Roman Summer (8 page)

‘Want to
go
?
Silly question!’ breathed
Cicely
rapturously, taking credit to herself that the invitation must be
Erle
’s doing.
She
had asked him to arrange it, and he had remembered and had done it. ‘It just goes to
show
—
’ she murmured dreamily, though what it
went to show she did not share with Ruth.

If ever there was a misnomer, they both agreed, it was the description ‘private’ for a showing which had brought crowds of elegant women, with a sprinkling of men, to the foyer of the gracious building on the Via Condotti which housed the display theatre and workrooms of the partnership known as Roscuro. Ruth and Cicely were greeted and gathered in, offered drinks or coffee and ultimately shown to their places in the theatre, where the audience disposed itself on
spindle legged
gilt chairs so cheek-by-jowl that Cicely declared in a stage whisper to Ruth, ‘If I so much as take a deep breath I’m going to dislodge this dame next to me
!’

The showing began to a medley of Italian voices which stilled to complete silence only when the impact of a particular number galvanised the audience to dap feverishly instead. For the most part its attention was laconic, even slightly bored. The buzz of talk continued unchecked and even a
sotto voce
conversation could not help but become public property.

Such a one was being conducted by Ruth’s immediate neighbour and a woman in the row behind. This latter sat forward; Ruth’s neighbour craned a graceful neck backwards, with the result that each spoke almost in Ruth’s ear. And to her consternation they were discussing
Erle
...

She glanced quickly at
Cicely
. But the girl was rapt, watching the nonchalant pirouetting of the model on the catwalk, and in any case she hadn’t enough Italian to know what was being said.

‘I see he is not escorting either Gancia or Parioli today,’ said the woman behind.

‘No, he is in Vienna, one hears. And only La Gancia is here. La Parioli is—where?’

‘You think she may be with him?’

‘Well, she is not in Rome. If she were, she would not risk not to be seen at a Roscuro.’

‘No. Then perhaps—though of course one can only guess, and as you and I know, there are half a dozen others who just
might
be in Vienna at the same time as
he
—
There are also, they say, his very pretty English
protégée
and the hostess he has found for her.’

‘And whom, among
his
friends, could he choose to chaperon a young girl, would you say?’

‘Oh, I don’t think she is a friend of his. Just someone for whom he advertised to shepherd the girl for the time she is here.’

‘Ah
—
’ With a nod the woman behind Ruth turned
front again to add her applause for the traditionally final showing of the collection—a demure wedding gown of ivory lace with a veil merging with a train which ran the whole length of the catwalk behind the model.

Then the audience broke up into chattering groups and Ruth and Cicely, knowing no one there, were about to leave when they were approached by the head saleswoman who had welcomed them on their arrival.

She laid a hand on Ruth’s arm. ‘
Signora, signorina
—I have instructions. From Signore Nash, you understand. That whichever design of our collection pleased either of you most should be made to your fitting at his expense.’ She looked from one to the other. ‘You were each able to select your favourite one, no doubt?’

Ruth gasped and interpreted for Cicely who, with a whoop of delight, leafed through her programme and pointed.
‘
That
one for me
!’
she crooned. ‘That utterly
snazzy
sailor suit with the bell-bottoms and the round
straw hat. Did
Erle
really mean—
? And something
for you too! Oh, isn’t he a—a positive
lamb-chop
!’

The saleswoman smiled. ‘We shall send you an appointment for a fitting,
signorina
.’ She turned to Ruth.
‘And for the
signora
—
?’

As Ruth said nothing, momentarily too nonplussed for words, Cicely cut in, ‘I know which one for her. That sea-greeny
dinner
dress with the bishop sleeves
caught in at the
—
’ She stopped as Ruth shook her
head.
‘
Not
that? But you
drooled
over it when it was shown! Which, then? You certainly fooled me
!’

Ruth said, ‘None of them.’ In Italian she told the saleswoman, ‘I’d rather not choose anything for myself. I will explain why not to Signore Nash.’

‘You cannot decide today? You will be choosing later?’

‘No, not at all, I’m afraid.
Addio, signora. Grazie
—’ With a hand under Cicely’s elbow, hurrying her along, Ruth made her escape. Her temper against
Erle
sharpened by her enforced eavesdropping, she was fuming within. What did he think she was? Another one added to the ‘half dozen who just might be in Vienna at the same time as he was’? Didn’t he
know
that one didn’t
accept expensive clothes from a man unless
—
? She

had to swallow hard upon her indignation in order to answer
Cicely
’s clamorous, ‘Why on earth not? Why did you turn down
Erle
’s offer like that?
Why
?’

‘Because
—
’

‘Because what?’

‘You ought to know. It was an—insult.’

‘Then why,’
Cicely
argued reasonably, ‘wasn’t it an insult to me?’

‘Because he is a friend of your people and you’re in his charge.’ Ruth almost added, ‘and a mere child’ before she remembered that she had argued with
Erle
that
Cicely
was mature enough to fall in love. Instead she said, ‘That makes it different for you.’

‘And at what point does it become different for
you
?’
Cicely
asked.

