(3/13) News from Thrush Green Read Free

Pheasants"!
    Albert Piggott broke into a rare and rusty whistling.

    But it was Ella Bembridge who had the closest look at the newcomer that morning.
    She was about to cross from her cottage to the rectory on the green opposite to consult her friend Dimity Henstock about the advisability of having the boiler chimney swept.
    Such mundane affairs had always been left to Dimity when the two women shared the cottage where Ella now lived alone. The rector's wife, as well as running her own ungainly house, found herself continuing to keep an eye on her old establishment, for Ella was the most impractical creature alive.
    It was Dimity who defrosted Ella's refrigerator before the icy stalactites grew too near the top shelf. It was Dimity who surreptitiously threw away the fortnight-old stew which had grown a fine crop of pale blue fur upon its surface, or some shapeless mess which had started out as a fruit mousse and had collapsed into something reminiscent of frogs' spawn. She did not chide her old friend about her slap-dash ways. She loved her too well to hurt her, and recognised that Ella's warm heart and her artistic leanings more than made up for her complete lack of housewifery.
    The little red car had just drawn up as Ella was slamming her gate. Ella had no scruples about staring, and she stood now, a sturdy figure, watching unashamedly as the stranger emerged.
    The younger woman gave Ella no greeting, as country people are wont to do. In fact, she appeared not to notice the watching figure. She locked the car door (a precaution which most Thrush Green folk forgot to take) and consulted the paper in her hand before walking swiftly towards Tullivers.
    Ella waited until the front door closed behind her with a groaning of rusty hinges, and then crossed the road to the rectory where she found Dimity in the kitchen beating up eggs whilst her husband made the mid-morning coffee.
    Over their steaming cups Ella gave her account of the newcomer.
    'About thirty, I reckon. Looks bright enough-might be useful in the W.I. Nice dog-tooth check suit in brown and white, and stockings with no seams. Come to think of it - they were probably tights. I didn't see any tops when she clambered out of the mini.'
    'Ella dear,' protested Charles Henstock mildly. 'Spare my feelings.'
    'Nice pair of square-toed shoes, Russell and Bromley probably, and an Italian handbag.'
    'How on earth do you know?' expostulated Dimity.
    'I can smell Italian leather a mile off,' said Ella, fishing a battered tin from her pocket and beginning to roll a cigarette from the crumpled papers and loose tobacco therein.
    'And I'd take a bet her ear-rings were Italian too,' she added, blowing out an acrid cloud of smoke. Dimity quietly moved the egg-custard out of range.
    'Ears pierced?' asked the rector, with rare sarcasm.
    'Couldn't see,' replied Ella in a matter-of-fact tone. 'But wears good gloves.'
    Something sizzled in the oven and Dimity crossed the kitchen to attend to it.
    'Not that I really noticed her,' continued Ella. 'Just got a passing glimpse, you know.'
    The rector forbore to comment.
    'But she's welcome to Tullivers,' went on Ella. 'There's a jackdaw's nest the size of a squirrel's drey in the kitchen chimney. Which reminds me - shall I get the boiler chimney done, Dim?'
    Dimity sat back on her heels by the open oven door and looked thoughtful.
    'September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April - yes, Ella. Get it swept now.'
    'Good,' replied her old friend, rising briskly and dropping her cigarette stub into the sink basket where it smouldered, unpleasantly close to the shredded cabbage soaking in a bowl.
    'I got my old hand loom out again last night,' said Ella conversationally. 'Thought I'd run up a few ties ready for the next Bring and Buy Sale and Christmas time.'
    She looked speculatively at Charles, who was doing his best to repress a shudder. He already had four ties of Ella's making, each much too short, the colour of over-cooked