travel books: cold. Really I supposed I funked going down to the kitchen to face Mrs. Ormerod. You can imagine then my surprise when she knocked at my bedroom door with my bottle in her hand, filled and gloriously hot. `I thought perhaps you would like it to-night,' she said. `They are comforting if you chance to wake in the early hours.' Then came the wink. `Good night!' I wondered as I lay in bed if she thought I might, after all, be worth propitiating. But I didn't wonder any longer when I woke up about two to find the blessed thing had leaked and had soaked the bedclothes and mattress. It was a new bottle, too. By the light of my candle I surveyed the damage. I could see no puncture, so I unscrewed the stopper. The rubber washer was torn, and of course Mrs. Ormerod had torn it. She must have gone to sleep chuckling. I remembered her `if you chance to wake in the early hours.' That wink of hers, like a witty man's stutter, was her way of pointing her remarks. I wondered if she were awake then and if Aleck and Mary were letting their minds wander along the dark passages of Viner's Croft in search of peace. I wondered if I should have the courage to ring the bell and summon Mrs. Ormerod from the vasty deep. But Mary might come instead, Mary who had lived for months in rain-sodden huts in tropical Africa. Pioneers ! O Pioneers ! I fixed up some sort of bed on the hardest of sofas and, with the candle still burning to comfort me, fell at last into a restless, aching sleep. It was half-past six when I awoke to gaze with gathering resentment upon the disorder of my room. In less than three hours Viner's Croft would see me no more. There was satisfaction in that. Why not anticipate my return to civilization and ring for an early morning cup of tea? Such a demand would annoy Mrs. Ormerod very much and I wanted to annoy her. I gave a tug at the old-fashioned bell-pull and waited. Silence for five minutes and then a pad, pad along the corridor and a knock at the door. `Come in!' I said. Enter Mrs. Ormerod in a mauve wrapper and bedroom books

Books > Old Books > Midnight Tales (1946)

Page 33

MRS. ORMEROD

cold. Really I supposed I funked going down to the kitchen to face Mrs. Ormerod. You can imagine then my surprise when she knocked at my bedroom door with my bottle in her hand, filled and gloriously hot.
`I thought perhaps you would like it to-night,' she said. `They are comforting if you chance to wake in the early hours.' Then came the wink. `Good night!'
I wondered as I lay in bed if she thought I might, after all, be worth propitiating. But I didn't wonder any longer when I woke up about two to find the blessed thing had leaked and had soaked the bedclothes and mattress. It was a new bottle, too. By the light of my candle I surveyed the damage. I could see no puncture, so I unscrewed the stopper. The rubber washer was torn, and of course Mrs. Ormerod had torn it. She must have gone to sleep chuckling. I remembered her `if you chance to wake in the early hours.' That wink of hers, like a witty man's stutter, was her way of pointing her remarks. I wondered if she were awake then and if Aleck and Mary were letting their minds wander along the dark passages of Viner's Croft in search of peace. I wondered if I should have the courage to ring the bell and summon Mrs. Ormerod from the vasty deep. But Mary might come instead, Mary who had lived for months in rain-sodden huts in tropical Africa. Pioneers ! O Pioneers ! I fixed up some sort of bed on the hardest of sofas and, with the candle still burning to comfort me, fell at last into a restless, aching sleep.
It was half-past six when I awoke to gaze with gathering resentment upon the disorder of my room. In less than three hours Viner's Croft would see me no more. There was satisfaction in that. Why not anticipate my return to civilization and ring for an early morning cup of tea? Such a demand would annoy Mrs. Ormerod very much and I wanted to annoy her. I gave a tug at the old-fashioned bell-pull and waited. Silence for five minutes and then a pad, pad along the corridor and a knock at the door.
`Come in!' I said.
Enter Mrs. Ormerod in a mauve wrapper and bedroom