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–32–
“The rain falls on the expensive places too. It falls on the just
and the unjust alike.”
Gwen was thirty-five, a schoolteacher. She wore her hair and
her clothes and her bit of lipstick in such a way that, standing by the
window looking out at the rain, it occurred to Trudy like a revelation
that Gwen had given up all thoughts of marriage. “On the just and the
unjust alike,” said Gwen, turning her maddening imperturbable eyes
upon Trudy, as if to say, you are the unjust and I’m the just.
Next day was fine. They swam in the lake. They sat drinking
apple juice under the red and yellow awnings on the terrace of their
guesthouse and gazed at the innocent smiling mountain. They paraded
— Gwen in her navy-blue shorts and Trudy in her puffy sun-suit —
along the lake-side where marched also the lean brown camping
youths from all over the globe, the fat print-frocked mothers and
double-chinned fathers from Germany followed by their blonde se-
date young, and the English women with their perms.
“There aren’t any men about,” Trudy said.
“There are hundreds of men,” Gwen said, in a voice, which
meant, whatever do you mean?
“I really must try out my phrase-book,” Trudy said, for she
had the feeling that if she were independent of Gwen as interpreter
she might, as she expressed it to herself, have more of a chance.
“You might have more of a chance of meeting someone interest-
ing that way,” Gwen said, for their close confinement by the rain
had seemed to make her psychic, and she was continually putting
Trudy’s thoughts into words.
“Oh, I’m not here for that. I only wanted a rest, as I told you.
I’m not —”
“Goodness, Richard!”
Gwen was actually speaking English to a man who was not
apparently accompanied by a wife or aunt or sister.
He kissed Gwen on the cheek. She laughed and so did he. “Well,
well,” he said. He was not much taller than Gwen. He had dark
crinkly hair and a small moustache of a light brown. He wore bathing
trunks and his large chest was impressively bronze. “What brings you
here?” he said to Gwen, looking meanwhile at Trudy.
He was staying at a hotel on the other side of the lake. Each day
for the rest of the fortnight he rowed over to meet them at ten in the
morning, sometimes spending the whole day with them. Trudy was
“The rain falls on the expensive places too. It falls on the just
and the unjust alike.”
Gwen was thirty-five, a schoolteacher. She wore her hair and
her clothes and her bit of li pstick in such away that, standing by the
window looking out at the rain, it occurred to Trudy like a revelation
that Gwen had given up all thoughts of marriage. “On the just and the
unjust alike,” said Gwen, turning her maddening imperturbable eyes
upon Trudy, as if to say, you are the unjust and I’m the just.
Next day was fine. They swam in the lake. They sat drinking
apple juice under the red and yellow awnings on the terrace of their
guesthouse and gazed at the innocent smiling mountain. They paraded
— Gwen in her navy-blue shorts and Trudy in her puffy sun-suit —
along the lake-side where marched also the lean brown camping
youths from all over the globe, the fat print-frocked mothers and
double-chinned fathers from Germany followed by their blonde se-
date young, and the English women with their perms.
“There aren’t any men about,” Trudy said.
“There are hundreds of men,” Gwen said, in a voice, which
meant, whatever do you mean?
“I really must try out my phrase-book,” Trudy said, for she
had the feeling that if she were independent of Gwen as interpreter
she might, as she expressed it to herself, have more of a chance.
“You might have more of a chance of meeting someone interest-
ing that way,” Gwen said, for their close confinement by the rain
had seemed to make her psychic, and she was continually putting
Trudy’s thoughts into words.
“Oh, I’m not here for that. I only wanted a rest, as I told you.
I’m not —”
“Goodness, Richard!”
Gwen was actually speaking English to a man who was not
apparently accompanied by a wife or aunt or sister.
He kissed Gwen on the cheek. She laughed and so did he. “Well,
well,” he said. He was not much taller than Gwen. He had dark
crinkly hair and a small moustache of a light brown. He wore bathing
trunks and his large chest was impressively bronze. “What brings you
here?” he said to Gwen, looking meanwhile at Trudy.
He was staying at a hotel on the other side of the lake. Each day
for the rest of the fortnight he rowed over to meet them at ten in the
morning, sometimes spending the whole day with them. Trudy was
– 32 –
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