The Toff and the Fallen Angels Read Online Free

Rollison’s decision took her by surprise. But in a moment she was gripping his hand, and her eyes blazed with rare radiance.
    â€˜Oh, thank God!’ she exclaimed. ‘Thank God!’ She held tightly for a few moments, then suddenly released him and turned away; for the second time her eyes were dimmed with tears. Almost blindly she picked up her knife and fork, beginning to eat as if she had no idea what was in front of her. ‘I really didn’t think you would, I couldn’t believe you were all you’re said to be.’
    â€˜I’m probably half as bad as my enemies say and half as good as my friends would like to believe,’ Rollison said, to ease the tension. He paused, to eat; and Jolly came and poured out wine for the Toff to taste and approve. For the first time, Jolly was noticed; and smiled at. ‘But the one person who probably sees me as I am is my Aunt Gloria,’ went on Rollison.
    â€˜Oh?’ said Naomi, blankly.
    â€˜She also has a heart of gold and a helping hand for fallen angels,’ Rollison told her. ‘So I’ve had some experience.’
    â€˜Good gracious!’ exclaimed Naomi.
    â€˜Now what I need, and do take your time about it, is the full story of what is going wrong among your young women, and why you think that someone is trying to make the hostel fail. What do you call the hostel, by the way?’
    â€˜Smith Hall,’ she answered.
    Rollison’s eyebrows shot up.
    â€˜Named after you?’
    â€˜Yes.’ She was suddenly almost gay. ‘It’s a big old house in Bloomsbury, very handy for London University. The girls originally called it “Smith Hall” for a joke, now the name has become a fixture.’ She went on talking, as she ate, with an easy control of words which Rollison found himself enjoying almost as much as he enjoyed the sound of her voice. ‘The house was much too large for the half-dozen or so girls we had when we started and we used only the ground floor. Gradually we’ve opened all the rooms. It’s been a remarkable success in a lot of ways - the sponsors put up the money for basic alterations and the fallen angels did all the decorating and arranging.’ She paused. ‘I must stop calling them fallen angels!’
    â€˜It sounds all right to me,’ murmured Rollison.
    Her plate was nearly empty and he got up and went to the hotplate.
    â€˜Some pie?’
    â€˜I—oh, may I? It’s very nice . . . They do their own cooking and the housework, too, it’s quite remarkable how with a community of twenty-five there’s someone good at every job . . . Even babysitting!’ She looked up as if wondering how he would react to that.
    â€˜It seems a nice self-contained unit with the inevitable flaw,’ Rollison remarked.
    â€˜Flaw?’
    â€˜Yes. No all-one-sex community can really be fully effective, can it!’
    â€˜No one attempts to stop them from having boyfriends in,’ said Naomi Smith. ‘It really is a very modern establishment, Mr Rollison.’ She ate for a few moments and then went on: ‘I suppose it isn’t easy to explain attitudes. You see, my sponsors and I believe in the same fundamentals. The personal life of all individuals is their own, providing only they aren’t a burden on, or a charge to, the community.’ She looked at Rollison very straightly. ‘Would you agree with that, Mr Rollison?’
    â€˜I can see problems in living like it, but the theory attracts me,’ answered Rollison. ‘In this case, however, they are being a burden and a charge - if not on the community, then to a band of generous people. Naomi - answer me another question, please.’
    â€˜Of course,’ she said.
    â€˜You aren’t asking me to sponsor or go along with what you’re doing, are you? You’re simply saying that you need help because you’re under some kind of threat which you can’t