âThere was a telephone call for you, from England,â Olympia began; shattered to feel how she trembled inwardly.
The trembling turned to stillness as she saw Waldo halt and turn to look at her with suddenly alert eyes.
âEngland?â he questioned, and when Olympia realized that he was not going to say any more than that, she went on, âIt was a woman, a girl I imagine, by her voiceâit was prettyâ¦â Olympia swallowed the anger she had been nursing all day and went on steadily. âThe girl was anxious to speak to you, she didnât know who I was, but she told me not to tell your wife.â
He regarded her gravely, his face impassive. âI take it she didnât give her name?â
âNo. The girl said you knew her number,â she replied, and in the small silence that fell between them, she asked, âWaldo, who is she?â
A SNEERING MARCH WIND WAS blowing down Primrose Hill Road, driving everyone and everything before it, but there was one battling figure struggling into its teethâa young woman, hurrying along at a great rate, her head bent, her hair, whipped out of her head-scarf, blowing around her face. Presently she turned down a side road and pausing only to tuck her hair away out of her eyes, hurried on, faster now in its comparative shelter. It was a pleasant enough street, lined with tall, late-Victorian houses, nicely maintained still, each with its narrow railed-off area steps leading to a basement, and each, too, with its heavy front door, bearing an impressive brass knocker. Halfway along these superior dwellings the girl stopped, darted up the steps, put down the basket which she was carrying, opened the door with some difficulty, whisked up the basket and went inside.
The hall she entered was chilly and rather dim, with a polished linoleum floor and a table, flanked by two chairs, against one wall. There was a handsome vase on the table, empty, and a scrupulously clean ashtray. The stairs were covered with lino too, and although everything was spotlessly clean and free from dust, it held neither warmth nor welcome. The girl paused only long enough to close the door behind her before crossing the hall and making her way down the stairs beyond a small archway at the back. She had reached the bottom and had her hand on a door in the narrow dark passage beyond when she was halted by a voice. It called sharply from the floor above: âOlympia, come here at once!â
The girl put her basket down and went upstairs again, opened one of the massive mahogany doors in the hall, shut it quietly behind her, and waited near it, looking across the carpeted floor to where her aunt sat at her desk. Miss Maria Randle was a large woman, approaching middle-age but still handsome despite her severe expression. She looked up briefly now. âYou have been gone a long time,â she observed coldly.
âThere was a good deal of shoppingâ¦â
âNonsenseâwhen I was a girl of your age, I thought nothing of twice the amount I ask you to do.â She sighed, âBut there, you are hardly capable of a normal girlâs work; if I had known when I adopted you, gave you a good home and educated you at such expense, that you would repay me in such an ungrateful fashion, I would have thought twice about it.â
Olympia had heard it all before; she sighed soundlessly, and her face took on the wooden expression which concealed her hurt feelings and which her aunt referred to as mulish. It was a pleasant face, although it had no startling good looks; grey eyes, nicely fringed, a short straight nose, a wide, softly curved mouth and a determined chin didnât quite add up to prettiness. Her hair was a warm brown, hanging round her shoulders rather untidily; it caught Miss Randleâs annoyed eye and enabled her to voice another grievance. âAnd your hair!â she declared severely. âSurely you can do something about it? Youâre a disgraceâif any of the doctors were to see you like this Iâm sure I donât know what they would think.â
Olympia said nothing at all; she was perfectly well aware that her aunt knew as well as she did that the doctors only saw her when she was in uniform, her hair smoothed back into a neat bun under a plain cap. Maybe her aunt remembered this too, for she didnât pursue the matter further, but: âYou are on duty in ten minutesâleave the shopping in the kitchen, and see that youâre not late. You must try and remember that my staff are expected to be punctual, and that includes you, Olympia.â She frowned heavily. âSuch a ridiculous name,â she added crossly.