Child Of Music (10 page)

Warmed by so much friendliness, and the promise of considerable future pleasure. Felicity said good-bye in her turn and went out
iato
the street once more to wait for her bus to Carmalton. Aggravatingly enough, she missed one by a matter of yards and settled down resignedly to a long wait. But she had not been standing at the bus stop more than three or four minutes when a car slid to a standstill beside her and Julia Morton leaned from the open window and said,

'Jump in.. Miss Grainger. I'll give you a lift home. This time I
am
going your way.'

It was impossible to refuse without discourtesy. And, in any case, a lift in a car was greatly to be preferred to a wait of indefinite duration. Even a lift from Julia Morton. So Felicity smiled, her thanks as agreeably as she could and got into the car. Though she did wander» as they shot away down the sleepy main street, how she was going to sustain light conversation with Julia Morton all the way
to
Carmalton.

She need not have worried, however. The initiative was not left to her. They had hardly drawn clear of the main street before Julia said, as though she had a right to know, 'How far has this idea of your teaching at
Tarkmans
gone?'

Felicity allowed a small pause before her reply, partly from astonishment, but mostly to indicate that this was no business of Julia Morton's. Then she said briefly, 'It's settled, barring a few details.'

Utterly uncrushed, the other woman asked sharply,
'
Has anything been signed?'

'Signed?
What should be signed in a teaching arrangement of this sort?'

'There's usually a contract, isn't there? — or at least a contractual letter. If everything has been verbal up to now—?' she paused in her turn, as though inviting Felicity to confirm or query that.

'As it happens,' Felicity said drily, 'everything has been verbal up to now, but—'

'Then you could still withdraw?'

'If
Ï
wished to. But I don't wish to, Mrs. Morton,
'
Felicity stated coldly and finally. 'And I find it rather odd that you should speak like this about something which concerns me only.'

'No, not only you. Stephen too.
'
The other woman was completely unmoved. 'And, at the risk of your finding this even more odd, I'm going to suggest to you that it would be better if you did withdraw from the arrangement.'

There was something so single-minded about her
determination
to press her own point of view that she was almost frightening. And it took quite an effort for Felicity to remind herself that this was not only an impertinent conversation but a slightly ridiculous one.

'Mrs. Morton,
I
don't think you can realize how absurd that sounds,' she said, and she managed to give a cool little laugh. 'Can you give me one good reason
why I should do any such thing?'

'Yes, I can.' The car had stopped at a crossroads while they waited for the light to change, and she turned and looked full at Felicity. 'I don't like you, Miss Grainger. I don't want you at Tarkmans. And I can be a very dangerous adversary indeed if someone crosses me over anything important.'

The
traffic lights changed, the car shot forward again, and Felicity clenched her teeth against the furious, scornful retort which rose to her lips. There was a slight nervous jerkiness about her companion's driving, but when Felicity glanced at Julia Morton she could detect no nervousness in her expression. Only a half smiling determination which hardened the line of her mouth.

'Take time for your reply,
'
Felicity told herself. 'Take time.'

And then, recalling that nothing is more disturbing to a provocative speaker than an indifferent silence, she relaxed in her seat and refused to utter a word.

In a way it was a trial of strength between them and, during the last few minutes of the drive, Felicity thought she detected a slight crack in the other woman's monumental self-confidence. At any rate, having glanced sideways in her turn and established beyond doubt that Felicity's silence was not a crushed one, she finally said, as though driven to seek a different, less satisfactory explanation,

'Well, Miss Grainger, what have you to say to my warning?'

'Absolutely nothing,' Felicity assured her cheerfully. 'You say you don't like me. You don't have to, you know. Come to that, I don't much like you. And you say you don't want me at Tarkmans, to which the only possible reply is that the decision doesn't rest with you.

As for what you regard as a
warning
—' she laughed — 'I find that rather childish. It's the kind of thing kids say to each other on the way home from school.
I
suppose I've done it myself in my time, but I've outgrown it. Don't you think you should try to do the same?'

They had reached the cottage by now, for which Felicity was thankful. For, cool though she had managed to remain, she was curiously shaken really by the strength of dislike which emanated from the woman beside her.

Julia Morton stopped the car and turned to look full at Felicity. She was still smiling slightly, and all she said was, 'There was nothing childish about my warning, I assure you.
'

'No? Well, thank you for the lift,' replied Felicity lightly. Then she got out of the car and opened the front gate, and went up the path without even glancing backwards. She heard the car start up again and drive away, and as she did so she suddenly had the clearest recollection of Anthea Warrender saying, 'She's dangerous, that woman.'

