The New Moon with the Old by Dodie Smith Read Free Book Online

She located them in the refrigerator, found plates and soup cups and then began preparations for coffee. Still no soundfrom the hall. Would Merry cry and need to be comforted? A few minutes later the kitchen door was flung open and Merry rushed at her saying, ‘Poor darling Miss Minton, what a thing to happen when you were all alone – and in that gloomy music room! But how wonderful for poor father to have someone like you to talk to!’ Jane then dissolved into tears and found herself being comforted by Merry, after which she was tenderly escorted to the hall to be treated, by both Merry and Drew, as a cross between an invalid and a heroine.
    Clare finished getting supper, and shortly everyone was sitting round the fire eating. Richard, Jane noted, ate less than anyone. She might have thought it callous of the younger Carringtons to eat so much when their beloved father was a fugitive from justice had she not, in spite of her great anxiety for him, suddenly felt so ravenous herself.
    But was Rupert Carrington a beloved father? His three younger children, discussing his chances of getting away, sounded boisterously cheerful; and even Richard, though quieter, expressed no concern. Almost as if he had read her thoughts, Drew said: ‘Are you thinking we mind very little – on Father’s account? I’m sure we’re all very sorry for him. You must blame our seeming callousness on the resilience of youth. We seem to have rather a lot of it.’
    â€˜Speak for yourself,’ said Richard.
    â€˜Poor Father!’ said Clare. ‘But we shall need all the resilience we can work up. How people in the village will gloat over us now! They think we’re spoilt and lazy.’
    â€˜I deny lazy,’ said Drew. ‘And it’s hardly our fault we’ve not been trained to earn. Anyway, we shall soon find some way to.’
    â€˜I shan’t,’ said Clare. ‘I feel worse equipped than a Victorian girl. She could always be a governess. But what can I do?’
    Merry said: ‘Clare, darling, you really are wet. If I wasn’tgoing on the stage I can think of lots of jobs I could do. Serving in a shop, being a waitress – or going into a factory; that’s jolly well paid.’
    â€˜A factory? I should wreck the machinery.’
    â€˜I must say I can’t see her in a factory,’ said Jane. ‘Is there no job you ever fancied, Clare?’
    Clare shook her head gloomily.
    â€˜You once said you’d like to be a king’s mistress,’ said Merry. ‘But there’s such a shortage of kings now. Could you marry somebody? Not that I can think of anyone. All the well-to-do unmarried men in the village are over seventy.’
    â€˜There’s one good thing. I needn’t go to that art school now – I never really wanted to. And thank goodness Father hasn’t paid the fees yet. Oh, dear, there are dozens of bills waiting to be paid. He hasn’t been here to sign cheques for nearly a month.’
    â€˜I wonder if they can make him bankrupt while he’s out of the country – if he gets out,’ said Richard. ‘We’d better listen to the News. It just might mention him; there was quite a lot about City scandals yesterday.’ He turned on the television.
    A play was finishing – with the arrest of the criminal.
    â€˜Plain-clothes men,’ said Merry. ‘I wonder if we shall get some here, looking for Father.’ She watched absorbedly until the play ended, then said regretfully, ‘We seem to have missed something good.’
    The News began. Jane, remembering Rupert had spoken of himself as insignificant, thought it unlikely there would be any reference to him. But her heart began to beat wildly when, after dealing with the arrest of a financier whose name had been in the news for days, the newscaster began reading a list of firms whose books had been taken over by the police. She heard the words