The Acceptance World - Anthony Powell [65]
‘Well, Dicky,’ she said, ‘why the hell do you want to bring a crowd of people to see me at this time of night?’
She spoke dryly, though without bad temper, in that distinctly cockney drawl that I remembered.
‘Milly, darling, they are all the most charming people imaginable. Let me tell you who they are.’
Mrs. Andriadis laughed.
‘I know him,’ she said, nodding in the direction of Barnby.
‘Lady Anne Stepney,’ said Umfraville. ‘Do you remember when we went in her father’s party to the St. Leger?’
‘You’d better not say anything about that,’ said Mrs. Andriadis. ‘Eddie Bridgnorth has become a pillar of respectability. How is your sister, Anne? I’m not surprised she had to leave Charles Stringham. Such a charmer, but no woman could stay married to him for long.’
Anne Stepney looked rather taken aback at this peremptory approach.
‘And Mrs. Duport,’ said Umfraville.
‘Was it your house I took in Hill Street?’
‘Yes,’ said Jean, ‘it was.’
I wondered whether there would be an explosion at this disclosure. The trouble at the house had involved some question of a broken looking-glass and a burnt-out boiler. Perhaps there had been other items too. Certainly there had been a great deal of unpleasantness. However, in the unexpected manner of persons who live their lives at a furious rate, Mrs. Andriadis merely said in a subdued voice:
‘You know, my dear, I want to apologise for all that happened in that wretched house. If I told you the whole story, you would agree that I was not altogether to blame. But it is all much too boring to go into now. At least you got your money. I hope it really paid for the damage.’
‘We’ve got rid of the house now,’ Jean said, laughing. ‘I didn’t ever like it much anyway.’
‘And Mr. Jenkins,’ Umfraville said. ‘A friend of Charles’s—’
She gave me a keen look.
‘I believe I’ve seen you before, too,’ she said.
I hoped she was not going to recall the scene Mr. Deacon had made at her party. However, she carried the matter no further.
‘Ethel,’ she shouted, ‘bring some glasses. There is beer for those who can’t drink whisky.’
She turned towards Umfraville.
‘I’m quite glad to see you all,’ she said; ‘but you mustn’t stay too long after Werner appears. He doesn’t approve of people like you.’
‘Your latest beau, Milly?’
‘Werner Guggenbühl. Such a charming German boy. He will be terribly tired when he arrives. He has been walking in a procession all day.’
‘To meet the Hunger-Marchers?’ I asked.
It had suddenly struck me that in the complicated pattern life forms, this visit to Mrs. Andriadis was all part of the same diagram as that in which St. John Clarke, Quiggin and Mona had played their part that afternoon.
‘I think so. Were you marching too?’
‘No—but I knew some people who were.’
‘What an extraordinary world we live in,’ said Umfraville. ‘All one’s friends marching about in the park.’
‘Rather sweet of Werner, don’t you agree?’ said Mrs. Andriadis. ‘Considering this isn’t his own country and all the awful things we did to Germany at the Versailles Treaty.’
Before she could say more about him, Guggenbühl himself arrived in the room. He was dark and not bad-looking in a very German style. His irritable expression recalled Quiggin’s. He bowed slightly from the waist when introduced, but took no notice of any individual, not even Mrs. Andriadis herself, merely glancing round the room and then glaring straight ahead of him. There could be no doubt that he was the owner of the grey pyjamas. He reminded me of a friend of Mr. Deacon’s called ‘Willi’: described by Mr. Deacon as having ‘borne much of the heat of the day over against Verdun when nation rose against nation’. Guggenbühl was a bit younger than Willi, but in character they might easily have a good deal in common.
‘What sort of a day did you have, Werner?’ asked Mrs. Andriadis.
She used a coaxing voice, quite unlike the manner in which she had spoken up to that moment. The tone made me think of Templer trying to appease Mona. It was equally unavailing, for Guggenbühl made an angry gesture with his fist.
‘What was it like, you ask,’ he said.