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Jake gave her a quick look. If the deplorable blue velvet had been anything to go by, he could not but agree with her. ‘I’m sure it will be very charming,’ he said comfortably. ‘If you’ve got all you want, we’ll go back. Aunt Dora will be wanting her tea.’
She was waiting for them, sitting in the small straightbacked chair she favoured, leafing through a pile of fashion magazines.
‘Such a pity I’m all the wrong shape,’ she greeted them. Her eyes fell on the dress box. ‘You’ve been shopping—how delightful! Do let me see.’
‘Since you’re playing bridge tomorrow evening, Aunt Dora, I’ve asked Annis out to dinner.’ Jake had strolled over to the fire with his back to Annis, busy undoing her purchase.
‘Now that is a good idea,’ enthused Mrs Duvant. ‘Hold it up, dear.’
Annis did so, suddenly doubtful because in the splendidly furnished room with Mrs Duvant’s wildly expensive outfit it looked what it was; a pretty inexpensive dress off the peg. But she was reassured at once by Mrs Duvant’s warm admiration. ‘Oh, very nice,’ she declared, ‘and such a lovely colour. Shoes?’ She had glanced down at Annis’s sensible low heels.
‘Well, just as I was leaving the shop I saw these.’ Annis produced the sandals and the two ladies examined them. ‘They were going cheap and they’ll be useful, because if I ever buy another dress, they’ll go with almost anything.’
This ingenuous remark brought a smile to Jake’s mouth; it was a very gentle smile and amused too. He had thought, when he first met Annis, that she was a bossy elder sister, prone to good works and with far too good an opinion of herself. That she was quite beautiful too, he had admitted without hesitation, but he hadn’t quite believed her occasional dreaminess and her apparent contentment at the Rectory. Now he admitted that he had been quite wrong; she had made no effort to impress him—indeed, she had avoided him, she dealt with Mrs Duvant’s endless small wants without as much as a frown, and he had been touched by her frank admission that she couldn’t go out with him because she hadn’t got a dress. He reflected ruefully that any of the girls he knew who had said that to him would have expected him to have taken them out and bought them one—and nothing off the peg either. He rather thought that if he had suggested to Annis that he would pay she would have thrown something at him. For all her sensible calmness he fancied that at times that red hair of hers might exert itself.
That evening after dinner they played poker, a game Annis had to be taught and which she picked up with ease, rather to Jake’s surprise, until Mrs Duvant remarked that it was only to be expected from a girl who had five A-levels to her credit, and one of these pure Maths. He just stopped himself asking her why she hadn’t gone on to university, because of course, even with a grant, that would have cost money, and there were Edward and James to educate.
They played for high stakes, using the haricot beans Bates brought from the kitchen, and although Jake made a fortune in no time at all, Annis wasn’t far behind him. Mrs Duvant, her black eyes snapping with pleasure, lost over and over again and when they at last called a halt, thanked heaven that she had been playing with beans and not money. But it had been good fun. Annis carefully gathered up the beans and returned them to Bates before going upstairs to bed with Mrs Duvant, leaving Jake by the fire, a briefcase of papers on the floor beside him, and a glass of whisky on the table.
The next morning Mrs Duvant announced that she had a wedding present to buy for a friend’s daughter, and since Jake said that he had some work to do, she and Annis went to the shops together. It took almost all the morning, trying to decide between table linen and silver tea knives. In the end Mrs Duvant, never one to cavil over money, bought both.
And after lunch Jake went back to his work and since Mrs Duvant had retired for her usual nap, Annis got into her outdoor things and went for a walk in the park. It was a chilly, blustery day and somehow it suited her mood; she was feeling vaguely restless, but she couldn’t think why. Everything was all right at home; she had a letter that morning, in another day or two there would be forty pounds in her pocket and she had no worries. She came to the conclusion that Jake’s visit had unsettled her. She had never met anyone like him before; Matt she had grown up with and treated much as she treated her brothers, but Jake made her feel selfconscious and shy, although she had to admit that she was beginning to enjoy his company. She marched briskly into the teeth of the wind and went back presently, her face rosy with fresh air and with a splendid appetite for her tea.
Seen under the soft lighting of her bedroom the blue crêpe looked nice; so did the sandals. It was a pity that she had to wear her winter coat, but she didn’t suppose that would matter overmuch; no one would see it. She went downstairs with it over her arm, admiring the sandals as she went.
‘Very nice,’ declared Jake from the hall. ‘Stunning, in fact. What’s more, you’re beautifully prompt.’
He was in the clerical grey again, looking older and very assured. Looking at him, Annis felt sure that the evening would go without a hitch; he would be a man able to get the best table in the restaurant and instant attention. She said thank you rather shyly and went to say goodnight to Mrs Duvant.
She had been quite right, she told herself as she got ready for bed in the early hours of the next morning; the evening had been one to remember, for her at any rate—although it seemed likely that Jake had spent so many similar evenings with other, more interesting companions, that he would probably forget it at once.
Popjoys was the kind of place she had read about in the Harpers Mrs Avery occasionally lent her. In a Beau Nash house where its guests drank their aperitifs in the elegant drawing-room before going to the equally elegant dining room, it was a world she had never expected to enter. They had eaten mousseline of salmon, spiced chicken with apricots and finished with chocolate soufflé, and just as she had guessed, they had a well placed table for two and the proprietor had welcomed them warmly, conjuring up wine waiter and waiter and recommending the best dishes. Her mouth watered at the thought of the salmon. The wine had been nice too; she had almost no knowledge of wines and beyond Jake’s careless: ‘I think we’ll drink hock, shall we?’ he didn’t bother her about it. She drank what was in her glass and found it delicious. By the time dinner was finished she felt very happy about everything, and when Jake suggested that they might dance somewhere for an hour or two she had agreed very readily. Her sleepy head on the pillow, she couldn’t quite remember where they had gone; an hotel in the town, although she hadn’t noticed its name. They had had a table there too and Jake had ordered some wine, but they had got up to dance before it was brought and since the floor wasn’t crowded and the band was good they went on dancing for quite some time.
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