Mrs Rufford was Leonora's dearest
friend and Leonora could be cutting enough at times. But I fancy
she was as nothing to Mrs Rufford. The Major would come in to
lunch harassed and already spitting out oaths after an
unsatisfactory morning's drilling of his stubborn men beneath a
hot sun. And then Mrs Rufford would make some cutting remark
and pandemonium would break loose. Once, when she had been
about twelve, Nancy had tried to intervene between the pair of
them. Her father had struck her full upon the forehead a blow so
terrible that she had lain unconscious for three days. Nevertheless,
Nancy seemed to prefer her father to her mother. She remembered
rough kindnesses from him. Once or twice when she had been
quite small he had dressed her in a clumsy, impatient, but very
tender way. It was nearly always impossible to get a servant to stay
in the family and, for days at a time, apparently, Mrs Rufford
would be incapable. I fancy she drank. At any rate, she had so
cutting a tongue that even Nancy was afraid of her--she so made
fun of any tenderness, she so sneered at all emotional displays.
Nancy must have been a very emotional child.
Then one day, quite suddenly, on her return from a ride at Fort
William, Nancy had been sent, with her governess, who had a
white face, right down South to that convent school.
Pages:
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183