‘What sort of a job?’ asked the conductor disagreeably.
‘Any job that will bring in some money. I’m not afraid of hard work, and although I’m not specially well qualified for anything like office work, I’d be prepared to be a waitress, a shop assistant — I don’t mind what, so long as I could pay for my lessons with that extraordinary woman.’
‘Quite impossible,’ said Warrender briefly.
‘What do you mean — quite impossible?’ She turned in her seat and looked at him,
‘I don’t think you understand even now that, during the next few months, you are going to have to work and study as you have never done before in your life. You’re not going to be just a conscientious little student, doing your daily stint. You are going to be a dedicated slave to one single idea. And when Volnikov and I have finished with you, you won’t have any energy left for anything but to fall into bed and sleep long enough to gather strength for the next test.’
‘O-Oh — ’ Joanna was not so dismayed by the prospect as disappointed that her solution to the money problem had been thus brushed aside, ‘Do you really think,’ she said slowly at last, ‘that I can apply to Mr, Wilmore?’
‘I thought that was already agreed,’ replied War-render with a touch of impatience, ‘Will you write to him?’
She hesitated for a moment, hoping that perhaps he would add, ‘Or shall I?’ But he said no such thing, presumably thinking that now she must act for herself.
‘No. I shall go and see him,’ Joanna stated. ‘If one is asking for a favour one should face the person concerned.’
‘Possibly you’re right.’ The conductor looked amused. Then he relented sufficiently to say, ‘You may tell Wilmore that I suggested you should approach him.’ Then, as they arrived outside Joanna’s house, he reached into a compartment at the front of the car, produced a photostat copy of the score and handed it to her.
‘Study it well,’ he advised Her, ‘And good luck,’
She thanked him for the score, and then even more fervently for taking her to see Madame Volnikov, and ran into the house, full of the wildest excitement and the most agitating anxieties. Fortunately, her mother showed remarkably little curiosity in her goings and comings these days and no questions were asked. But she did look up sharply when Joanna said, some time during the evening,
‘You know, I think I shall go down and see Aunt Georgina this week-end. She hasn’t been up for some while, and I haven’t been to her since that first time I went to Wilmore Grange.’
‘Why do you want to see her?’ objected Mrs. Ran-some. ‘Not to tell her about the mess we’re in? She’ll just be censorious and want to tell me what I ought to have done, now it’s too late to do it.’
‘I wasn’t thinking of telling her much.’
‘Why tell her anything?’ Mrs,, Ransome sounded fretful. ‘And why go just now, anyway?’
‘Because I should like to look in on Mr. Wilmore at the same time,’ Joanna explained as casually as she could. ‘He showed such kind interest in my Fiora that I think I should keep in touch with him, don’t you?’
‘I suppose — yes,’ her mother agreed doubtfully. ‘It all seems such a long time ago, that lovely, happy evening, doesn’t it? I don’t seem able to think about anything nowadays but the trouble we’re in.’
‘Mother dear, try to think about something else for a change! We aren’t absolutely looking for the next penny, are we, now? And do believe me when I say I really think my career is going to blossom quite soon. Several people have spoken to me about that Fiora performance and — further possibilities. It’s just a case of the darkest hour before dawn and all that sort of thing.’
‘You think so?’ For the first time Joanna saw her mother give something like her old childlike smile.; ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all our worries could be over and we be happy again?’
A good deal touched, Joanna said that indeed it would. Then she telephoned to Aunt Georgina and arranged to go down to see her the following Saturday,
‘By the way, didn’t your mother have some money in that wretched Home and Overseas Insurance Company?’ inquired her aunt.
‘Y-yes, a bit, I think,’ replied Joanna cautiously.
‘So did I, unfortunately,’ was the unexpected reply. ‘Well, I suppose we’re all fools at some time in our lives. I shall be glad to see you, Joanna. And you had better go along and call on Mr. Wilmore while you’re here. I met him in the village the other day and he spoke about you and said he hoped to see you soon. Apparently he was very much impressed with that performance of yours.’
