the car, Danny said, ‘Got it?’
    Simon nodded.
    ‘Speed?’
    ‘Pretty sure.’
    ‘Got what?’ I said.
    ‘So was that your dream cottage?’ said Danny. ‘Will you and Simon live there happily ever after?’
    ‘No.’ I said. ‘I found it gloomy.’
    They both laughed. ‘You're so difficult to please.’
    Danny said he must get back to Bateman Street. I was still furious with him and Simon for laughing at me, so I said, ‘You promised me a day in the country – I'm not going back.’ Danny said we could drop him in Newmarket so we took him to the station, then went to a hotel for lunch. We were having a rather lugubrious meal when two men came into the dining room and one pointed the other towards our table. The man introduced himself as a detective. He said, ‘We've had a complaint from a Mrs so-and-so of Six Mile Bottom. She says two men and a girl visited her cottage this morning and afterwards she noticed that a valuable antique map by Speed was missing from one of the bedrooms.’ ‘Oh, Simon !’ I said. He shot me a look. ‘Perhaps we could have this conversation outside,’ he suggested. He went outside with the policeman. I waited a few minutes and then went to the Ladies, and from the Ladies walked out the back door and away down the street. I had just enough money for a bus to Cambridge, and ran panting to find Danny in Bateman Street. ‘Simon's been arrested!’ I told him. ‘He stole a map from that old lady!’
    ‘I'm sure there was a misunderstanding,’ he said smoothly. ‘I'll sort it out. Why don't you take the train back to London?’
    ‘I don't have any money!’ I wailed.
    He handed me a £10 note. ‘Don't worry about Simon,’ he told me. I didn't intend to: I hoped he was in prison.
    He wasn't, of course; he bounced round to Clifden Road a few days later and took me out to dinner. ‘How could you steal from an old lady?’
    ‘I didn't steal. She asked me to have the map valued.’
    ‘No she didn't, I was with you.’
    ‘All right, she didn't ask me. But I recognised that the map was by Speed and thought if I got it valued for her, it would be a nice surprise.’
    I knew he was lying, but I let it go. I said: ‘If you ever really stole something, I would leave you.’
    He said, ‘I know you would, Minn.’
    But actually I knew he had stolen something and I didn't leave him, so we were both lying.
    Soon afterwards, I did try to leave him. I was bored. I was bored with Minn and Bubl, with the endless driving round, the waiting while he ran his mysterious errands, the long heavy meals in restaurants, the tussles in strange bedrooms, the fact that we never met anyone except Danny and Helen. I loved the evenings in Bedford Square when Danny played the harpsichord and Helen showed me her new clothes, but now they spent most of their time in Cambridge and Simon was never going to Cambridge again. I told Simon, ‘We're finished – I've got to concentrate on my A-levels.’ He said, ‘We're not finished. I'll come for you when you've done your