Last Train from Liguria (2010) Read Online Free Page B

up a bit. And hear this, Bella - she says that although the journey may be long and often tiresome, she will do her utmost to make it a comfortable one. First class from start to finish. From what I can gather, no expense spared. Absolutely
rrrr-olling
in it. And as for Italy - a country on the up, you know, now that that Mussolini chap has given them all a good kick up the backside. We could do with his like here, put the country back to work. Not that it need concern you. All that art and sunshine - what I wouldn’t give to be young again! I tell you, Bella, you’re a girl who knows how to land on her feet and no mistake.’
    Bella could hardly believe it. ‘Are you telling me it’s all been arranged? That you have organized this behind my back?’
    ‘Really, my dear, it’s not as if we haven’t discussed it.’
    ‘But I thought you were joking.’
    ‘Joking? Why on earth would I do that?’
    ‘I just didn’t realize you actually meant to go ahead and—’
    ‘Well, you certainly led me to believe you were—’
    ‘But I don’t want to leave you,’ she said. ‘No. I
won’t
and that’s that.’
    ‘Oh, don’t you worry about me - I have my work and plenty of it. Besides, Mrs Carter will be here every day.’
    ‘But it’s not the same, Father. Mrs Carter isn’t family. You’ll be all alone. Coming home every night to an empty house. Nobody here. Always alone. I won’t have it.’
    Crab-like, his fingers pressing Signora Lami’s letter into the table, he cocked his head a little to one side, looked at her, then looked away. ‘Oh, Bella. I’m so seldom home, you know - between the hospital and my other commitments - well, let’s be honest, my dear. It’s you.
You
who are always alone.’
    *
    Bella knew exactly what she should do now. If there were any chance of getting the better of her father, she would have to learn from her late mother. What would Mother have advised?
    She rested her forehead on the door her father had just closed behind him, then gave herself firm instruction: leave well enough alone for the moment. Withdraw, stay silent. Let him be the one to come back to the subject. Let him be the one to do all the talking until he has talked himself out of the idea. There is strength in silence, Mother would have said so. No surer way of unnerving a man.
    Now. She would start by gently opening this door, stepping lightly into the hall, a slow easy turn for the stairs, pass by his study with neither remark nor glance, then continue on up to her room. Where she would remain until he decided to come around, first to his senses, then to her way of thinking. Yes.
    But the more she thought of it! The way he had made the decision without her, the way he shrugged off any attempt to discuss the matter further; the way he kept making those awful jokes and jolly gestures throughout. Then the cold, cruel delivery of that last remark about her always being alone. Turning his back on her like that, then leaving the room, clipping the door shut behind him.
    She snatched at the doorknob, twitched it open, then ploughed up the stairs shaking with rage. When she got to his study the door was ajar; she slapped it away from her. ‘How could you?’ she demanded. ‘Father, how could you?’
    He was moving about the room in his slow, efficient manner; pulling at shelves, plucking at drawers until he had constructed a pile on his desk: medical documents, sample bottles, pocket watch, stethoscope, a small narrow torch which he brought up to his face, switched on and eyeballed for a moment before switching it off again.
    When the pile was complete, he immediately began to thin it out again, picking each item up and feeding it down into the soft leather gut of his big brown bag.
    These were his props for the outside world. This was the bag that would carry them there. Bella knew the routine and knew that nothing would interfere with it. There was a time, long ago, when she would have been part of it. A house in