Read Online The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym - Free Book Online Page B

please.’
    James hurried guiltily into the shop, for it was he who had forgotten to lock the door when he arrived. A florist’s delivery boy was standing gaping at a bronze of two naked human figures in a complicated embrace. A sheaf of white roses and carnations tied with mauve ribbon had been put down on an inlaid rosewood table. James picked them up hastily. ‘Are these for us?’ he
    asked. ‘Are you sure you’ve got the right address?’
    ‘That’s what it says,’ said the boy, now on his way out.
    James saw that the flowers were indeed addressed to his uncle. Remembering to lock the door this time, he went back with them.
    ‘How exquisite!’ said Humphrey, taking a card from the little envelope attached to the sheaf. ‘And isn’t that just like dear Leonora – who but she would have thought of sending flowers at a time like this? She must have done it immediately after I telephoned her with the dreadful news.’
    ‘What has she put on the card?’ James asked.
    “‘With kind thoughts and deepest sympathy in your sad losses, ’”  Humphrey read out. ‘So right, somehow.’
    James wanted to smile at the words but did not like to. ‘Unusual to send flowers,’ he remarked. Who but Leonora, indeed.
    ‘I’ll arrange them in that blue and white vase,’ said Miss Caton.
    ‘Ah, yes, the Worcester,’ said Humphrey.,
    ‘Shall you be going to Sotheby’s this morning?’ she asked.
    ‘Oh, no  –  it’s only “Valuable Printed Books”,’ he picked out the words scornfully, ‘today. There’s far too much to be seen to here.’
    Nevertheless Humphrey left for an early lunch and declared that he would not be back until late in the afternoon. He was gratified to see that there was a small paragraph in the early editions of the evening paper about the robbery. The reporter had quoted his own words about the thieves evidently being men of taste.
    ‘Don’t you think a lot of people may come in this afternoon?' James asked, realising that he was to be left on his own.
    ‘One hopes that people won’t come out of vulgar curiosity,’ said Humphrey, ‘but if any do the prices are clearly marked. It must be business as usual,’ he added, as he left the shop.
    Which would mean that he would have to sit in the front, on view to passers-by, James realised, for if he did not sit in the shop he would have to be in the back with Miss Caton and hear about her friend who was receiving instruction in the Roman Catholic faith, which was her latest topic of conversation. (‘And she said to the priest, “But supposing it’s Friday and I’ve got some liver to finish up?” That floored him, I can tell you!’) Even with the relaxation of the fasting rules Miss Caton would still have too much to say, so James chose to sit in the shop.
    It was a rather hot afternoon, the sort of time when work of any kind seems disagreeable. James was tired from the events of the morning and from the-effort of sorting things out in his flat to be put into storage or lent to Phoebe and Leonora. He was inclined to be sleepy and even nodded into a doze once or twice. Two American ladies passed the window and he could hear them speculating as to the prices in dollars. As four o’clock approached he wondered if he could slip out to the patisserie round the corner for a cup of coffee rather than endure Miss Caton’s tea, but decided he had better not. After a while he went to the window and removed a little tortoiseshell and silver box he had earmarked for Leonora’s birthday. He took it back to the desk where he had been sitting and began to examine it more closely. Seen in this way it appeared to be not quite perfect, as he had at first thought; there was a slight flaw where a bit of the silver inlay had come away. It was really more the kind of thing Phoebe might appreciate. Leonora liked things to be flawless, expected them to be. He began to wonder if so exquisite a person was really capable of packing up the things in his flat