Perhaps that was why she was glad to hear Mary call cheerfully from the back of the cottage, and why the day-to-day normality of their pleasant little kitchen was extraordinarily welcoming.

'I thought you'd missed the bus.'
 
Mary was intent on something which smelled very appetizing as she lifted it from the oven. 'I saw it go by several minutes ago, and didn't expect you for another quarter of an hour or so."

'I
got a lift,* said Felicity slowly. 'From Mrs. Morton.'

'And—?' Mary looked up, suddenly alert and in
quiring.

'What do you mean — and?' Felicity gave a vexed little laugh.

'Well, I see that something disagreeable happened.'

'Does it really show as obviously as that?' Felicity bit her lip. 'Well, she warned me off going to Tarkmans. Said she didn't like me and could be a dangerous woman to oppose.'

'She didn't!' Mary looked incredulous, 'Does anyone really talk like that outside a bad film? Who does she think she is? I hope you tore a strip off her.'

'I said the dislike was mutual and that my going to Tarkmans didn't depend on her. I also made fun a little of her actually threatening me and told her she should grow up.'

'Good for you! That should show her,
'
declared Mary.

'But you know,' Felicity said, thoughtfully, 'I don't think it did. She has a quite terrible singleness of purpose. It's not unusual to meet people who are principally concerned with themselves, but it's shattering to meet someone who is totally so. I begin to see why Janet is mesmerized by her. There's a sort of power in her conviction that she matters more than anyone else.
'

'It can't be quite like that,' Mary protested. 'Would an intelligent man like Stephen Tarkman be taken in by such a woman?
Ï
know men
cari,
be great fools - women too, of course,' she added broadmindedly. 'But surely he would see something of what you see, even if lie's infatuated.
⁵

'No.' Felicity shook her head. 'He doesn't see what I see at all. She takes good care of that. And she isn't only
sìnglerninded,
she's
a
quite
marvellous
actress too.
Ï
can still see her air of affectionate concern when she first spoke to me about Janet — in front of him. You'd have thought she was deeply troubled and concerned about her, and yet she hates that poor kid from the bottom of her heart, if she has one.
'

'Suppose,' said Mary, 'that you told him, quite calmly and circumstantially, about this ridiculous conversation you've just had!"

'Oh, my dear Mary, he wouldn't believe a word of it! He already thinks I'm prejudiced against her and that
I
've even influenced Mrs. Emlyn. He said as much after Mrs. E. had let slip her candid views about Janet's aunt.'

'In
other words, Mrs. Morton's word would be taken against yours as a matter of course?"

'I'm afraid so.'

'Then — you aren't going to like what I'm going to say — but if I were you I don't think
I
'd go to
Tarkmans
.
'

'Not go?' Felicity flushed with the intensity of her feeling and laughed angrily. 'Nothing on earth would make me refuse now.'

'Other opportunities will come your way, Felicity,' Mary said. 'You're a unique teacher. Does it have to be
Tarkmans
?
'

'Of course it has to be
Tarkmans
!
'
Felicity spoke almost fiercely. 'It's the sort of appointment I wouldn't have even dreamed of on
 
my own. And now Stephen Tarkman himself
has
offered me the chance. Nothing would make me give it up. Certainly not the hysterical threats of a woman
Ï
despise. Why, I love the very Idea of teaching there.
'

'Only the idea of teaching there?' Mary's eyebrows lifted rather humorously.

'Don't be silly.' Felicity looked taken aback. 'That's the second time you've said something of the sort. You think I'm dazzled by Stephen Tarkman, don't you? That I'm fascinated by him rather than the job.'

'Not exactly — no.' Mary obviously chose her words with
care.
'I think you're attracted by him. Who wouldn't be in the circumstances? He's handed you your heart's desire on a silver plate, accompanied no doubt by his most engaging smile. You'd have wanted to accept even if he had been bald and boring. But he's neither. He's forceful and attractive. Someone I suppose one would either like or loathe.'

'All right, I like him. I expect to go on liking him. But I'm not proposing to make a fool of myself about him. Is there any special disadvantage in working for a man you both like and admire?'

'There's this dangerous idiot of a woman—'

'Oh,
her?
Felicity laughed angrily. 'I'm not taking her seriously, and you needn't either. I'm sorry I even told you about this absurd incident.'

'I'm not. It's given me a chance to say my little piece, even if it annoys you,' Mary insisted obstinately. 'Unlike you I
am
inclined to take her seriously. She obviously sees you as someone in her path—'

'She can't. I'm not
in
her path,' Felicity objected impatiently.

'In her view you are. Else why does she want to get rid of you, even to the extent of being rather ridiculous in the way she handles the situation?'