Read Online We'll Meet Again by Philippa Carr - Free Book Online Page A

“It’s rather heavy.”
    He replaced it on the shelf while the woman said: “Are you on holiday?”
    “No. I’m staying with a friend.”
    “Oh, that’s nice.”
    “I hope the book didn’t hurt you,” said the man. “Look. Why don’t we sit down for a bit? Have a coffee. There’s a nice place a step or two away.”
    “I do like those little cafes,” said the woman. “And isn’t it a relief not to have to think how to say what you want to for a little while? And if you do get it out fairly well, they rush back at you so fast that I for one am completely lost.”
    I was thinking: Why shouldn’t I have a coffee with them? It will be something to do.
    So I found myself sitting with them in the cafe near the bookshop. They told me they were Geoffrey and Janet Bailey. He was working in the Paris branch of an insurance company and they had been here for six months or so. They were not sure how long they would stay. They had a house at home near Watford, convenient for the City, and they had a married daughter who lived close by who was keeping an eye on things for them.
    They asked where my home was.
    “Well … er …” I said. “It’s in Cornwall.”
    “Cornwall! A delightful place. Geoff and I thought of having a cottage there. In fact, we might retire down there, mightn’t we, Geoff?”
    He nodded.
    “Looe,” she went on. “Fowey … somewhere like that. We have had many a holiday there. Are you near there?”
    “Not very far …” I was getting a little embarrassed. I could not tell them then that I used to live there before I ran away with my lover.
    I felt a sudden insecurity. I had really thought of Tregarland’s as my home. But I had abandoned all that. Their mention of their home and retirement had had an effect on me. They could see ahead. I could not.
    Then Geoffrey Bailey said: “I don’t like the way things are going, do you?”
    “Things?” I said vaguely.
    “The political situation. This man Hitler … what will he be up to next?”
    “Didn’t Mr. Chamberlain come back with that agreement from him?”
    “Oh, you mean Munich? Do you trust Hitler? Our people in London don’t like the way things are going, Czechoslovakia and all that. It will be Poland next … and if he dares … well, I think we shall be in it … deep.”
    “Well, let’s hope for the best,” said Mrs. Bailey. “I’m so glad we spoke to you in that bookshop.”
    “My clumsiness turned out well in the end,” added Geoffrey.
    They talked about Paris then and I was relieved that they asked no more questions about me. They thought I was staying with a friend; but I must have seemed somewhat reticent about my background.
    However, it was only a casual meeting and I should not have got as far as drinking coffee with them if they had not had a guilty conscience about letting a book drop on me.
    I was wrong about its being a casual meeting. They insisted on seeing me home, as they said, and they took me to the house. I did not ask them in but said goodbye in the street.
    I think that after that Mrs. Bailey was so determined to see me again that she did. It was not really difficult.
    She was a motherly type of woman, and I realized later that she had sensed that there was something rather mysterious about me. The fact that I had been evasive about my home had not escaped her. I was staying with friends apparently indefinitely, but I had said nothing of these friends. I must have given an impression of frailty. Violetta had always said that drew men to me. I looked helpless and they longed to protect me. Perhaps Mrs. Bailey felt this, too.
    In any case, I had caught her interest and the idea had come to her that I might need help.
    About a week after our encounter, when I came out of the house, I saw her strolling towards me. She expressed surprise, which did not seem quite natural, and I guessed at once that she had been looking for me since our meeting. She said why didn’t I go along with her and have a nice cup