The 9 by Madalyn Morgan (tools of titans ebook .txt) 📕

knees were as dirty as her brother Tom’s used to be after a game of football, and the hem of her dress was grass stained.

Taking her handkerchief from her handbag, she spat on it and rubbed her knees. The dirt came off quickly, so did the leg makeup that she had so carefully painted on her legs that morning. Exasperated, she dropped her hankie back into her bag. There wasn’t time to go to the Ladies. Even if there had been, washing her knees would take more of the makeup off them and they’d look worse. She had a better idea and dragged the low table from in front of the Chesterfield nearer to her. With her feet under the table, her shoes couldn’t be seen, but her knees could. Rubbing them with her handkerchief had made the liquid makeup patchy. They looked better dirty, but there was nothing she could do about it until she got to her room.

‘The waiter’s bringing the drinks over,’ Henry said, taking the edge of the table and pushing it away so he could sit down. Ena grabbed at the hem of her dress in an attempt to keep her knees covered.

‘Oh dear,’ he laughed, sitting down. ‘Now you do look like Bess’s kid sister.’

At that moment, the waiter appeared with the drinks. He put them on the table and, directing the question to Henry, asked if there was anything else. There wasn’t.

Ena’s face was red with embarrassment. She began to get up, but Henry caught her arm and she sat down. ‘Stay and have your drink. No one can see you’ve got a bit of muck on your knees.’ He picked up his drink and turned his head away.

Ena slapped him on the shoulder. ‘I can see you’re laughing. Oh, I give up.’ She poured tonic into the gin, and took a drink.

‘If the Station Hotel’s patrons have nothing better to do than look at your knees,’ Henry said, ‘then they must have very sad lives. Having said that, they are very nice knees.’ Ena tutted. She could feel her cheeks flushing.

They sat and sipped their drinks, watching the hotel’s customers come and go for some time. It was Ena who broke the silence. ‘What made you come looking for me tonight?’

‘I was worried about you because you were angry when you left.’ Ena opened her mouth to protest, but Henry put his hand up, the palm directly in front of her face. Her eyes sparkled with anger. ‘Isn’t nice is it, being shut up in that way?’ Ena looked down. ‘I knew you were upset, angry, by the comments you made about my suit, and by the friendly way you kissed Freda goodbye, but made a point of giving me the kind of kiss your friend Binkie Brinklow would have given to an unwelcome hanger-on.’ It was Henry now whose eyes shone with anger. ‘And all that stuff about having to twist my arm up my back to get me to take you to the dance. That was unnecessary and damn-well not true!’ Henry caught his breath and took a swig of his beer.

‘So far you’ve given me half a dozen reasons why you wouldn’t come after me,’ Ena said quietly.

‘I know you were adamant that I didn’t walk you to the station, but I had invited you to the dance, and I wasn’t going to let you walk down on your own, especially at that time of night. So I grabbed my jacket, told Freda I’d see her at the station, and left. I could only have been a minute, two at the most, behind you but when I got outside you were nowhere to be seen. I saw a man in an overcoat and trilby walking down the drive. He stopped suddenly and then started walking again. I thought it strange when he turned into the car park. If you’ve got a car you go straight to it, not crouch down as if you’re stalking a wild animal. He halted a couple of times, for no reason that I could see. But it was when he began looking between the cars that alarm bells rang.

‘I walked along the drive to the edge of the car park. I thought if I could see him quite clearly, which I could, he would be able to see me, so keeping low to the ground I made my way across the lawn to the huts and crept down from there. When you ran from behind the cars, I was watching the man who was following you from the side of the building. You gave me quite a start. One step nearer and you’d have run into my arms.’

‘I ended up in them anyway. Thank goodness you ignored me and came looking for me.’

‘You twisted one arm to get me to take you to the dance, I thought I’d give you the opportunity to twist the other, and walk you home,’ Henry laughed.

‘Don’t, it’s not a laughing matter. I behaved badly. I am sorry.’

‘Forget about it, unless you want to talk.’

‘No thank you. I feel embarrassed enough about my behaviour without going over it again. I can’t help wondering though, who the man was, and why he was following me.’

 Just then, the lounge door burst open and a group of noisy people tumbled into the bar. Ena and Henry looked across the room at the same time. ‘Oh no!’ Ena said, ‘It’s Binkie and her friends. I hope they don’t see us and come over.’

‘So do I. Freda’s with them.’

Ena scanned the group of Bletchley revellers and gasped. ‘So is my American friend, Ben. He’s with Freda. He must have been at the dance. I had no idea--’ Feeling an assortment of emotions, and not understanding any of them, Ena grabbed her handbag. ‘Sorry, Henry. I don’t feel like explaining why I look as if