Justice Is a Woman by Yelena Kopylova Page A

turned around again.
    “Yes, and by all accounts they all adored her,” said Betty.
    “You mean by her accounts,” was Elaine’s response.
    Again Betty gave Elaine a slanting glance, and she shook her head now, saying, “No, she never
    mentioned them. But I’ve met her once before, although I don’t think she remembered
    me and I didn’t
    know even then who she really was. It was at a bun-fight Lena Bradshaw was holding for some charity
    or other, and Lena referred to her as Old Mary.”
    “Well, you’ve been invited to tea and that’s a double honour, if you did but know it.” Joe was now
    looking straight ahead through the windscreen, and after a slight pause he ended, “You’ll be the first one
    from Fell Rise to enter the portals of Menton Hall.”
    “Oh, I won’t take it up; it was just her way of being polite.”
    “Don’t be a fool!
    Of course you’ll take it up,” said Elaine. Now Betty’s head came right round and she
    stared at her sister
    for a moment before she said on a small laugh, “ I’ll send you in my place. “ 89 There was an awkward
    pause, until Joe cried, “ I forgot to introduce you to David, Betty. Betty, David. “ He bobbed his head
    from one to the other, and when Betty leant forward towards the open partition and said,
    “ Hello,
    David,” and he answered pleasantly, “ How do you do, miss? “ Elaine closed her eyes
    tightly while
    pressing her back deep into the upholstery of the car, and behind her clenched teeth her tongue clicked
    the roof of her mouth as she exclaimed to herself, really! really! and the intonation had the sound of a
    curse. He was impossible, impossible. Introducing Betty to the chauffeur. What next!
    What next
    indeed! Betty might be cosmopolitan in her outlook but what must she think of the master introducing his
    sister-in-law to the chauffeur, and a coloured one at that.
    Betty had been at the house for a week and, as Mike remarked to Joe, she fitted in like an old glove.
    And Betty, too, felt that she fitted in. She loved the house and garden; she loved the food well, who
    wouldn’t after having sampled Cousin Kathryn’s fare for the past six months and she
    liked the people
    about the place. In a way she liked Mike most of all; his bluntness caused her to erupt with laughter.
    And, of course, she liked Joe.
    Elaine, she considered, was very lucky. But then Elaine had always been lucky;
    everything always
    turned out as Elaine planned it should;
    just as she had planned that she herself should and would stay with her. And at the
    present moment she
    had to admit she could wish for nothing more, for she was tired of moving from one place to another;
    she was tired of waiting on old ladies, and reading aloud; and she was tired, very tired, of condescension.
    Relatives, she found, were the worst offenders in this respect, except, of course, Elaine.
    She could
    never remember her being so sweet, or so grateful; in fact, she couldn’t remember the slightest feeling of
    empathy ever existing between them, but now all that seemed to have altered. 9i That
    there was a reason
    for her sister’s changed attitude towards her had very quickly become apparent: Elaine was feeling lonely
    and lost amongst these people. As she said, they didn’t speak her language, and she could never speak
    theirs and, what appeared to be very trying to her, Joe’s friends weren’t of the class to which she had
    been accustomed.
    She had wondered more than once during the past few days if her sister had grown to
    love her
    husband. She couldn’t possibly have loved him when she married him: she wasn’t the
    kind of person to
    fall in love at first sight; and, anyway, she was still suffering from the Lionel Harris affair. But she had
    done better for herself in marrying Joe than ever she would have done with Lionel Harris; or Major
    Lionel Harris, as he insisted on being called.
    She was an early riser and it was just turned half—past seven on the Saturday morning