(12/13) The Year at Thrush Green by Miss Read Read Free Book Online Page A

Lovelock were assisted from it.
    'I'll fetch them,' Joan had said when she had heard about the invitation. 'The thought of having to hire a taxi would spoil the whole day for them.'
    This was probably true, Winnie realized, but only someone as forthright as Joan would have said so. And no one as generous, thought Winnie, would have so readily have offered to fetch the ancient sisters.
    Soon they were all ensconced in the sitting-room sipping sherry, or mineral water, or orange juice, while Jenny shuttled between the kitchen and the visitors, keeping an eye on the cooking.
    Dotty and Connie were the last to arrive, and the conversation turned naturally to the extraordinary affair of the abandoned dog.
    'Doing very nicely,' Dotty assured them. 'Very friendly, eats well, gets on with Flossie, though of course she finds him rather boisterous.'
    'But whose was he?' queried Bertha Lovelock.
    'Still a mystery,' Dotty told her. She dipped a finger in her orange juice and sucked it.
    'Do you think I might have a knob of sugar, or preferably a little honey in this?' she enquired. 'It seems a little sharp.'
    Without a word Jenny went from the room and reappeared bearing a pot of honey on a saucer flanked by a teaspoon.
    Oblivious of all eyes upon her, Dotty scooped out a spoonful and stirred it briskly into her glass. The spoon she sucked with relish before replacing it on the saucer.
    Amidst a stunned silence Dotty took a sip.
    'Delicious!' she announced, and took up her tale again.
    'So far we've had no reply to all the questions we've asked. As you probably saw, the local paper had a paragraph about the dear thing, asking for help in tracing the owners.'
    'And a charming photograph,' said Winnie. There was a polite murmur of assent, though in truth the photograph had been rather fuzzy, and as the photographer had posed them with the dog held close to Dotty's face, it was quite difficult to distinguish the rough white hair of one from the other. Luckily, Dotty's spectacles came out clearly, which helped a little.
    'Could it have been stolen, and then dumped because the thieves were scared off?' asked Dimity.
    Ella pointed out that thieves would hardly take the trouble to bring a basket and rug for their captive, and to make sure it was humanely secure in the church porch, and comment was brisk and wildly conjectural until Jenny announced that lunch was ready, and with much fluttering and cries of appreciation the ladies took their places.
    The mystery of Dotty's dog was left, as other local topics were discussed over the avocado pears.
    'Was it true,' asked Violet Lovelock of Joan Young, 'that there might be an addition to Rectory Cottages?'
    She had heard, she said, that the original common room, or drawing-room, or whatever it was called, was turning out to be too small, even with the added extension.
    Joan, fiercely protective of her husband's reputation as an architect, parried the question.
    'It's the first I've heard of it,' she replied. 'That room has always seemed adequate to me, and I know Edward went into the dimensions most carefully when the building was designed.'
    'Oh, I'm quite sure of that!' agreed Violet, helping herself to a spoonful of spinach. She was conscious that she had made a gaffe, which was particularly unfortunate as Joan had been kind enough to collect her and her sisters, and would be needed very soon to return them to Lulling.
    'If they do want more room,' said Dotty brightly, 'those glasshouses you stick on the end of one room might be just the thing.'
    'But that's been done,' said Joan.
    'The new fellow near the Drovers' Arms,' continued Dotty, 'has just had one put outside their dining-room, and I had coffee there the other morning. Very good, wasn't it, Connie?'
    'Very warm and light,' agreed Connie.
    'I meant the coffee,' began Dotty, quite ready to embark on coffee, tea, herbal beverages of all sorts, not to mention the recipes for making them, but was forestalled by Jenny who helped her to runner