‘No?’
Nadine’s voice was expressionless.
‘Ray.’
‘Yes, Mother?’
‘Get me a piece of notepaper—from the table over there in the corner.’
Raymond went off obediently. Nadine raised her head. She watched, not the boy, but the old woman. Mrs Boynton was leaning forward, her nostrils dilated as though with pleasure. Ray passed close by Sarah. She looked up, a sudden hope showing in her face. It died down as he brushed past her, took some notepaper from the case and went back across the room.
There were little beads of sweat on his forehead as he rejoined them, and his face was dead white.
Very softly Mrs Boynton murmured: ‘Ah…’ as she watched his face.
Then she saw Nadine’s eyes fixed on her. Something in them made her own snap with sudden anger.
‘Where’s Mr Cope this morning?’ she said.
Nadine’s eyes dropped again. She answered in her gentle, expressionless voice:
‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen him.’
‘I like him,’ said Mrs Boynton. ‘I like him very much. We must see a good deal of him. You’ll like that, won’t you?’
‘Yes,’ said Nadine. ‘I, too, like him very much.’
‘What’s the matter with Lennox lately? He seems very dull and quiet. Nothing wrong between you, is there?’
‘Oh, no. Why should there be?’
‘I wondered. Married people don’t always hit it off. Perhaps you’d be happier living in a home of your own?’
Nadine did not answer.
‘Well, what do you say to the idea? Does it appeal to you?’
Nadine shook her head. She said, smiling: ‘I don’t think it would appeal to you, Mother.’
Mrs Boynton’s eyelids flickered. She said sharply and venomously, ‘You’ve always been against me, Nadine.’
The younger woman replied evenly:
‘I’m sorry you should think that.’
The old woman’s hand closed on her stick. Her face seemed to get a shade more purple.
She said, with a change of tone: ‘I forgot my drops. Get them for me, Nadine.’
‘Certainly.’
Nadine got up and crossed the lounge to the lift. Mrs Boynton looked after her. Raymond sat limply in a chair, his eyes glazed with dull misery.
Nadine went upstairs and along the corridor. She entered the sitting-room of their suite. Lennox was sitting by the window. There was a book in his hand, but he was not reading. He roused himself as Nadine came in. ‘Hallo, Nadine.’
‘I’ve come up for Mother’s drops. She forgot them.’
She went on into Mrs Boynton’s bedroom. From a bottle on the washstand she carefully measured a dose into a small medicine glass, filling it up with water. As she passed through the sitting-room again she paused.