He gave her a little nod and picked up the telephone as she went out of the room.

By the time she came back, he appeared to have settled the business satisfactorily, because he said, Is eight o’clock at the Mirabelle all right for you?’

‘Oh, yes,’ Alison assured him, and couldn’t help wondering how he had explained the change in fiancées.

As Julian turned the grey Daimler into Knightsbridge Alison asked, ‘Does Jennifer Langtoft live with her brother?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then he’s not married?’

‘Oh, no.’ Julian laughed a little. ‘He’s not at all the marrying sort.’

‘What sort is he?’

Julian was looking ahead at the traffic lights.

‘Well, I suppose you would call him the kind that women always run after but never catch.’

‘Oh, I don’t think that sounds very nice,’ Alison said.

‘He is, I assure you. He can’t help being attractive, you know,’ Julian said amusedly.

‘Is he good-looking?’

‘No, not specially. At least, I shouldn’t call him so. But perhaps a woman would. Anyway, you will see him for yourself this evening.’

The car turned into Bond Street.

‘And what is she like?’

‘Oh, Jennifer is good-looking-very,’ Julian said warmly. ‘Tall and dark, dresses well, and- Here we are.’

He drew the car to a standstill, and Alison realised that she had only been talking so much because she was nervous. She didn’t really care what Simon Langtoft and his sister were like. But if she had sat in silence, turning over the thought that she was going with Julian to buy her engagement ring, her very heart-beats would have choked her.

In a dream she stared at the trays of rings that were set out for her inspection. She hadn’t the remotest idea what sort of ring she wanted. She felt as though she couldn’t possibly bring her mind to bear on the question.

‘Have you any special preference, Alison?’

Julian was standing beside her, eyeing the rings with polite attention.

‘No. I-well, I think perhaps diamonds, don’t you?’

He didn’t answer for a moment. Then he said rather coldly, ‘Just as you like.’

Glancing at him, she saw that his face was oddly expressionless.

Then she remembered.

She was a fool! Of course-Rosalie’s ring had been a diamond.

‘Or perhaps an emerald,’ she said quickly, blushing over her unfortunate slip.

He watched her while she tried on one or two with hands that trembled a little.

‘May I make a suggestion?’ Julian said, as the assistant turned away.

‘Of course.’

Then I should choose this one.’

He picked out a single blush-pink pearl of most exquisite sheen.

‘Would you?’ Alison slipped it on. It’s perfectly beautiful, of course. Why would you choose it?’

‘Because it is like you yourself.’

‘Like me?’ She looked up at him in surprise. ‘Why, how do you mean?’

‘It’s the same creamy pink as your cheeks, just where your lashes sweep them when you look down.’

‘Julian!’

She coloured deeply, and he laughed and said:

‘Oh, no. Now they don’t match at all.’

Alison was silent, overwhelmed by a wave of sweet yet painful emotion.

‘I’ll have this ring, please,’ she said at last in a voice that shook slightly.

And so it was settled.

Outside in the car again, she gave him back his signet ring. She hadn’t thought she could bear to part with it, but now the wrench scarcely hurt at all, because of what he had said about the one she had in its place.

Then he took her to lunch at some exclusive little place like nothing she had ever seen before. She left the choosing of the meal to him, and was pleased to find he either knew or guessed her tastes exceedingly well.

Over coffee he began to discuss their wedding, but so calmly that Alison found herself much more at ease about it.

She explained that her uncle was in favour of a church wedding with a certain amount of publicity, and, to her surprise, Julian agreed.

‘Most certainly,’ he said. ‘A very quiet wedding would be a mistake.’

‘Why?’ Alison couldn’t help asking.

‘Because, in the circumstances, the uncharitable might read almost anything into it,’ he told her drily.And, on reflection, Alison supposed, a little uncomfortably, that was true.

Afterwards, he drove her back to the house, and left her there with a promise to call for her at a quarter to eight that evening.

As Alison came into the hall, her aunt came out of her study.

‘Have you been shopping, Alison?’ she asked, without much show of interest in whatever Alison had been doing.

‘Yes’ At least, we-we went to buy my engagement ring. Do you like it?’

She held out her hand a little timidly for her aunt’s inspection.

‘Very nice,’ commented Aunt Lydia, as though it had come out of a Christmas cracker. ‘You’re not superstitious, then?’

‘Why?’

‘Oh, nothing. Only some people think pearls are very unlucky.’

‘She would say something like that,’ thought Alison indignantly.

But, without giving her a chance to reply, her aunt went on, ‘Have you made any arrangements about your trousseau?’

‘Well, yes. At least, a friend of Julian’s is going to help me choose it, as you are too-too busy.’

‘Really? What friend of Julian’s?’ Aunt Lydia seemed surprised.

‘Someone called Jennifer Langtoft. She’s the sister-’

‘Jennifer Langtoft!’ Her aunt made a significant little face. ‘And Julian suggested her?’

‘Yes.’

‘How exactly like a man. They really are the most blind and tactless creatures.’

‘Why? What is the matter with Jennifer Langtoft?’ Alison spoke a little apprehensively.

‘There’s nothing the matter with her, exactly,’ Aunt Lydia said. ‘Except that she’s always been extremely sweet on Julian herself. I believe Rosalie had quite a lot of trouble putting her in her place. I should have imagined that she would be the one to snap him up the moment he was free. However, of course, it’s a little late to say anything now.’

And with that she went back into her study and shut the door.

CHAPTER V

FOR a moment Alison stood staring after her aunt until the door closed. Then she turned away and slowly began to mount the stairs.

Was it just tactlessness or real malice that made Aunt Lydia say these things? she wondered.

There hadn’t been the smallest reason to make such a comment, quite apart from the fact that it was very unfair to the unknown Jennifer.

‘She just wanted to make me feel uneasy and miserable,’ Alison thought. And then: ‘Well, I won’t give her that satisfaction. It’s all too petty and absurd to worry any sane person.’

But of course, she couldn’t dismiss it entirely from her mind like that. Instead, she remembered the interest in Julian’s voice when he had said, ‘Oh, Jennifer is good-looking-very.’

‘And what about it?’ Alison asked herself fiercely. Hadn’t he also said that he had known her and her brother for years? And, in that case, if he had been going to fall for her, he would have done so long ago.

She tried not to listen to the little voice which said that there had always been Rosalie before to occupy his thoughts. Now there was no Rosalie-only the other half of ‘a business proposition’.

Alison sighed impatiently as she tossed down her hat on her bed. She had better go and find something to do if being unoccupied meant having these ridiculous fancies’

She went down again to her aunt’s study, and put her head in.

‘Can I do anything for you, Aunt Lydia?’

She managed to make that sound quite pleasant, although her feelings towards her aunt were not cordial.

‘Yes, Alison, you certainly can. I have been wondering how I was to get through all this.’ Aunt Lydia fingered a not very formidable pile of correspondence. ‘It’s most awkward having you so much occupied just now.’