The Sun Sister (The Seven Sisters #6) - Lucinda Riley Page 0,52

had been recently decorated by Dorothea in the fashionable art deco style – a style which had disoriented Cecily when she’d first seen the renovations. It seemed as though she met her own reflection at every turn in the endless mirrored surfaces and she actually missed the heavy mahogany furniture that she’d known since childhood. The only remnant of her original bedroom was Horace, her ancient teddy bear.

‘Well, I liked what we had before, but Mama sure seems happy with the new look,’ she ventured.

‘Quite, and that is a good thing.’

As her father lapsed into silence, Cecily decided to introduce the topic she’d been wondering about. ‘I’ve been keeping up with the news, Papa, and I wanted to ask you about it. Why is Hitler continuing to warmonger? He got what he wanted out of the Munich Agreement, didn’t he?’

‘Because, my dear,’ Walter began, rousing himself, ‘the man is a psychopath, in the truest sense of the word. In other words, he feels no guilt, nor shame, and it is unlikely he will adhere to any agreement he made.’

‘So might there be war in Europe?’

‘Who knows?’ Walter shrugged. ‘I guess it just depends which way Hitler’s psychological wind blows on any given day. You may have noticed that the German economy is booming. He turned the economy around, so they sure can afford a war if he wishes to have one.’

‘Everything comes down to money, doesn’t it?’ Cecily sighed as she toyed with her lamb cutlet.

‘Many things, yes, but not everything. So, what have you had on today?’

‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing,’ she replied.

‘No lunches with any of your friends?’

‘Papa, most of my friends are married, pregnant or already bringing up babies.’

‘I’m sure it won’t be long before you are in the same boat,’ he comforted her.

‘I’m not sure about that personally. Papa?’

‘Yes, Cecily?’

‘I . . . well, I was wondering whether, given the fact that marriage isn’t going to happen to me any day soon, you’d reconsider about me taking up some kind of’ – Cecily swallowed hard – ‘employment. Maybe there’s an opening at your bank?’

Walter wiped his moustache with his napkin, folded it neatly and put it by the side of his plate.

‘Cecily, we have been down this road many times before. And the answer is no.’

‘But why? Women are taking jobs all over New York City! They’re not waiting for some man to come along and sweep them off their feet! I have a degree and I want to use it. Is there nothing I could do at your bank? Whenever I meet you for lunch, I see girls coming out the entrance, so they must be doing something inside . . .’

‘You’re right, they are. They’re working in the typing pool, spending their days typing up the directors’ letters, then licking envelopes, sticking on postage stamps and sending them off to the mailing department. Is that what you want?’

‘Yes! At least I’d be doing something useful.’

‘Cecily, you know as well as I do that any daughter of mine couldn’t work in the typing pool at the bank. You – and I – would be a laughing stock. These girls are from a completely different background—’

‘I know that, Papa, but I don’t care about “background”. I just want to . . . fill my time.’ Cecily could feel tears of frustration pricking at the back of her eyes.

‘My dear, I understand how Jack’s betrayal has hurt you and destabilised you, but I’m sure that someone else will come along soon.’

‘But what if I don’t want to get married?’

‘Then you will become a lonely old spinster with a heap of nieces and nephews.’ His eyes betrayed a flicker of kindly amusement. ‘Does that sound appealing?’

‘No . . . yes, I mean, right now, Papa, I really don’t care. But what was the point in allowing me a college education if I can never use it?’

‘Cecily, that education has broadened your mind, given you insights into subjects that will allow you to speak confidently at dinner parties . . .’

‘Jeez! You sound like Mama.’ Cecily put her head in her hands. ‘Why won’t you let me use my degree in a more productive way?’

‘Cecily, I do understand about not being able to follow a path you’ve set your heart on. I studied Economics at Harvard simply because my grandfather did and the Lord only knows how many “greats” before him. When I graduated, all I wanted to do was travel the world and make my living away from the world