‘Oh, Aunt Georgina, I’m so glad!’ Joanna’s spirits bounded up at this news. For it seemed much less shameful to go to see Mr. Wilmore in answer to a repeated invitation of his than just to appear on his doorstep with a request for financial aid.
‘Did she say anything about the Home and Overseas crash?’ Mrs. Ransome wanted to know, as soon as Joanna came away from the telephone.
‘Yes, she did. She dropped some money on it herself.’
‘Oh poor Georgina!’ exclaimed Mrs. Ransome, the greatest relief irradiating her face. And, although there was not a grain of real malice in her, she cheered up from that moment and began to be a little more her usual self.
When Joanna arrived at her aunt’s bungalow on the Saturday she found her looking pretty well her usual self too. Whatever her loss had been she seemed to be taking it philosophically, though she did volunteer the remark that no one liked to see good savings swept away.
‘But then,’ she added, ‘I never put enough into any one thing to court disaster. I trust it was the same with Pansy?’
‘Something the same,’ Joanna murmured somewhat disingenuously. And then she added quickly, ‘It’s really rather extraordinary that you should both have been involved.’
‘Not extraordinary at all,’ retorted her aunt briskly, ‘It was a fairly widespread concern.’ Quite a number of people in this part of the country dropped a packet, as the vulgar expression is. It seems there was a specially active branch in the district and it was a popular form of investment. Well, as I said, we are all fools some time in our lives. When do you propose to call on Mr. Wilmore?’
‘I thought — this afternoon,’ said Joanna. And her heart took an uneasy plunge as she heard herself definitely committed to an exact time for the interview she dreaded.
It was useless for her to tell herself that the original suggestion had come from Mr, Wilmore himself — in general terms to her and, apparently, in more specific to Sir Oscar. The fact was that Joanna was not among the people who can lightly ask other people for money without feeling that somehow there is an element of cadging in the exercise.
Once more her aunt drove her to the Grange and left her at the gate, and Joanna could not help remembering vividly that first time she had come, and how angry Elliot had been with her — and how suspicious.
Almost as though in some way he foresaw what she was doing now!
What on earth would he think of her present errand? she wondered as she tugged at the brass bell-pull. And at the thought of that she almost turned tail and ran. But the door was opened at that moment, and the servant smiled an undoubted welcome.
In answer to her inquiry, he said that Mr. Wilmore was in the garden, and if Miss Ransome would go through the drawing-room and across the terrace she would probably find him there.
Miss Ransome went, a little relieved in her mind at this friendly reception. And then, as she entered the drawing-room, a graceful figure uncurled itself from the sofa, and Sara Fernie stood up and said, ‘Hello! What brings you here?’
CHAPTER SEVEN
The shock of finding Sara Fernie almost literally in her path momentarily robbed Joanna of speech. Then, with a tremendous effort, she rallied her defences.
‘I came down to visit my aunt,’ she explained. ‘And as Mr. Wilmore had asked me to call in if I were in the district, I came along,’
‘I see.’ Sara’s amused glance passed over
her in a way that was singularly unnerving. ‘You’ll find him in the garden, if you want anything.’
‘So I’ve been told.’ Joanna gave her a curt little nod and went out on to the terrace. But, as she descended the few steps to the garden, Sara’s last words rang unpleasantly in her ears. It was almost as though the other girl had penetrated her thoughts and knew that she did indeed want something desperately.
Joanna had not entirely recovered her composure by the time she came upon Mr. Wilmore. But the familiar kindness of his welcome, and his undoubted pleasure in seeing her, calmed her quivering nerves.
‘I was just telling your aunt last week that I hoped you would come and see me if you were visiting her,’ he said.
‘She passed on the message. Which is why I plucked up the courage to come,’ Joanna assured him.
‘Did it require any effort of courage?’ He raised his eyebrows in protest. ‘I didn’t realize I was such an ogre.’
