Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)
Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)
Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)
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999<br />
<strong>Raisins</strong> <strong>and</strong> Almonds 1<br />
Miss Lee set about reclaiming her shop <strong>and</strong> her life with customary<br />
efficiency. Her interval in prison was now firmly behind<br />
her. She had bathed at length <strong>and</strong> most luxuriously in a huge<br />
sea-green tub, attended by Dot, who had supplied half an ocean<br />
of very hot water <strong>and</strong> pine bath salts. The soap had been of the<br />
finest milled castile, guaranteed to bring bloom to the complexion,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the bath sheet had been fluffy <strong>and</strong> exceptionally<br />
absorbent. Miss Lee had washed <strong>and</strong> rinsed her hair <strong>and</strong> was<br />
as clean as the soapmaker’s art could make her. She was clad<br />
in new underclothes, which Phryne had donated <strong>and</strong> Dot had<br />
selected. Her stockings were of silk. She was wearing her own<br />
clothes, her sensible shoes <strong>and</strong> her beige linen dress with two<br />
horses embroidered on the bosom.<br />
And she had talked, not about prison, which she was not<br />
intending to think about for some months, but about the shocking<br />
price of butter <strong>and</strong> why Miss Fisher’s hens were not laying<br />
so that eggs had to be bought from that scoundrel of a grocer.<br />
She had eaten an egg boiled to perfection <strong>and</strong> very good bread<br />
<strong>and</strong> butter <strong>and</strong> drunk several slow cups of ambrosial strong fragrant<br />
tea. She had also inspected Mrs. Butler’s orchids, had been<br />
greeted respectfully by two very nice schoolgirls, <strong>and</strong> had been<br />
licked by Molly the puppy <strong>and</strong> ignored by Ember the cat.<br />
‘Perhaps a little touch of sheep dog,’ she suggested, as the girls<br />
held Molly up for her approval. Jane <strong>and</strong> Ruth, also, knew about<br />
being rescued. Possibly so did Molly, because she gave a small<br />
bark <strong>and</strong> began to gnaw Miss Lee’s thumb. This was cheering.<br />
The real world was still there, it still contained puppies being<br />
puppies <strong>and</strong> cats being cats.<br />
Then, accompanied by Dot, who talked or remained silent<br />
as she perceived her companion required, she took a tram to<br />
Flinders Street <strong>and</strong> walked through the city to the Eastern<br />
Market. Her natural pace was fast.<br />
It was all still there, she thought. There was the bulk of the<br />
post office. Buckley <strong>and</strong> Nunn had not even changed their
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