SIX MRS GREENES By LORNA REA LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD _First published March,_ 1929 _New Impressions April_ (3 _times_), _May, June, July,_ 1929 _Printed in Great Britain at the Windmill Press, Kingswood, Surrey_ TO PHILIP RUSSELL REA FOREWORD The fact that I belong to a family genealogically resembling the Greene family suggested to me the scheme of this book. Apart from this similarity all the characters in "Six Mrs. Greenes" are entirely fictional. L. R. WILLIAM GREENE-+-LAVINIA FORSTER (1808-1875) | | +----------+---------------+ | | GEOFFREY----+-MARGARET HILL HUGH--SARAH DODDS (1848-1924) | (1850-1920) | +---------+-------------------------+ | | RODNEY----+-EDITH BECKETT EDWIN--DORA PILKINGTON (b. 1874) | (1875-1915) | | | +------+-------------+----+ | | | | | GEOFFREY--HELEN GUEST | HUGH--JESSICA DEANE EDWIN (b. 1901) | (b. 1904) (1904-1917) | LAVINIA--MARTIN PEILE (b. 1903) | | MARTIN (b. 1924) CONTENTS I MRS GREENE II MRS HUGH GREENE III MRS RODNEY GREENE IV MRS EDWIN GREENE V MRS GEOFFREY H. GREENE VI MRS HUGH BECKETT GREENE VII ET CETERA MRS GREENE SIX MRS GREENES MRS. GREENE I Old Mrs. Greene was very tired. When she was tired she talked to herself, and her talk was a jumble of names. Her sons, her grandsons, her granddaughter, her granddaughter's husband, jigged about in her brain. They formed groups, advanced towards her in a solid phalanx, broke up and receded again. The pattern of their comings and goings was shot with pleasure at some remembered incident, or again with intense irritation that found vent in mumbled phrases. "She's always been a stupid woman." "What did you say, Mrs. Greene?" asked Miss Dorset, a quiet, pleasant young woman who acted as her housekeeper and companion.