Page:Diamonds To Sit On.pdf/119

 

A QUARREL

HE next day Liza and Nicky were in a bad temper.

'Liza, we must go to dinner.'

'I don't want to. I had dinner yesterday.' "What d'you mean?'

'I don't want any mock hare!'

'That's silly.'

'Well, I can't feed on vegetarian sausages any more.'

'You needn't. You can have apple charlotte to-day.'

'I don't feel like it,' shouted Liza.

'Don't shout so! Everybody can hear you.'

The young married couple lowered their voices to a tense whisper, and two minutes later Nicky understood for the first time that his beloved was not so fond of Sausages made of peas, carrots, and potatoes as he was.

'I see,' he said. 'You prefer to eat dogs instead of living on proper dietetic nourishment.'

'Be quiet!' shouted Liza. 'I like to eat meat.'

There's nothing wrong in that.'

Nicky was silent for a moment. If they were to become meat-eaters, it would make an enormous difference to his budget, and as he walked up and down the cubicle he made desperate calculations. He was a designer and never made any more than forty roubles a month. They did not pay any rental. Ten roubles went for Liza's sewing-classes. The vegetarian dinners cost thirteen roubles a month, and the rest went in one way and another, but where it went to he did not know. If they began to eat meat he would be ruined.