[MaC] The Lift is Fixed!

[Dorothea Salo]

> Esme seemed to shrink back sligghtly as they addressed her.
> 
> "Oh ... yes ... no need to apologise," she said hurriedly.  She stood up 
> quickly.
> 
> "If ... you'll just excuse me," she said, and she headed towards the 
> stairs down to the lower level, leaving her handbag behind.

	Pamela's first impulse was to go after her, but Philip had not yet come 
back with the sherries, and to abandon him would be horribly rude, 
especially (she now saw) after his ill-treatment at The Actresses' hands.

	She picked up the handbag instead, holding it between elbow and side as 
though it were her own kit-bag, and endeavoured to smooth the rough 
waters. "Poor dear; the war has us all on edge, as usual," she said. "I 
hope she's not had ill news. I worry so for -- for my brother Edmund 
that I cringe at every knock on our door."

	<tag, erm, Vangie, Marion, Tabitha, other partygoers>