She was gentle, but she was not pliable. She was unselfish, and she would have given almost anything in the world to please and satisfy Dale. But none of these things shook her conviction that Tanfield would suck them dry and burden them into their graves if it had its way. She thought of it like that – Tanfield’s way, not Dale’s. Dale was only the mouthpiece. She felt all this too profoundly and instinctively to be able to change. She could go to Mr. Robson again as she had gone to him before, and with the same result, because he would know, as he had always known, that she was saying Dale’s words and not her own.

She would have given Dale the money if it had been in her power. Pricking right through the numbed sense of strain came a small, fierce pleasure because it wasn’t in her power. Suddenly she relaxed. She leaned back, stopped fighting with herself, and at the same moment Dale turned round and came to her.

“Lisle – darling! What a brute I am! Why do you love me? You do, don’t you? But I can’t think why. Look here, we’re never going to talk about this again. I’ll go into everything right down to bedrock, and if I find I can’t manage I’ll take Tatham’s offer. I’ve got till the end of the week, and I might be able to spin it out beyond that. There’s just a chance the Air Ministry may want more ground – there’s all this talk of expansion. I’ll see if I can’t get something definite out of them before I answer Tatham.”

He was sitting by her on the bed with his arm round her, his face alive and interested, all the tension gone. He put his cheek against hers and rocked her.

“I can’t go up today – I’m flying. Damn! So I am tomorrow too! But I’ll tell you what, I’ll write to Jarvis and tell him to nose out what he can, and I’ll go up tomorrow afternoon. You can drive me in to Ledlington to catch the three-twenty. Then I’ll get hold of Jarvis and find out how the land lies, and if it’s at all promising I’ll go round to the Ministry in the morning. How’s that for a scheme?”

She looked at him with a warm, happy smile. Her heart sang. Everything was all right again. She said.

“It’s a lovely plan.”

He dropped his head on her shoulder.

“Don’t stop loving me, Lisle.”

Chapter 9

WHEN Lisle looked back on the day that followed she saw it as a bright panel dividing darkness from darkness. It was like a window through which she could see the sun though the room was dark. But as she lived through it, it was just one of those days when everything goes right. The sky was blue and cloudless, the sea was blue and waveless, and the hours just slipped pleasantly by with nothing to mark them. Dale came back from the air-field in high good humour and talked technicalities to her all through lunch. Rafe never got back until the evening, and Alicia had taken herself off for the day, so that they were alone. Later on they bathed and he gave her a swimming lesson. Time just slipped away like light flowing by. That night she slept the perfect dreamless sleep which rests and satisfies.

They were at breakfast next day, when Alicia was called to the telephone. Rafe had finished, and sat with his chair pushed back, smoking a cigarette. He worked in the designing department of the firm which had bought a site for their new aircraft factory from Dale a couple of years ago. He sat with his eye on the clock, dallying, as he always did, until the last possible moment.

Alicia came back into the room with a bright, mocking smile. She dropped into her chair and addressed herself to Dale.

“That, darling, was Aimée.”

“Aimée who?”

She laughed.

“Have you got more than one? I should have thought she was enough and a little bit over. Aimée Mallam, darling. And she’s staying with the Crawfords, and she wants to come over to lunch today.”

“What fun!” said Rafe. “Devastating for me to have to miss her. But there’ll be all the more for you.” He got up lazily and blew Lisle a kiss. “My child, you don’t know your luck. Give her my fondest love.”

“If you don’t hurry,” said Alicia, “you’ll be late.”

“Not quite,” said Rafe. “I cut it fine, but I don’t overstep. That’s what old Mallaby said to me no later than Saturday morning. Good-bye, children – enjoy yourselves.” He went out, leaving the door open.

Dale got up and shut it. He had a controlled, angry look.

“What did you say to her, Alicia?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“What does one say?” She put on a polite mimicking voice. “ ‘My dear, how wonderful! We shall simply love to see you – especially Dale.’ That’s what I said.”

“Don’t be a fool, Lal! She can’t come here today. I’m flying this morning, and I’m going up to town this afternoon. Lisle’s driving me into Ledlington, so unless you want to have Aimée all to yourself-” His eyes met hers, and saw them brighten.

“Oh, no, you don’t, darling! Aimée’s not my pigeon.”

“Then you’ll just go back and tell her she can’t come!”

Lisle sat there, a little bewildered, a little out of it. Aimée Mallam – For a moment the name stayed on the surface of her mind, then sank into it like a stone. That was the woman who had talked on the other side of the hedge – Rafe’s wasp in treacle. A cold, faint shudder went through her. She looked at Alicia and saw her shake an emphatic head.

“I can’t do that. The Crawfords are going over to see Joan at her school – she’s got into some scrape or other – so of course they don’t want to take Aimée.” She dropped her mocking manner. “Look here, you’d much better let her come and get it over. She won’t be here till one o’clock, and if you’re catching the three-twenty – I suppose it is the three-twenty – we can push off at a quarter to.”

“We?”

Alicia laughed.

“I’m not going to be thrown to the wolves. Besides. I want to fetch my car. Langham said it would be ready any time after three, so I’ll do some shopping and drive myself home.”

She came round the table to Dale, standing close to him and letting her voice fall to a confidential murmur.

“Honestly, darling, you’d better let her come. She was full of hints about why hadn’t she seen you at the Cranes, and why had Lisle gone off in such a hurry – she so particularly wanted to meet her. You know the kind of thing – the more you try and put her off, the more determined she’ll be. And she’ll go away and say you wouldn’t let her meet Lisle.”

The words were pitched for his ear, but Lisle caught them. They made her feel as if she were eavesdropping. She saw Alicia’s look and Dale’s black frown. Her cheeks burned as she pushed back her chair and ran out of the room.

Neither Dale nor Alicia noticed whether she stayed or went. There was a struggle between them – or rather, a new version of an old struggle. He frowned, but he couldn’t frown her down. The bright malice of her glance said, “Why are you frightened of Aimée? You are. I could have protected you – I’m her match. Why should I protect you? You didn’t wait for me. You chose Lisle – let her protect you.” The malice melted into soft mocking laughter. “Better make a virtue of necessity, darling – she’ll come anyhow,” she said, and stood on tiptoe to kiss the point of his chin.

Lisle spent the morning trying to arm herself with a valour which she did not possess. She put on a new dress, straw-coloured linen to match her hair, and was heartened to see how she looked in it. She used a little more colour than she generally did, because whatever happened, Aimée Mallam wasn’t going to see her looking pale. After all, what could she do or say at Dale’s table and to his very face? She was making herself wretched for nothing at all. The treacle would probably hide the wasp, and there would be an end of it.

Mrs. Mallam arrived in a snappy little car and too smart a dress. It had a very short flared skirt and tight bodice of an emerald green and white striped material. She wore it with green shoes and a twisted emerald hair-band under which her hair showed overpoweringly thick and golden. There was too much hair, and too much gold to be true – a great deal too much. There was also too much bust to be so tightly encased in such vivid stripes. There was too much calf to be so freely displayed. But in curious contrast to all this overemphasis there was too little of it elsewhere. The eyes, which should have been large and blue, were narrow, rather closely set, and of a light uncertainty of hue. The lips were thin and hardly showed their colour. The cheeks were pale and inclined to heaviness.