The Cone Gatherers

The Cone Gatherers by Robin Jenkins Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: The Cone Gatherers by Robin Jenkins Read Free Book Online
Authors: Robin Jenkins
Tags: Romance
ministrations, like a proud husband. ‘I’m due in the office at ten.’
    She glanced at the clock on the dresser.
    â€˜Plenty of time,’ she said. ‘And how’s Peggy?’
    Still smiling, he milked and sugared his tea, and stirred it.
    â€˜Peggy?’ he murmured. ‘There’s no change in her .’
    She offered him a plate heaped with scones freshly baked. He took one, and contrived to make the offering and his acceptance seem significant.
    â€˜You’re my favourite baker, Effie,’ he said.
    She laughed but turned pinker.
    â€˜Och, I’m sure Mrs Lochie’s as good as ever I could be.’
    â€˜At baking?’
    â€˜Aye, John, at baking. What else?’
    For a few seconds he did not answer. Apparently composed himself, he noticed she was a little flustered.
    â€˜When I said there was no change in Peggy,’ he said, ‘I was really hinting there was a change in somebody else.’
    â€˜I guessed as much.’
    â€˜Maybe I ought to say no more, Effie. You see, you come into it.’
    â€˜Me, John?’
    As he nodded, it never occurred to her that he was lying. She had always thought that suffering had brought to him distinction of body and mind. With his black hair now thickly powdered with white at the sides, and his lean brown meditative face, he seemed to her a more distinguished man than Sir Colin himself. Never had she heard him say an indecent or false word. Several times she had found herself, deep in her own mind, regretting that his ordeal seemed to have purged him of passions. She had also indulged in the supposition of Peggy’s deathand his freedom to remarry: if he asked her, she did not think she would refuse.
    â€˜Aye, you, Effie,’ he said. ‘But maybe I should change the subject. There’s something else I want to ask you.’
    â€˜But I’d like to know how I come into it, John, whatever it is.’
    He laughed. ‘Och, why not? You’re a sensible woman, Effie, and not likely to let silly tittle-tattle upset you. Somebody has got it into her head you and I are too fond of each other.’
    She seemed more agitated than indignant.
    â€˜Mrs Lochie, do you mean?’ she asked.
    He nodded. ‘I don’t think she’s really got a spite against us, Effie. It’s God she blames, but where’s the satisfaction in slandering him?’
    â€˜I was aware she slandered you, but I didn’t think she’d started on me.’
    â€˜Don’t blame her, Effie.’
    â€˜I’m certainly not going to be sorry for her either, if she spreads dirty slanders.’
    He chuckled. ‘So it’s a dirty slander, Effie, to say that you and I are fond of each other?’
    She was blushing; her throat was aflame, and perhaps her breasts.
    He leaned towards her.
    â€˜I didn’t think that was what she meant,’ she said hoarsely.
    â€˜It wasn’t, Effie,’ he whispered. ‘She made it plain enough what she meant. She accused us of being in bed together; but she put it more coarsely than that.’
    â€˜My God!’ she cried, and made to rise.
    He put his hand on her breast and gently pushed her down.
    â€˜She’s an old woman, Effie, crazy with anxiety. She sees I have difficulty whiles in showing affection for Peggy; which is the truth, I’m sorry to say. She thinks then I must be showing it to somebody else. It doesn’t occur to her I might be empty of affection altogether.’
    She stared at the table.
    â€˜I hope that’s not true, John,’ she said, still hoarse.
    He wondered if he could risk kissing or embracing her. Were her scruples sufficiently annulled by desire for revenge, or by lust, or even by genuine affection for him? To his own destruction, and the cone-gatherers’, ought he to add hers?
    He sat still.
    â€˜I think we should drop this subject in the meantime, Effie,’ he said, at last. ‘I see I’ve just got

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