Page 28 (1/2)

Frances was talking about life on board a hospital ship As her quiet, precise voice detailed the rounds, the injuries of a young aret thought of that s youthfulness of her, that strange almost-prettiness that beset her features when she had dared briefly to believe in a future with Murray Donleavy She pushed away thedarkly ashamed

The tes, and a bal out on the front porch, bare feet warh boards, the sound of the occasional slap as one of her brothers abruptly ended the night flight of soine what they would be doing that night Perhaps Daniel would be sitting on the porch skinning rabbits with his penknife

Suddenly she beca her She stopped Got Frances to repeat herself ‘Are you sure? He knows?’ she said

Frances’s hands were thrust deep into her pockets ‘That’s what he said He asked whose she was’

‘Did you tell hi’

‘What do youI shut the door’

They fell back against the pipe-lined wall as two officers walked past One tipped his hat, and Margaret sway before she spoke again ‘He told you he knew about the dog and you didn’t ask hi he had known? Nothing?’

‘Well, he hasn’t told on us yet, has he?’

‘But we don’t knohat he’s going to do’ Frances’s jaw, Margaret realised, was peculiarly set

‘I justI didn’t want to get into a discussion about it’

‘Why not?’ Margaret asked incredulously

‘I didn’t want hiet any ideas’

‘Ideas? About what?’

Frances ed to look furious and defensive at once ‘I didn’t want hi ploy’

There was a lengthy silence, Margaret frowning in incoht want soin return’ She seemed faintly eht sound

Margaret shook her head ‘Jeez, Frances You’ve got a strange view of how people go about things’

They had arrived at their cabin Margaret was trying to think whether there had been so in the way the est that she should be the one to talk to hiirl running up the passageway She had shoulder-length dark hair secured off her face with bobby pins, one of which had beco loose She skidded to a halt when she reached them, and scanned their door ‘You live here? 3G?’ she panted

‘Yeah’ Margaret shrugged ‘So?’

‘You know a girl called Jean?’ she asked, still breathless And when they nodded: ‘You et downstairs Keep an eye on your little ot herself into a bit of trouble’

‘Where?’ said Margaret

‘Seaht of stairs It’s the blue door near the fire extinguisher I’ve got to go Theto be here in a o,’ said Frances to Margaret ‘I’ll be faster You catchat their door, then sprinted down the passageway, her long thin legs flying up behind her as she went

There were all ht, if one happened to be in the right company Since she had found Irene Carter that afternoon, and had been invited to join her and her friends for tea, then a lecture (Irene had sewn sos) and finally supper, they had talked for so long and so aniotten not only the time but how much she detested the old ship

Irene Carter’s father owned Melbourne’s most prominent tennis club She was married to a sub-lieutenant just returned from the Adriatic; the son of (here Avice paused for breath) soht no less than eleven hats with her, in case one couldn’t get theht sort And, with a rigour Avice suspected was rather lacking in her own character, she had deterht sort, in one case going so far as to organise a bunk swap so that the dark-skinned girl with glasses had been reallocated to a cabin where she would ‘find girls like herself’ She hadn’t needed to spell out what criteria thisat Irene and the perfectly lovely girls around her, could see that they were all alike, not just in dress and manner but in their attitudes

‘Of course, you knohat happened to Lolicia Tarrant, don’t you?’ Irene was saying, her arh Avice’s as they tripped down the steps into thea couple of steps behind