‘And if she turns up with a man, the one we invited can be a waiter,’ said Meg.
‘No!!’ said Lizzie. ‘That’s an outrageous idea! The man thinks he’s been invited to a nice meal and is sent down to the kitchen to get on with the washing up?’
‘I was joking,’ said Meg.
‘I bet it’s just the sort of thing Electra would do,’ said Alexandra. ‘I can almost hear her saying it. ‘As your services as a guest are no longer required, can you put on an apron and clear the table?’
Now she’d finished her Béarnaise sauce, Meg went to get her own list. ‘Can I just confirm we all agree? We’re having kipper pâté with melba toast. Boeuf bourguignon. Chocolate mousse for pudding—’
‘I’ll look out some teacups for the mousse for you,’ said Alexandra. ‘There’s a cupboard full of miscellaneous china at the end of the corridor. It’ll look elegant and I like the thought of that china being used.’
‘And I thought I’d really like to make some sort of big cake,’ Meg went on. ‘A gâteau Saint-Honoré perhaps. I’d use frozen puff pastry for the base.’ Meg looked at her co-hosts. ‘You know, crème pâtissière? Circles of choux pastry?’
Lizzie shook her head. ‘Sorry, never heard of it. You have to remember I grew up in a household where no one liked foreign food.’
‘I haven’t heard of it either,’ said Alexandra, ‘but if you want to make it, Meggy, carry on! Now, wine?’
David looked stern. ‘I can’t approve of you using all that lovely wine that’s in the cellar, Alexandra. I’ll get it for you. I have a contact in Soho.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ said Alexandra. ‘It’s just it’s been there for years and no one has ever drunk it. If it was so wonderful, wouldn’t my esteemed relations have come over from Switzerland and taken it back there with them?’
‘Wine doesn’t always travel,’ said David. ‘And to be honest, they’ve probably forgotten about it. Or just assumed it will be safe. Either way, you can’t drink it.’
‘Well, if you can get us something that’s drinkable and cheap, that would be really useful,’ said Alexandra.
‘We have got a fairly economical menu,’ said Meg. ‘We planned it to be cheapish.’
‘You planned it,’ said Lizzie. ‘And you’re cooking it too. You’ve been brilliant, Meggy.’
Clover woke from her nap and, hearing her mistress’s name, looked up and wagged her tail in agreement.
‘I enjoy it!’ said Meg, not comfortable with praise. ‘You know I do.’
‘We’ll be your kitchen maids,’ said Lizzie.
‘When we’re not being char ladies and parlourmaids,’ said Alexandra. ‘David? Will you get the wine tomorrow? We need to know how much it’s all going to cost.’
‘I will. You can get good wine cheaply if you know the right people,’ said David.
‘And you do!’ said Lizzie.
‘Yes,’ said Meg. ‘You have Soho sewn up! All the dealers, fruit and veg suppliers—’
‘I used to have a flat there,’ David explained. ‘I shopped in the market every day. I got to know all the stallholders and shopkeepers.’
David got up from where he’d been waxing a small wooden tea caddy, went over to the piano and started to play. He had a habit of doing this if he felt the mood or subject needed to be changed, as he obviously did now. It never failed: he didn’t seem to like having his past delved into.
Lizzie, delighted to abandon her list-making, soon joined him. She began to leaf through the music on top of the piano. While David could play by ear, he would also play any bit of music put in front of him. She put a song in front of David.
Alexandra, hearing the words ‘Can’t help loving that man of mine’, got up and stood next to Lizzie at the piano. ‘You’re a sentimental sausage, aren’t you?’
Lizzie nodded. ‘I am.’
‘But we love you for it,’ said David and broke into something more upbeat.
‘I don’t think this dining room has been used for at least fifteen years,’ said Alexandra, coughing and sneezing from the dust she had dislodged from the mantelpiece with a feather duster.
It was the day before the dinner party, as they felt they’d need all their time and energy the following day on getting the food right to have time for cleaning. They started out just wanting the dining room clean and respectable-looking. But when they went downstairs for more cleaning supplies they discovered that David had brought back severalbuckets of flowers from a friend who worked near Covent Garden flower market.
