‘I see.’ Anthony drew a deep breath. ‘So you’re the only person who knows my guilty secret?’
She nodded. ‘I won’t tell on you.’
‘You’d better not.’ His voice grew stern. ‘Look here, Rosemary, this is dangerous. You don’t want your lovely face carved up, do you? There are people who don’t stick at a little thing like ruining a girl’s beauty. And there’s such a thing as being bumped off. It doesn’t only happen in books and films. It happens in real life, too.’
‘Are you threatening me, Tony?’
‘Warning you.’
Would she take the warning? Did she realize that he was in deadly earnest? Silly little fool. No sense in that lovely empty head. You couldn’t rely on her to keep her mouth shut. All the same he’d have to try and ram his meaning home.
‘Forget you ever heard the name of Tony Morelli, do you understand?’
‘But I don’t mind a bit, Tony. I’m quite broad-minded. It’s quite a thrill for me to meet a criminal. You needn’t feel ashamed of it.’
The absurd little idiot. He looked at her coldly. He wondered in that moment how he could ever have fancied he cared. He’d never been able to suffer fools gladly—not even fools with pretty faces.
‘Forget about Tony Morelli,’ he said grimly. ‘I mean it. Never mention that name again.’
He’d have to get out. That was the only thing to do. There was no relying on this girl’s silence. She’d talk whenever she felt inclined.
She was smiling at him—an enchanting smile, but it left him unmoved.
‘Don’t be so fierce. Take me to the Jarrows’ dance next week.’
‘I shan’t be here. I’m going away.’
‘Not before my birthday party. You can’t let me down. I’m counting on you. Now don’t say no. I’ve been miserably ill with that horrid ’flu and I’m still feeling terribly weak. I musn’t be crossed. You’ve got to come.’
He might have stood firm. He might have chucked it all—gone right away.
Instead, through an open door, he saw Iris coming down the stairs. Iris, very straight and slim, with her pale face and black hair and grey eyes. Iris with much less than Rosemary’s beauty and with all the character that Rosemary would never have.
In that moment he hated himself for having fallen a victim, in however small a degree, to Rosemary’s facile charm. He felt as Romeo felt remembering Rosaline when he had first seen Juliet.
Anthony Browne changed his mind.
In the flash of a second he committed himself to a totally different course of action.
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