Oxford Blood by Antonia Fraser Read Free Book Online Page B

years ago, before returning to her traditional Labour stance -and without Jack Iverstone's excuse. Instead she asked: 'And the woman at the end of the row, the nurse?'
    There was a tiny pause, so brief that Jemima even wondered afterwards whether she had imagined it.
    'Oh, that was someone, an old retainer if you like, she used to be around a lot in my childhood; my mother was quite ill after I was born, quite depressed I believe, despite the Super-Happy event; something to do with her age I daresay.'
    'And is she still around? The nurse. I mean, we could interview her,' Jemima improvised. 'Part of your privileged background. A live-in nurse at the age of twenty.'
    'Privileged! Nurse Elsie ... You have to be joking.'
    Saffron had abandoned his usual languid tone for a kind of bitter briskness, 'No, as a matter of fact, she's dead. Died the other day. Of cancer. I went to see her. It was horrible. Very upsetting. My mother forced me to go and see her. The trouble with my mother, she's a saint, and she expects everyone to do likewise. Only it's no trouble to her, and a great deal of trouble to the rest of us. In short I wish I hadn't gone, for any number of reasons, and if Ma hadn't bullied me I would have got out of it altogether because Nurse Elsie died suddenly the day after I visited her.
    'As if there weren't enough members of my family crowding about her anyway,' he went on. 'Nurse Elsie produced my cousins as well as gorgeous me; in fact her invaluable attentions were about the only thing Cousin Daphne Iverstone and my mother had in common, and they both competed in being sentimental about her. So if Cousin Daphne went, Ma had to go, and if Jack and Fanny went to say the final goodbye, I had to go. What rubbish. Nothing to do with death.'
    In spite of all her good resolutions, Jemima found herself feeling both excited and apprehensive. For the first time that day, young Lord Saffron had genuinely engaged her attention. She was determined not to let the opportunity drop, determined not to return to the tedious (to her) subject of his luxurious Oxford life-style. She was wondering how to frame her next question when she heard hurried footsteps on the stairs. Expecting either Tiggie or perhaps Cherry mounting a rescue operation, Jemima saw instead a tall thin young man whose appearance was so essentially English that you could have mounted his photograph as a travel poster. With curly brown hair, rather small blue eyes, a longish nose and high healthy colour, the stranger had the air of an eighteenth century gentleman, except for his clothes which were distinctly modern -jeans and a baggy brown jersey over a check shirt. He also had a pile of books under his arm.
    'At the champagne already, I see, Saffer—' Then the stranger noticed Jemima and paused.
    'Miss Jemima Shore,' said Saffron in a silky voice. 'May I introduce my cousin Jack Iverstone? He probably wants me to subscribe to something thoroughly decent. In which case I shall refuse. He also comes fresh from a lecture by the look of him which always has a deplorable effect on the temper.'
    'Oh don't be so affected, Saffer,' said a girl's clear voice from the doorway. 'As if you'd ever been near a lecture. Good afternoon, Miss Shore, I'm a great admirer of your work, particularly that programme The Pill - For or Against? It certainly needed saying. Why should we all drop dead for the sake of some international chemists? Now listen Saffer, you've got to come and have lunch with us. Oh, I'm Saffer's cousin, Fanny Iverstone, by the way, Miss Shore. You see, Saffer, Mummy's come down to talk to Jack about his wicked political views - or wicked according to her and Daddy. We thought you would distract her—'
    'Certainly not!’ exclaimed Saffron. 'This is going too far, even for you, Fanny. You out-boss Mrs Thatcher sometimes, besid es not being nearly so pretty. I am having lunch with Jemima Shore. She's going to do wonders for my image on television.'
    Fanny Iverstone