Dolly by Anita Brookner

on the recommendation of her friends: she mentioned the empty flat to Dolly who clasped her hands with joy and embraced her mother. Toni liked that; she liked to see that closeness, which she had never felt for her own daughter, but which she was suddenly prepared to feel for Dolly. In fact, of the two of them, Toni and Hugo, Toni was the more infatuated. She had been bored for years, with a deadly boredom, of which her son’sboredom was a mere shadow; even the war had bored her. She wanted a lively pretty companion, a vivid presence about the place. She had no doubt that if Dolly married Hugo they could all live together in her flat, with the mother conveniently put away upstairs; in that way there would be someone to look after her when she became ill, although at the age she was then she regarded that eventuality as remote. In the meantime she and her daughter-in-law could spend days in town, looking through the stores, taking coffee in the new cafés that were beginning to open; they could have delicious feminine discussions, while Hugo went to work and returned faithfully each evening. Eventually, when petrol came off the ration, she would buy Dolly a car, so that Dolly could drive her out into the countryside, in which, it might be noted, she had never taken the slightest interest. In this love affair between Toni and her prospective daughter-in-law Hugo was slightly overlooked. Fortunately he was acquiescent. Nothing could please him more than to have his mother’s approval for something so attractive and so simple: a very pretty girl who liked him, and who apparently liked his mother. Sexually Hugo was not enterprising, nor had he been given much chance to experiment. He was to remain in awe of the fate which had presented him with Dolly, and consequently never to understand her. She in turn kept her thoughts to herself.
    Early negotiations went forward with consummate ease. The four of them returned to London together, stopping on the way to pick up four suitcases from the Grosvenor Hotel. Dolly and Hugo were permitted, even encouraged, to consider themselves a couple. In Maresfield Gardens a more reflectivemood took over. The top flat was empty and entirely denuded of furniture. Dolly had to beg a bed, a table and chairs from Hugo.
    ‘Can’t they bring their things over from Paris?’ enquired Toni, rather annoyed.
    ‘You forget, Mother. The Germans took everything.’
    ‘But surely they got it all back? One hears that the Germans behaved rather well in Paris. Apparently Hitler told them to.’
    ‘If you say so, Mother. In the meantime they need somewhere to sleep. And a table. Chairs,’ he added guiltily.
    ‘Oh, very well. That spare bed in the dressing-room will have to go.’ That spare bed was the one formerly slept in by Arthur Ferber, now no more than a memory, and sometimes considerably less. ‘And ask Nanny to let you have that table in the nursery. And ask Dolly to come down here when she has a moment. If she is not too busy.’ This was said ironically. ‘I haven’t seen her for a day or two.’
    Harmony was maintained, by means of considerable sacrifices on Dolly’s part. She was aware that she would have to serve an apprenticeship before Toni would give her son in marriage. Every afternoon she left her own mother, sitting forlornly in their empty living-room, and went down the stairs to the ground floor flat to keep Toni company. She remained there until Hugo came home for dinner, when she was allowed to greet him, after he had greeted his mother. If she stayed for the evening she was given a lesson in bridge, at which she made disconcertingly rapid progress, as she had done in English, which she now spoke with the merest trace of an accent. Her speech was always more rapid than that ofa native Englishwoman, more emphatic; by comparison my mother, and ultimately myself, seemed slow, reflective. At eleven o’clock she kissed them both, went upstairs, and climbed into bed with her mother,