Читаем A Dangerous Fortune (1994) полностью

"Do you think that's the only way he could ever manage it?"

Lily frowned. "I don't think it matters much exactly what happens, how many girls and so on. If Micky is there, it works, and if he's not, it doesn't."

Maisie said: "Almost as if Micky is the one Edward really loves."

Emily said faintly: "I feel as if I'm in a dream, or something." She took a long swallow of gin. "Can all this be true? Do these things really go on?"

April said: "If you but knew. Edward and Micky are tame by comparison with some of our customers."

Even Maisie was startled. The thought of Edward and Micky in bed together with a woman was so odd it made her want to laugh out loud, and she had to make an effort to suppress the chuckle that bubbled up in her throat.

She recalled the night Edward had discovered her and Hugh making love. Edward had been uncontrollably aroused, she remembered; and she had felt intuitively that what inflamed him was the idea of fucking her immediately after Hugh. "A buttered bun!" she said.

Some of the women giggled.

"That's right," April laughed.

Emily smiled and looked puzzled. "I don't understand."

April said: "Some men like a buttered bun." The whores laughed louder. "It means a woman who's just been fucked by another man."

Emily started to giggle, and in a moment they were all laughing hysterically. It was a combination of the gin, the weird situation, and the talk of men's peculiar sexual preferences, Maisie thought. Her use of the vulgar phrase had released the tension. Every time the laughter eased one of them would say "A buttered bun!" and they would all collapse into giggles again.

At last they were too exhausted to laugh anymore. When they quietened down, Maisie said: "But where does this leave Emily? She wants to have a baby. She can hardly invite Micky to bed with her and her husband."

Emily looked miserable.

April caught her eye and held it. "How determined are you, Emily?" she said.

"I'll do anything," said Emily. "Really, anything in the world."

"If you mean that," said April slowly, "there is something we could try."

Section 4

JOSEPH PILASTER FINISHED OFF a large plate of grilled lamb's kidneys and scrambled eggs, and began to butter a slice of toast. Augusta often wondered whether the customary bad temper of middle-aged men had to do with the amount of meat they ate. The thought of kidneys for breakfast made her feel quite ill.

"Sidney Madler has come to London," he said. "I have to see him this morning."