Read Online The Lorimer Line by Anne Melville - Free Book Online Page A

visitors.’
    â€˜So what do you advise?’
    â€˜My own suggestion - it is no more than that - is that we should study the tramway routes and look for a property which can be reached from their highest points: in the Redland area for instance.’
    It should have been a disappointment that he did not approve her choice, but Margaret was not disappointed at all. There would be other expeditions, other walks and conversations. She was in a good humour as she arrived at William’s house and told the coachman to take Mr Gregson on to whatever address he gave.
    Although not as palatial as Brinsley House, William’s home, The Ivies, was a sufficiently substantial affair. John Junius had given it to his elder son as a wedding present. It was a solid, five-storied house with six bays of windows, built in the local red stone but almost entirely covered by the ivy which had given it its name. Unlike Brinsley House, which was surrounded by its own extensive grounds, The Ivies stood in a street of equally prosperous houses. It was also in Clifton, but to the north of the suspension bridge, near the Zoological Gardens. William came out to greet his sister at the sound of the carriage, and looked surprised when it drove away. Margaret did not explain where she had been, nor in whose company, for she felt instinctively that William would disapprove.
    If she had not known her brother in the schoolroom, she would have thought that he had been born at the age of forty. Although still only twenty-seven, he had none of a young man’s enthusiasms and never seemed to unbend. In person he was quite unlike his father. Everything about John Junius was on a large scale, but William’s frame, like Margaret’s, was slight. He did not share his sister’sexpression of determination, however: his features were sharp and his temperament withdrawn. He gave the impression of being always absorbed in his own complicated plans. It was even hard to tell today whether he was pleased with the birth of his daughter, who was to be called Beatrice after the Queen’s youngest child.
    Out of politeness Margaret sat with Sophie for a while after her first glimpse of her niece, but was glad when the young mother said that she was tired. Margaret had never been on intimate terms with her sister-in-law, but she had the ability to establish an instant relationship of warmth with any child, however young. She indulged herself with the baby until the nurse ordered that Beatrice should be put back to rest. Then she went in search of her nephew, Matthew.
    To her surprise she found that Ralph was there before her, although he was normally intolerant of children and not at all disposed to seek their company. On this occasion, she supposed that he had come out of family feeling to congratulate William and Sophie.
    â€˜Uncle Ralph’s playing with me while Claudine fetches my tea,’ said Matthew, rocking vigorously on his wooden horse. ‘I’m four now.’
    It was an announcement which he had made at each of their last three meetings, as ten days had already passed since his birthday, but Margaret accepted the news with proper congratulations. Even her pleasure in playing with him did not prevent her, though, from noticing that Ralph looked pale and worried. It seemed unlikely that he was working too hard at school – at least, this was not a danger to which he had ever exposed himself before, and the new term had only just begun. It was more probable that the headmaster’s sermon that morning had in some way upset him. Mr Percival’s eloquence had more than once reduced Ralph to despair at the sinfulness of his thoughts, although the strict timetable of his life made it unlikely, she imagined,that he had ever committed any greater crime than that of borrowing from another boy without permission.
    The nursery governess arrived with a tray before Margaret had time to enquire into her brother’s anxiety.