That Would Be a Fairy Tale Read Free Page B

everywhere. And pond weed. It was sticking out of my hair. And when I rescued my hat and put it on –’
    ‘Don’t tell me. The water poured down your face! Oh, Cicely! How dreadful. I wish I’d been there!’
    ‘I’m glad you weren’t! It was bad enough that that man –’ she stopped short.
    ‘Man?’ Alice looked at her enquiringly and then broke out laughing again. ‘You don’t mean to say that someone saw you like that?’
    Cicely pulled a face. ‘The driver of the car.’
    ‘How awful!’ laughed Alice , torn between amusement and horror. ‘What did he say?’
    ‘He didn’t say anything. He laughed at me!’
    ‘What a cad.’
    ‘I know, and you may believe I told him so, in no uncertain terms. “Had you been a gentleman you would now be apologizing for causing an accident and doing everything in your power to make amends, but as you are obviously nothing of the kind I will have to help myself.”‘
    Her mouth twitched.
    ‘Oh, Cicely, you didn’t!’ Alice collapsed into laughter again.
    ‘I did.’
    ‘You mean, you didn’t laugh?’ asked Alice , pulling herself together.
    ‘Of course not – although at one point I was tempted. But I was too cross.’
    Alice ’s face was sympathetic. ‘You poor dear. Did anyone else see you – apart from the monster, that is?’
    Cicely had a brief vision of the owner of the Daimler: dark hair, athletic build, long legs and an infuriatingly mocking smile. A monster? No, he hadn’t been a monster. Unaccountably, the strange sensation she had experienced when he had put his arms round her, the tingling feeling, which had made her body feel strangely alive, came back to her. She shook herself in an effort to drive it away.
    No, he hadn’t been a monster, she thought again. More was the pity. Because if he had been a monster, his laughter would have been so much easier to bear.
    ‘No one else, thank goodness,’ she said, answering Alice ’s question. ‘I was sure I would bump into someone in the village, but fortunately I managed to get back here without seeing a soul.’
    ‘That’s a relief! If the village boys had seen you, you would never have heard the end of it. But now, tell me, how did the rest of your afternoon go?’
    Cicely sank down on the bed. She felt deflated suddenly, as though the events of the early afternoon had finally caught up with her. Rousing herself, she said at last, ‘As well as can be expected. I cycled over to Oakleigh and signed the final document as arranged, and then I cycled back again.’
    ‘It was very brave of you to sell the Manor,’ said Alice . She put her hand consolingly on Cicely’s arm. ‘I don’t think I could have done it.’
    Cicely sighed. ‘I had no choice, in the end. The debts were too large. Selling the Manor was the only way to pay them. Father was a dear, but he was very absent-minded. I always knew it, but I didn’t realize at the time just quite how bad he was. I’d always assumed he paid the bills, at least, but when he died I realized he hadn’t paid anything for years. He always meant to, I’m sure, but he simply forgot about them five minutes after they’d arrived.’
    ‘His head was always full of some enthusiasm or other - usually bicycles,’ said Alice .
    Cicely smiled. ‘Yes, his beloved bicycles. Not that I was ever allowed to call them that, I had to call them “velocipedes”, although "boneshakers" is a better description, if you ask me. He loved riding them, collecting them, inventing them . . .’ She gave a sigh as she thought of her dearly loved but completely impractical father.  Then she rallied herself. ‘But it’s done now. The Manor is sold and the papers are signed. Never mind, at least I have a few weeks to adjust to the idea of the Manor having a new owner before Mr Evington takes possession.’
    There was a pause in the conversation. Alice stood up and strolled round the room. She stopped in front of Cicely’s dressing table. She picked up Cicely’s