[MaC] Speculation in the Lounge

[Mel Mason]

> >"Oh, dear," Nicola said. "I don't have any, but there
>>might be some in her purse." She took Esme's purse,
>>opened it and dumped out the contents onto the settee.
>
> Only after Nicola had done so did Vangie open her own clutch purse and
> produce a small bottle, which she handed to Richard almost absentmindedly.
> Her sharp gaze was on the contents of the purse dumped out on the settee.
>
> Richard accepted it, uncapped it, and wafted it under the fallen wife's
> nose. And while it seemed most of his attention was on her, he did seem to
> have a spare eye for the bag as well.
>

The contents of Esme's handbag included a handkerchief, a purse*, a fountain 
pen, a small leatherbound book, and two letters.  One bore a Bethnal Green 
postmark, and one a rather more exotic postmark - it looked to be in cyrllic 
script, and the picture showed a rather burly factory worker in the act of 
stoking a furnace, muscles rippling.

As Richard waved the salts under her nose, Esme gave a moan and opened her 
eyes.

"What ... what's happened?" she asked feebly.  "Oh... my handbag!  Give me 
my handbag!"

She shot an apprehensive look at her husband, who was still waiting for 
Marjorie to pour him a drink.



*In the UK, a purse is a small thing where you keep coins.  Women have 
them - men tend to leave change loose in their pockets.  What Americans call 
a purse, we call a handbag.