‘Oh, you’re not!’ cried Joanna. ‘Only, when someone has been exceptionally kind already, one feels awful if one has to come and ask for a further favour. And — and that’s what I’ve come to do.’
‘Even that doesn’t call for an effort of courage between friends,’ he replied charmingly, ‘What is it? My collection is entirely at your disposal for any further study. Is that it?’
‘N-not this time,’ she confessed. ‘It’s something more personal and — difficult.’ And then, diffidently but with a certain degree of resolution, she told him of Oscar Warrender’s belief that she had the qualities to score a great success in a work as yet unheard and unseen.
‘He said — I have to tell you this in order to justify my presuming to come to you — that if I worked hard and had the right coaching I might well find myself famous overnight. But very specialized teaching would be necessary, and the ideal person to give that would be an old dancer called Tamara Volnikov — ’
‘I remember her very well,’ Mr. Wilmore put in. ‘Extraordinary creature! Unlikeable, but an undoubted genius.’
‘Sir Oscar took me to her. She gave me what seemed to me a most perfunctory sort of test and then instantly agreed to take me. She said some strange and complimentary things about me which I still find hard to believe, but which Sir Oscar cautiously endorsed. And the upshot was that if — if the money can be found I shall become her pupil for some intensive months of training. Both she and Sir Oscar seem confident that I’m worthy of their efforts.’
‘Then, my dear, there can be no question about it,’ was the emphatic reply. ‘I find it unlikely that either of them could be wrong, and quite impossible that they both could. What is troubling you?’
‘Well — the cost.’ Joanna flushed. ‘Sir Oscar insists that the work must be so intensive that he refuses to let me even look for a job. And although my mother and I would naturally have expected to contribute towards the fees, something disastrous has happened at this vital moment. You’ve heard of the Home and Overseas crash?’
‘Yes, indeed!’ From his grim expression she conjectured that friends of his in the district had probably been among the substantial losers Aunt Georgina had mentioned.
‘Well, I’m afraid Mother lost a frightful amount of money in that and I can’t even tell her I need extra money at this moment. She couldn’t hope to raise it and would be heartbroken that I should have to refuse this unique chance.’
‘Yes, I see.’ He looked grave but did not, she noted with embarrassed dismay, immediately offer to implement any promises of help which he had mentioned earlier.
‘Sir Oscar suggested — ’ she cleared her throat nervously — ‘he said you had been good enough to offer to help financially if I should need it. And I — I thought you wouldn’t mind my coming and telling you about the situation — ’
Her voice trailed away and she wondered if it were only her miserable self-consciousness which made her think the slight pause of some significance.
‘My dear child, of course I’ll help.’ He spoke with considerable firmness when he did reply. ‘Do you know how much is involved?’
‘N-not yet.’ Joanna choked slightly in her overwhelming relief. ‘Madame Volnikov was going to write to Sir Oscar. He is the one who has the overall direction of the plan.’
‘I’ll get in touch with him tomorrow — or perhaps even this evening,’ Mr. Wilmore promised. ‘Now why on earth are you crying, you silly girl?’
‘I’m not crying — really.’ Joanna fumbled for her handkerchief and dabbed her eyes. ‘It’s silly, I know. But I felt awful asking, and now the relief - ’
And at that moment Sara came sauntering round the corner of the tall yew hedge and stopped short at the sight of them.
‘Uncle Justin, what are you doing? — reducing your visitor to tears!’
‘Nothing of the kind,’ retorted Mr. Wilmore, rather brusquely for him. ‘And what are you doing, out here without a coat? If your cold was sufficiently severe to keep you away from the theatre you certainly shouldn’t be wandering about the garden on a chilly afternoon without a wrap.’
‘You’re right, as always.’ She leaned forward and gave him the lightest of kisses, and then turned obediently towards the house, an odd little smile on her lips.
‘I’ll phone Warrender at the first opportunity,’ Mr. Wilmore promised, taking up the conversation where Sara had interrupted it. ‘And I think I can promise that everything will be arranged satisfactorily.’
