The salon was gloomy in the extreme. It smelled musty, almost damp, as if it had been neglected for a long time. In fact, I suspected that mushrooms were growing in the darker corners. It was cold but there was no fire in a tall marble fireplace. The shutters were closed and the furniture was dark and heavy—and uncomfortable too. I sat on a sofa that had the most surprising lumps and bumps and waited. Queenie perched on my trunk in the foyer. To begin with I had been angry. Now I began to feel more and more uneasy. I had sent a telegram. They knew I was coming. So perhaps I wasn’t welcome after all.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

January 22, 1933
Villa Gloriosa. Talk about misnamed! Nothing in the least
glorious about it. Furthermore was not made welcome. Did
I do the right thing, coming here?

The day wore on. I began to feel hungry, but I thought my chances of getting something to eat from the harridan were not good. Surely Podge would have to come home to take his afternoon nap, wouldn’t he? I wouldn’t have minded exploring the garden, but I was sure that, once I was outside, the dragon woman would not allow me in again. I heard a clock in another room strike one, then two.

Queenie poked her head around the door. I had left her guarding the luggage in the front hall. “I ain’t half hungry, miss,” she said. “Don’t they have no dinner in this house?”

“Dinner is in the evening, Queenie,” I said. “Remember what I told you. Only the lower classes call their midday meal dinner. To us it is lunch. But the answer is that I think it unlikely that we’ll get anything to eat until the family returns.”

“We could go and stay in one of them hotels. A darned sight friendlier than that old woman.”

“I agree,” I said, “but I don’t have the money for hotels. We’ll just have to wait.”

“I got a bar of chocolate we can share,” she said generously and broke a Cadbury’s in half for us.

At about three o’clock there were voices and footsteps on the gravel. I went to the door of the salon just as the front door burst open and Podge rushed in ahead of the grownups. He jumped in surprise when he saw me then his face lit up with recognition.

“Auntie Georgie! You came after all.” He turned back. “Mama. Papa. Auntie Georgie came.”

I looked up to see four adults looking at me with a mixture of surprise and horror.

“What on earth are you doing here?” Fig demanded.

“Good to see you, old bean,” Binky said. “So glad you could make it, but you might have warned us.”

“I sent a telegram, two days ago,” I said.