‘Why, at the point where he is my employer, of course; where there’s no relationship between us except that.’

‘Though I thought you were supposed to have been friends since you were both so high,’ remarked
Cicely
blandly.

‘But we’d completely lost touch since then and we met again as strangers.’

‘Oh,’ said
Cicely
, sounding unconvinced. And then, mock-piously, ‘Preserve
me
!
Just how 1890 can quite sensible people get?’

Inevitably Ruth was to dread her next meeting with Cesare. If she could have confided in
Cicely
or if
Cicely
were able to drive the car she would have been tempted to dodge the issue and not to go over to the Casa, and though that would be to play into Agnese’s hands, she knew she was going to be guarded and watchful of everything Cesare said and did. In fact, if Agnese had wanted only to disturb their friendship instead of ending it, she had already succeeded in that.

But on the occasion of Cicely’s next riding lesson, Cesare had worries of his own which, to Ruth’s relief, had nothing to do with her.

When Cicely had gone out with the groom he confided, ‘It looks as if I may have an accommodation problem on my hands before long. Our landlord has had an offer from a buyer for the Casa, and he thinks that if the price is right, he may sell. Which could mean
—
’

‘That you might have to go?’ prompted Ruth. ‘But haven’t you a lease on the place?’

‘For seven years, yes. But it runs out this autumn, and it all depends on whether the buyer would renew.’

‘And supposing he won’t?’

Cesare shrugged. ‘I can’t run a profitable school without stables on this scale, and though we could hardly have a worse landlord, even a bad one plus a renewable lease is better than a good one without.’

‘Could you find out if the buyer would renew?’

‘
Not at this stage. So far, I gather, only feelers have been put out, and our man isn’t telling much while the affair is still fluid.’ Cesare went on, ‘Agnese, of course, is very homesick for Quindereggio, our place in Calabria, and would willingly go back there if we had to. I brought her to Rome hoping to widen her circle. But she doesn’t mix easily and it hasn’t worked out. She says she would rather be poor in the South than moderately well off in Rome.’

‘Could you afford to go back if you had to?’ asked Ruth.

‘
Just about, with what I could get for the goodwill of the school and the stock. But me—I do not want to go back. I have more reason than Agnese has for wanting to stay. For instance, friends I value, of whom you happen to be one.’

Ruth said, ‘Thank you. Though you don’t have to lose friends by going away.’

‘One need not. But it happens, doesn’t it?’

‘Sometimes,’ she shrugged, remembering how often it had happened for her.

C
esare sighed and looked at his watch. ‘I must go, I’m afraid. I have a lesson to give. Will you stay here’ —they were on the portico of the belvedere—‘or join Agnese in the house?’

‘I’ll stay here. The sun is lovely,’ said Ruth, glad of any excuse to avoid another clash with Agnese, even though the other woman seemed to have done nothing yet to carry out her threat to do all in her power to come between Cesare and herself.

A few days later
Erle
flew in from Vienna and Cicely announced her intention of meeting him at the airport, even though Ruth had to travel to give an English lesson on the far side of the city. ‘I’ll go out by coach, and
Erle
will have left his car at the airport, so that he can drive me back. I shall also wear my Roscuro and
stun
him with it,’ Cicely claimed.

But whether or not
Erle
was duly stunned Ruth was not to learn without asking the question. For when she returned to the flat Cicely was already there, full of grievance.

‘Did you meet
Erle
?’ Ruth asked.

Cicely nodded glumly. ‘And might have saved myself the trouble. Because who do you think came off the plane with him,
and
all the way back by car? The Parioli woman
!
I knew who she was, because you had pointed her out at the party
Erle
gave for me. But he introduced us and—well, she practically patted me on the head! And monopolised him all the way home. Pawed
him
too, and swivelled her eyes. If he hadn’t dropped her first before he dropped me, I’d have thrown up. I swear I would
!’

Though the gossips had prepared her, Ruth had to hide her dismay. ‘Did they—that is, did you gather whether she had been in Vienna too?’

‘Not from anything they said—they were talking in Italian all the while. But after we had got rid of her, I asked
Erle
, and he said she had been there the last few days—not all the time he had.’

‘Oh,’ Ruth changed the subject. ‘What did
Erle
think of your Roscuro rig?’

Cicely brightened slightly. ‘Oh, he liked it. Asked if he could take a swig from the bottle of grog I must be carrying in my hip pocket. He wanted to know what you had chosen too. So I said you’d gone all upstage and refused to accept anything.’ Cicely slanted an apologetic look. ‘Did you mind my telling him? He did ask me.’

Ruth bit her lip. ‘No. He had to know. What did he say?’

Cicely hesitated. ‘M’m, nothing. That is, I don’t really remember.’

‘He must have said something.’ But suspecting that
Cicely was shielding her from whatever caustic comment
Erle
had made, Ruth pressed the thing no further. If he chose to misunderstand her refusal, he wouldn’t have spared her much, she knew.

CHAPTER FOUR

They
had no further contact with
Erle
until the day when he telephoned the flat while Ruth was out. When she returned
Cicely
greeted her with ‘
Erle
rang. He plans to take us both to Siena.’