On wings of song by Mary Burchell Read Free Book Online Page B

doing it for the money—which of course she was.'
    'How do you know?' countered Caroline. 'You weren't even bom then—you said not.'
    'Well, that's true. But why else would a lovely girl—and apparently she was a stunner—^marry a man twice her age?'

    Terhaps he was very attractive. Some elderly men are.'
    *Not this one. Not judging from the photographs.'
    Caroline laughed and said that beauty was notoriously in the eye of the beholder. Then she added quite eagerly, 'Will she—^your godmother—^be at the Lucille Duparc recital, as you suggested? I'd really love to meet her after hearing so much about her.'
    *Yes, I think she'll be there. I suppose we ought to have tried to get your Miss Curtis a
    ticket. But ' he opened the top drawer once
    more and took out a now much diminished pack of tickets. Tity—^but I'm afraid all these are answered for twice over. There just are no tickets left.'
    'Except with the lady herself,' murmured Caroline absently.
    *Well, she's entitled to a few. But how did you know she had some?' he asked curiously.
    'She gave one to my cousin Jeremy when she met him casually at a reception.'
    'To a casual stranger?—that's naughty. Unless—oh, that's who it was!' An amused smile broke over his face. 'I knew I'd seen him somewhere. Outside the lift, of course, when he told me to mind my own business. So it's your cousin Jeremy who's on waving terms with her, is it?'
    'On waving terms?' Caroline found that she disliked the expression intensely, and her tone was sharper than she had intended. 'What do you mean exactly?'
    'He was in the restaurant where I took Lucille

    to lunch on Saturday, and they waved to each other very cordially, I thought. So she'd given him one of the precious tickets, had she? Fast mover, your cousin Jeremy. But I have to admit he's quite a good-looker in his own way. I didn't notice when we met head-on outside the I Warrenders' apartment. But Lucille is right— I he's almost too handsome for a tenor.' |
    *She said—that?' Caroline was divided between gratification on behalf of Jeremy and a sort of dismay for which she was quite unable to account. 'So you discussed Jeremy?'
    'I wouldn't put it quite like that. She said, "You see that dark-eyed Adonis over there? He's a tenor in addition to everything else. It doesn't seen fair, does it?" And I just murmured something noncommittal, having quite enough troubles of my own without having unknown tenors wished on to me.—Let me see, where were we?'
    Caroline glanced down at her notebook, read back the last paragraph with commendable accuracy, and thought, 'I'll ask Jeremy about Lucille Duparc'
    But she knew suddenly that she would not. |
    During the next two days Jeremy also made no '^ reference to Lucille. But he went about looking rather pleased about something, and Caroline heard him putting in a lot of practice on a French song he had not previously tried over.
    'I never heard you sing that before,' she said casually. 'It suits your voice well.'
    'Think so?' He smiled as though gratified. 'I rather thought so too.'
    'What made you choose it?'
    There was a second's hesitation, then he said.

    'Someone suggested it to me, and I thought I'd have a bash at it.'
    And somehow she simply could not make herself ask who had made the suggestion. It would have been such a natural question only a few days ago. Now his once open manner had become slightly veiled as though a faint cloud had risen between them.
    Caroline felt dismayed out of all proportion to the little incident, and her disquiet deepened when, on the night of the concert, he left the house half an hour before she did, without comment.
    *He's going to get flowers for her, I expect,' observed Aunt Hilda complacently. 'It's his way of acknowledging her kindness in giving him a ticket. He's got something rather extravagant in mind, I imagine—^he borrowed five pounds.' But she said that indulgently.
    Caroline made some noncommittal reply and presently took herself off to