‘You’re so wonderfully good and generous! I hardly know what to say.’ Joanna’s smile was still a trifle tremulous. ‘But I want you to know that what I’m asking for is a loan. If I do justify everyone’s hopes and eventually score a success, I should want to return the money at the first opportunity.’
‘We’ll see about that when the time comes.’ He laughed indulgently and, taking her by the arm, walked back with her to the house, where tea was just being brought into the drawing-room.
Here Sara joined them, of course. And although she made herself pleasant, and even asked interested questions about Joanna’s career, it was impossible not to feel vaguely uncomfortable in her presence, and to be glad when it was time to go.
In the hall, where Mr. Wilmore took the kindest leave of her, Joanna earnestly impressed on him the necessity for secrecy about the whole project until plans were much further forward. Then, after a brief call once more on Aunt Georgina, she caught an early evening bus home, feeling that, agitating though certain aspects of her visit had been, she could now venture to look into the future with more confidence than she had felt for some time.
As she let herself into the house her mother came out into the hall, and announced with an air of satisfaction that Elliot Cheam had telephoned only ten minutes ago.
‘I promised you would call back if you arrived home within an hour.’
‘Elliot Cheam?’ An unexpected thrill of pleasure and excitement warred for a moment with the familiar sense of uneasiness which she associated with him whenever she had been anywhere near his uncle. ‘What did he want?’
‘I think he wanted you to meet him for dinner somewhere.’
‘Did he?’ Again that wave of elation. ‘What for?’
‘What for?’ repeated her mother. ‘For the pleasure of your company, I suppose, you funny girl. Why does an attractive young man usually ask a nice girl to dine with him?’
‘There are quite a number of reasons,’ replied Joanna, but she was smiling happily. ‘As I told you, he’s deeply involved with his leading lady — ’ Then she stopped and, for the first time, wondered if there had been something more than a mild indisposition behind Sara’s visit to Wilmore Manor.
She went to the telephone without another word and dialled Elliot’s number,
‘Elliot Cheam,’ said his voice. Is that Joanna?’
‘Yes. How did you know?’
‘I’m psychic,’ he said. And when she laughed he added, an unusually persuasive note in his voice, ‘Are you too tired after your journey to come out to dinner with
me?’
‘No, of course not.’ Joanna was suddenly aware that she had never felt less tired in her life. ‘Who told you I’d been on a journey?’
‘Your mother. You’ve been to see Aunt Georgina, and also my uncle, I understand. How did you find him?’
Nothing could have been more normal than the tone of his question, and the complete absence of that all-too-familiar suspicion in his voice warmed her heart as nothing — and she realized suddenly, nothing — else could have done.
‘He was in fine form, and just as kind as always. I’ll tell you about it.’ As she said the words she knew of course that she could tell him absolutely nothing of significance about their conversation. ‘Would you like me to meet you somewhere or — ?’
‘No. I’ll collect you in half an hour. Does that suit you?’
She said it did, and then rang off and stood there smiling for a moment, in such a mood of happy reflection that her mother, hearing absolute silence after the replacing of the receiver, called out, ‘Is everything all right, dear?’
‘Oh, yes, Mother.’ She came and stood in the sitting-room doorway. ‘It couldn’t be more all right!’ And then, without waiting to enlarge on that, she dashed upstairs to change into the prettiest dress she possessed.
She was ready when he arrived. And his first glance, though it passed over her briefly, told her that she had chosen well. He exchanged a few gay, bantering remarks with her mother, and then he and Joanna went off together.
As on that first occasion, he asked her if there were any special place she would like to choose, and this time she answered without hesitation, ‘The same place as before, please.’
‘Why?’ He looked amused,
‘Because it’s a lovely place, and because I met the Warrenders there, and because for the first time you gave me the impression that perhaps you were not going to dislike me after all.’
‘All excellent reasons,’ he admitted with a laugh. ‘And, à propos the Warrenders, did he ever let you know what he thought of your Fiora?’
Remembered Serenade (Warrender Saga Book 9) Page 12
