‘Strong G and Ts coming up!’ said David.
‘No!’ Meg put up a hand. ‘I’ll do it. I’ve got everything ready. You look after Nessa’s mother.’
She almost didn’t recognise Cherry, who was wearing the lace cap. Meg did wonder if she lookedlike a maid in a French farce but decided it didn’t matter.
‘Vanessa’s mother is a nightmare!’ she said quickly to Cherry and Susan. ‘She’s in the loo now. We want drinks and tea.’
‘The tea’s all ready,’ said Susan calmly. ‘Cherry and me will take that in on the trolley. There are cold tonics in the fridge, and ice and lemon, so you bring those. There are already glasses and drinks on the tray in the drawing room. There’s a new bottle of Armadillo sherry, Spanish, none of that Cyprus rubbish – and everything else you might need.’
‘Susan, I don’t know what I’d do without you. Thank you so much!’ Meg had instantly decided it didn’t matter what Susan called the sherry; she was a life-saver.
Susan looked pleased. ‘Come along, Cherry. Let’s show the gentry that us country bumpkins know how things are done.’
Having noted Cherry’s lace cap with approval, Lady Lennox-Stanley accepted a cup of tea from her. Cherry bobbed a curtsey as she handed it over, risking slopping it into the saucer. Lady Lennox-Stanley also accepted the offer of a drink.
‘Can I suggest a gin and tonic?’ said David. ‘Ice and lemon?’
‘Thank you, but no ice. I’m not American.’
The amount of disdain Lady Lennox-Stanley managed to get into this declaration was astounding, thought Meg as she mixed the drinks. She put a lot of gin in the glass before adding a splash of tonic anda slice of lemon. Cherry put the drink and the rest of the little bottle of tonic on a tray and took it to her ladyship.
‘Where is Russell when you need him?’ David murmured while Meg was mixing a drink for Vanessa. ‘He’s brilliant with snooty old women.’
Meg suppressed a smile. Thinking of Lady Lennox-Stanley as a snooty old woman, instead of someone she was desperate to impress, took the sting out of her a little.
‘Ah! I think I can spot him through the window,’ said David. ‘Do those doors open?’ Without waiting for a reply he strode across the room and unlocked the French windows. ‘Russell? Come in and have a drink!’
Meg was watching Lady Lennox-Stanley, who, she had decided, wouldn’t be welcome in the hotel again if she could guarantee them full bookings for the rest of the year. As Russell entered the drawing room, very much like a character in a play, Lady Lennox-Stanley’s expressions changed. Her hand went up to her mouth and her eyes opened wide.
‘Let me introduce you,’ said David. ‘Lady Lennox-Stanley, Russell Rook—'
‘I know who Russell Rook is,’ she said in a faint voice. ‘I saw you inPresent Laughterwhen I was in my twenties!’
Russell laughed. ‘I was in my twenties then myself, although you don’t look very much older than that now!’
Seeing how utterly thrilled her terrifying guest was, Meg felt free to leave the room. No one noticed. Shewent back into the kitchen where Susan and Cherry were ready to welcome her.
‘How is it going?’ asked Susan. ‘Here, have a sherry. We’re having one.’
‘Well, it was awful! She’s a dragon.’ Meg didn’t need to specify which ‘she’ was being referred to. ‘But then Russell – the chap who wants to put a play on in the garden – came in and she sort of melted! Apparently, she saw him in a play and she obviously fell in love with him. They’re much the same age, although Lady L-S seems older because she’s so snooty.’ Meg took the glass she was handed and sipped it. It was delicious.
‘So, are they drinking tea or alcohol?’
‘Both. They’re drinking gin but they’re eating cake as well. Maybe I’d better get out the cheese straws,’ said Meg.
‘To go with the tea they’re not drinking?’ said Cherry.
‘I think your cap is making you frivolous,’ said Meg. ‘We can’t have that.’
Susan shook her head. ‘This is no time for joking now, Meg. And can I suggest you run a comb through your hair and maybe put on a little lipstick? That dress is pretty – I recognise it from when your mother last wore it – but you’re still looking a little like a tomboy.’
When she’d availed herself of the spotted mirror in the lavatory the staff used, in which her mother kept a lipstick, Meg went back to the kitchen. ‘Will I pass?’
Susan nodded grudgingly.
‘Then I’d better go back in and find out what time they want dinner,’ said Meg. ‘And also find out if Lady Lennox-Stanley will stay with us or go up to the other hotel.’
When Meg went back into the drawing room she found it very serene.
