quite worried about you at the nursing home. You never even looked at that remarkably pretty nurse you had. An attractive minx, tooâabsolutely Godâs gift to a sick man.â
âYour conversation, Joanna, I find definitely low.â
My sister continued without paying the least attention to my remarks.
âSo I was much relieved to see youâd still got an eye for a nice bitof skirt. She is a good looker. Funny that the S.A. should have been left out completely. It is odd, you know, Jerry. What is the thing that some women have and others havenât? What is it makes one woman, even if she only says âFoul weatherâ so attractive that every man within range wants to come over and talk about the weather with her? I suppose Providence makes a mistake every now and then when sending out the parcel. One Aphrodite face and form, one temperament ditto. And something goes astray and the Aphrodite temperament goes to some little plain-faced creature, and then all the other women go simply mad and say, âI canât think what the men see in her. She isnât even good-looking!ââ
âHave you quite finished, Joanna?â
âWell, you do agree, donât you?â
I grinned. âIâll admit to disappointment.â
âAnd I donât see who else there is here for you. Youâll have to fall back upon Aimée Griffith.â
âGod forbid,â I said.
âSheâs quite good-looking, you know.â
âToo much of an Amazon for me.â
âShe seems to enjoy her life, all right,â said Joanna. âAbsolutely disgustingly hearty, isnât she? I shouldnât be at all surprised if she had a cold bath every morning.â
âAnd what are you going to do for yourself?â I asked.
âMe?â
âYes. Youâll need a little distraction down here if I know you.â
âWhoâs being low now? Besides, you forget Paul.â Joanna heaved up a not very convincing sigh.
âI shanât forget him nearly as quickly as you will. In about ten days youâll be saying, âPaul? Paul Who? I never knew a Paul.ââ
âYou think Iâm completely fickle,â said Joanna.
âWhen people like Paul are in question, Iâm only too glad that you should be.â
âYou never did like him. But he really was a bit of a genius.â
âPossibly, though I doubt it. Anyway, from all Iâve heard, geniuses are people to be heartily disliked. One thing, you wonât find any geniuses down here.â
Joanna considered for a moment, her head on one side.
âIâm afraid not,â she said regretfully.
âYouâll have to fall back upon Owen Griffith,â I said. âHeâs the only unattached male in the place. Unless you count old Colonel Appleton. He was looking at you like a hungry bloodhound most of the afternoon.â
Joanna laughed.
âHe was, wasnât he? It was quite embarrassing.â
âDonât pretend. Youâre never embarrassed.â
Joanna drove in silence through the gate and round to the garage.
She said then:
âThere may be something in that idea of yours.â
âWhat idea?â
Joanna replied:
âI donât see why any man should deliberately cross the street to avoid me. Itâs rude, apart from anything else.â
âI see,â I said. âYouâre going to hunt the man down in cold blood.â
âWell, I donât like being avoided.â
I got slowly and carefully out of the car, and balanced my sticks. Then I offered my sister a piece of advice.
âLet me tell you this, my girl. Owen Griffith isnât any of your tame whining artistic young men. Unless youâre careful youâll stir up a hornetâs nest about your ears. That man could be dangerous.â
âOo, do you think so?â demanded Joanna with every symptom of pleasure at the prospect.
âLeave the
Learning to Kill: Stories