Hugo came back with the drinks. Lizzie didn’t speak. She smiled but waited for him to settle himself. He raised his glass to her and took a sip. Still no explanation.
Lizzie took the initiative. ‘Hugo? You were going to explain how you came to be in the Earl ofSandwich? I was really grateful to be rescued but it seems like an amazing coincidence.’
Hugo seemed a bit embarrassed. ‘Well, it wasn’t really a coincidence, more a happy combination of circumstances.’
Lizzie nodded and sipped her brandy. She’d never had it before and she found it warming and soothing.
‘I discovered that Vanessa and Ted had changed their plans and she mentioned your name. Then I remembered you were going with Rich. I’ve never had much time for Rich. As I was planning to call on someone over this side of town I thought I’d call into the pub and see if you were all right.’
Did this sound a bit rehearsed? But why would he lie? He’d have no reason to. Lizzie decided to take him at his word. ‘Oh well, if you were going to visit someone, you mustn’t let me make you late.’
‘No need to worry about that,’ he said with a smile. ‘I cancelled. Shall we find a bite to eat somewhere?’
He took her to a little Italian restaurant in Soho, somewhere she would never have dared to investigate on her own, even in daylight. But with Hugo at her side, a solid presence, she felt she could go anywhere she wanted.
The restaurant was in a basement. The tables were small and covered with gingham cloths. There werestraw-covered Chianti bottles hanging on the walls along with plastic lemons and fake strings of garlic.
‘Don’t be put off by the decor,’ said Hugo. ‘The food is really good.’
Lizzie looked around. There were pictures of Mount Etna and Vesuvius, lovely Italian girls gathering olives and riding pillion on motorbikes driven by gorgeous dark-eyed Italian boys. ‘I like the decor and if the food is good as well, it’s all fab.’
Hugo nodded. ‘Now, what are you going to have? Say if you need me to help. The menu is in Italian.’
Having agreed they didn’t want starters, Lizzie chose lasagne, unfamiliar with this apparently Italian staple. ‘And a green salad,’ she added.
‘I’ll have the same. We can share some garlic bread.’
If anyone had suggested that Lizzie might go out to dinner with Hugo Lennox-Stanley she’d have shaken her head saying it would never happen. The very thought was daunting. And yet here she was, sharing garlic bread (she had never had that before either, although she didn’t tell him this), laughing with him, and, even more surprising, makinghimlaugh.
He was very amused with her stories about the cookery course and she even confessed to doing his sister’s dressmaking for her. (He wasn’t at all surprised to learn that Vanessa had neither the patience nor the willingness to learn.) Then she toldhim about adapting clothes from the trunk in Alexandra’s attic and Gina’s cast-offs and making clothes for them all.
‘I think working with one’s hands is underrated,’ he said. ‘I loved carpentry at school but if you were academic, you weren’t allowed to do it for long.’
‘You were academic?’
He nodded. ‘Very, although I still make the odd pipe rack if I have a moment. I come from a long line of barristers and so that was where I was steered.’ He smiled ruefully and for the first time Lizzie sensed sadness in him. Up until now he seemed successful, in control of his life and everything in it, but apparently that wasn’t leading to contentment.
‘So did your parents make you go into law?’
‘I wouldn’t say they made me. They encouraged me, certainly. But as I didn’t object, I don’t know what they’d have done if I’d wanted to do something different.’
‘Do you enjoy it?’
‘Yes, but there’s still a part of me that would have liked to take another path.’
Lizzie nodded in understanding. ‘The reason I’m doing a cookery course is because my mother thinks I won’t find a decent husband if I can’t cook. And finding a decent husband, with a proper job, preferably with parents they already know, is really important.’
‘Is that how you feel?’
‘No! At least I don’t think so. But it’s only really since I’ve been in London that I’ve given the matter much thought. I mean Alexandra would never think getting married is all a woman would want from life. And Meg, she’s learning to cook so she can earn money so she can save up for a house. Her mother always has live-in jobs and so nowhere is ever theirs.’ She paused. ‘It’s why Clover, their dog, came to live with us.’
Hugo smiled. ‘I like dogs. People always say you shouldn’t have them in London, but I think you can. If they’re small dogs and don’t need miles and miles of exercise every day.’
‘We manage. There is a park nearby and Clover certainly doesn’t need loads of exercise. David puts her in the car and takes her to places where they can walk.’
‘Who’s David?’
This question gave Lizzie a jolt. She hadn’t meant to mention David. Supposing Hugo asked questions about him? Did different sexes share flats in London? What would happen if she accidentally mentioned he was a homosexual?
