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album in a paper bag, or something. She would find one
tomorrow morning.
The place was very quiet, in spite of the hum of traffic
a few blocks away on the main road. Her father had said
he would be late tonight, and she hoped he had taken
Bertha out on the town, but more likely the poor woman
was slaving away for him over the typewriter.
Lin stood up, stretching to ease a crick in her back, and
idly turned some pages of the photograph album. It was
ages since she had looked in it. Once it had been her
greatest treasure, a heavenly balm when her spirit needed
soothing. She smiled sadly, picked it up and went into the
sitting room, curling up in one of the big chairs with the
album on her lap.
On the first page, carefully centred, was a wedding
picture of her parents. She dimly remembered her mother
helping her to paste it in, when she had been given the
album. Then there were baby photos of herself, some with
her mother, and one of her father holding her gingerly
and looking uncomfortable. There was a school photograph
taken when she was a solemn five-year-old, and a fuzzy snap
of her mother that she had taken herself and proudly
entered in the book. All it showed, really, was a halo of
fair hair, a smile and a blue dress. Her father had been
dark, before his hair greyed and thinned, and there was a
picture of him with Lin at about ten, which one of her
cousins had taken, and which was the last she had entered
into the book. There were still about a dozen snaps which
she had meant to put in it some day, inserted loosely be-
tween the last page and the back cover.
She riffled back through the pages, pausing at the
pictures of her mother, as she had always done, ever since
her child's world had fallen apart when her mother went
out of it. Trying to conjure memories, she hardly heard the
NEVER COUNT TOMORROW 171
doorbell until it rang a second time, then she got up re-
luctantly and with the album still in her hands, went to
answer it.
She switched on the porch light, so that she could dimly
see the shape of the visitor on the other side of the rippled
glass. It was not very late, but she was alone, and she was
faintly reassured to see that the caller was a woman.
She opened the door, and Teresa smiled at her a little
diffidently and said, 'Hello, Lin. Could I come in for a
while?'
`Teresa!' Pleasure and dismay battled within her, but
good manners at least demanded that the pleasure should
be shown and the dismay hidden. She opened the door
wide and said, 'Of course. Come into the sitting room.'
Teresa followed her into the room, and a hint of sur-
prise showed in her eyes as she took in the deep pile
carpet, the luxurious chairs and the expensive fittings. It
had all been decorator-designed and no expense spared, and
Lin had never compared it before with the comfortable
modesty of the Wingard farmhouse. But Teresa was smil-
ing at her as she unbuttoned her coat, and Lin said honestly,
as she smiled back, 'I'm so glad to see you!'
Teresa seemed to relax, and Lin realised she had been
unsure of her welcome. That phone call, of course. Teresa
must have heard her speaking to the operator, and recog-
nised her voice.
The older woman slipped off the coat, and Lin started
forward. 'I'm so sorry ! Can I hang it up for you?'
`Oh, it's all right here,' said Teresa, and casually draped it
over a chair. She looked enquiringly at Lin, who said
hastily, 'Oh, please do sit down.' She still clutched the
red album to her with one hand, but the other she waved
vaguely at the chair.
172 NEVER COUNT TOMORROW
Teresa settled herself, and Lin still stood looking at her
in a slightly bemused way. Teresa's mouth curved and her
eyes crinkled at the corners in delicious humour, and she
said, 'And now, Lin, dear, What is this ridiculous idea of
Soren's that you're some kind of old man's floozie?'
It did cross Lin's mind that she must pretend it was true,
but she looked at the laughter in Teresa's face and knew
that she hadn't believed it for a moment, and of course
it was a ridiculous idea. All the high drama of her last
meeting with Soren was suddenly put into perspective, in
the light of Teresa's commonsense disbelief. A bubble of
pure relief and happiness suddenly burst inside her and
she began to laugh.
Teresa's laughter joined hers, and Lin collapsed into
the chair opposite, and went on giggling until she had to
gasp for breath.
She wiped her eyes and looked up, and Teresa was smil-
ing at her, still. The laughter had been a catharsis, and a
certain latent sympathy at the back of Teresa's eyes seemed
to indicate that she knew that. Quizzically, she said, 'He
told me you'd admitted it, that there was no shadow of
a doubt.'
`But you doubted it,' Lin said gratefully.
`Oh, Lin ! You ?'
Quite seriously, Lin said, 'Thank you.'
'I knew you better than that, and Soren should have,
too. Were you very angry with him?'
`I didn't really admit anything,' Lin said. 'I just didn't
deny it.'
'Well, if you wanted to punish him for his sordid sus-
picions, I can tell you he's thoroughly miserable'
Distressed, Lin said, 'Oh no! It wasn't that !' But now
she had destroyed her story, and she was going to have to
NEVER COUNT TOMORROW 173
tell Teresa something, she realised. Agitatedly she asked,
`Can I get you some coffee?'
She rose from the chair and made to put the forgotten
album on the coffee table beside her as she did so. But
her eyes were on Teresa, and she misjudged the distance,
catching the edge of the table with the book, which fell [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]