Read Online A Question of Love by Isabel Wolff - Free Book Online Page A

it outside, and on it flew; but it kept stopping and looking back at her to make sure that she was still following, then on it would fly again. When it alighted at the cliff edge, it looked over, and my sister looked over too and saw me lying there, and called the fire brigade.’ Cynthia sat back again, shaking her head in bewilderment. ‘Don’t you think that’s an incredible story?’
    ‘I…do.’
    ‘But it’s quite true. Here…’ She pushed the cat off her lap, then lifted up the hem of her rather smart silk dress. Through her stocking I saw a large scar above her left knee, the indented stitch marks like teeth on a zip. ‘And I kept thinking afterwards, how did that wild bird know that I was in distress? And how did it know the means to summon help ? I decided that there could be only one explanation…’
    ‘Which was?’
    ‘That I had somehow been able to communicate with it psychically, which had enabled it to save my life. This made me realize that I had the precious gift of clairvoyance—a gift I mustn’t waste. So that is how I became a psychic,’ she concluded. ‘If you like, I’ll give you a reading by way of saying thank you for being so neighbourly.’ She put her hand on my left wrist. ‘I can do one based on the electrical vibrations your watch emits.’
    ‘Thanks.’ I withdrew my hand. ‘But I don’t believe in that sort of thing.’
    ‘You don’t?’ She seemed flabbergasted.
    ‘No.’ Her surprise annoyed me. ‘And I don’t believe in Father Christmas either, or the tooth fairy, or elves, or ghosts or little green men or the Loch Ness Monster, and I must say I have my doubts about God. I’m afraid I believe only in what can be proved. It’s facts that ignite me, not fantasy.’
    Cynthia was shaking her head. ‘“But there are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio”, etcetera etcetera…’
    ‘That may be true. But I tend to the belief that phenomena have natural, rather than miraculous, causes.’
    She looked disappointed. ‘Well, that’s up to you. But are you sure you don’t want a reading?’
    ‘Quite sure. Anyway,’ I went on, determined to change the subject, ‘what did you do before you became a psychic?’
    ‘I used to be an…actress.’
    ‘Really? What were you in?’
    ‘Oh, a number of films.’
    ‘Anything I might have seen?’
    ‘Well, this was a long time ago—in the late fifties, but I was very young, just out of school.’ From this I figured that she must be in her early sixties—at least ten years older than she looked. ‘I was a Rank Charm School starlet.’ Ah. That explained the Fenella Fielding-like voice. ‘They were only B movies but it was thrilling . I was shipwrecked five times, kidnapped twice, abducted by aliens four times and eaten alive by giant killer ants.’ She smiled wistfully. ‘It was a marvellous life.’
    ‘And what were you in after that?’
    ‘Oh, well, once I got to my late thirties my career seemed to…well…you know how it is with acting…’ She seemed reluctant to elaborate and I didn’t want to seem inquisitive. ‘Look, are you sure you don’t want me to give you a reading?’ she persisted. ‘I’d really like to because I find your aura rather fascinating. I can see it you know. Quite clearly.’ She sat back and looked at me appraisingly. ‘It’s green and yellow with a hint of lilac. Do let me.’
    ‘No. Thanks all the same. To be perfectly honest, Cynthia, I think all that stuff’s a load of bunkum.’
    ‘In which case there’s no problem,’ she declared triumphantly. ‘Because, if it is a “load of bunkum” then what harm could it possibly do you to have a reading, hmm?’
    Defeated by her logic, I agreed.
    She clasped my left wrist with her right hand and closed her eyes. Then she suddenly opened them again, and stared into the middle distance, her large, grey eyes narrowing as if she was trying to focus on something that kept bobbing below the horizon.
    ‘You’re going in a new