They sat side by side on the same bench, well wrapped up in heavy coats, looking out over the water. ‘They say the Tarn has no bottom,’ said Christabel.
‘Like love,’ said Gaskell gloomily.
‘It has no top either,’ replied Christabel sensibly. ‘If you think about it, love isn’t a three-dimensional thing, is it? Space words can’t apply to it.’
‘Oh my gosh,’ said Gaskell, ‘you’re immune to the power of metaphor.’
‘What’s the matter, darling?’
Gaskell shrugged. ‘I can’t help thinking about us.’
‘And?’
‘I can’t help thinking that, no matter how wonderful it is, one day you’re going to leave.’
‘And so might you.’
‘And so might I. But it’s more likely that you will.’
‘Really? Why?’
‘Because you’re not entirely like me.’
‘Aren’t I?’
‘One day you’ll start wanting to have children, and you’ll meet a nice man, and then you’ll be off.’
‘Don’t you want children?’
‘Of course I do. But I’m not going to have any, am I? It’s not in my nature…to be able to bring it about. I absolutely couldn’t bear it, in fact. And I think that you could.’
‘I don’t want to think about it, darling. We have such fun, don’t we? And we’re such a success. We’re filling the galleries already! We’re kindred spirits. I don’t want it to end, ever.’
Gaskell tucked her arm through Christabel’s. ‘I don’t like to talk much about the past. I like there to be a clean canvas…but I’ve been in love twice before.’
‘And?’
‘They both gave me up for a man, because they wanted children.’
‘Were you heartbroken?’
‘Of course. Both times. You’re very like them. You see, I can only love women. I think you’re the kind of woman who can love either. I just happened to come along first. Aren’t you often attracted to men?’
Christabel thought, and then nodded. ‘But with me it seems to be the person that counts.’
‘I thought so,’ said Gaskell. ‘That’s why I’m down in the dumps.’
Christabel said, ‘You have the most fascinating and beautiful eyes I have ever seen. I could live inside them. I really don’t think I could ever give them up.’
They looked out over the water, its surface rippled by smart gusts of wind. ‘Don’t you envy the ducks?’ said Gaskell. ‘Such a lovely simple life.’
‘No one to judge them, or make them feel ashamed.’
‘Mind you,’ said Gaskell, ‘they do get crunched by foxes.’