Read Portobello for Free Online Page B

Cotswold.
'Inviting this person into your home, I mean. Why couldn't you
simply ask him to – well, name the sum, and if he got it wrong
that would be the end of it, wouldn't it?'
    'And if he got it right he'd have to come here anyway. You don't
suppose I'm going to send it to him by telegraphic transfer, do
you?'
    'But, darling, if he gets it wrong, and he probably will, he may
get angry and – well, do something nasty.'
    'Nonsense, Ella,' said Eugene robustly. 'I'm curious. I want to
see this chap. He sounded a bit of a wimp.'
    'I sincerely hope he is.'
    They were going out to dinner at a newly opened restaurant in
Kensington Park Road. While Ella applied lipstick and contemplated
her reflection in one of his beautiful gilt-framed mirrors (he
called them looking-glasses) Eugene nipped into the kitchen and
took from a secret drawer two Chocorange sweets, which he slipped
into his jacket pocket. The secret drawer had no handle and looked
like part of the decorative frieze that ran along under the worktops.
He noted that he still had three packets left, so perhaps he
should take a third sweet with him to be on the safe side. No, two
in his pocket and one to suck now should be enough.
    Ella had an acute sense of smell and she detected it on his
breath but supposed he had helped himself to a chocolate while
in the kitchen. He knew she never ate chocolates but he might
have offered her one just the same. She was a small woman and
slightly plump, with a very pretty face and dark-brown curly hair,
proud of her full bosom and showing it off whenever she could
while remaining decent. Her fortieth birthday would come before
the end of the year and she looked forward to it with dread. As a
busy GP with a full life, a devoted lover, a passion for opera and
a great reader, she realised how foolish this was. Forty was nothing
these days, forty was young. Yet those months stretched before her
like a sunny plain at the end of which a sheer cliff face dropped
down into an abyss.
    The abyss could be avoided and the sunshine made permanent
if Eugene would ask her to marry him. She imagined walking
into the medical centre and showing her engagement ring to her
three partners, the medical secretary and the practice nurse.
Maybe she could have a baby. That was something she wouldn't
attempt without being married but if only he would ask her –
the whole world would change. She had even thought of asking him . But you couldn't do that if you were an ordinary sort of
doctor in a busy practice and he was a very rich man. He smiled
at her and when he had helped her into her coat, gave her a
chocolatey kiss on the lips. It was quite hurtful, she thought, not
being offered a chocolate even though he knew she wouldn't have
taken one.
    'By the way, Gene,' she said when they were in the restaurant,
'how much did you find?'
    'How much did I . . . ? Oh, the money I found in the street? A
hundred and fifteen pounds.'
    'And you've only had one response in how long?'
    'About two weeks, my darling.'
    'What will you do if this chap doesn't get it right?'
    'Take it to the police, I suppose.'
    That would be a bit awkward after so long. But there was no
point in thinking about it yet. Eugene looked fondly at Ella. How
pretty she was and how nice. He would miss her terribly if she
weren't around, though there was no prospect of that. This evening,
in this charming restaurant with its delicious food, its candle on
the table and its gazanias in a silver vase, would be a good time
and a good place to ask her to marry him. Maybe when they were
having their dessert wine and their double espressos . . .
    But the time passed and he didn't ask her. Candlelight there
might be and gazanias but a restaurant wasn't quite the place. It
must be at home when they were quite alone. It might also be a
good thing to give up this habit of his. It shouldn't be too difficult,
for there was no question of its being an addiction like drink
or drugs. But give it up he must, simply by the