‘I don’t know what’s going to happen now. She may shoot me out straight away, or she may have a stab at rescuing me. I didn’t get as far as telling her that Jenny and I are going to take over the garage, so she doesn’t know the worst.’

‘But you’ll have to tell her now.’

‘I don’t want to upset Aunt Cara.’

Candida reflected that this was Jenny’s business. She could have said plenty of things herself, but she had enough on her hands without Derek’s affairs. She said,

‘I’ll be late for my lesson!’

He put out his hand to the switch and drew it back again.

‘I’m not the only one who has put a foot wrong, am I?’ he said with a hint of malice.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, you’ve got rather a lot of make-up on this morning, haven’t you, darling?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Well, I do. And it doesn’t quite prevent me from seeing that you’ve got a bruise on your cheek and a scratch on your chin. Being the soul of tact, you will notice that I haven’t asked, “How come?” ’

She flushed to the roots of her hair, but she did not speak.

His eyebrows rose.

‘She hit you? I could have told you that girlish confidences would be out of place.’

‘There weren’t any – you needn’t be horrid about it. And it wasn’t about Stephen at all. It was because I said I thought Aunt Cara was ill. And she is. I had to help her upstairs last night.’

He whistled softly.

‘Darling, I could have told you that too – it’s quite fatal. I did it once when I first came, and had my nose more or less bitten to the bone. I suppose it was one of those heavy bracelets that scratched your chin. They are practically fetters, but she always wears them when she wants to be grand. Well, we had better be going. Are you seeing Stephen?’

‘I’m lunching with him.’

He laughed.

‘I’m having a heart to heart with Mr. Adamson at the garage. Burning the boats, you know. He’s in a hurry to get everything fixed up. He wants to hand over the house and a lot of the business and take a bit of an easy.’

It was odd to meet Stephen with everything changed between them. He brought a picnic lunch, and they drove out to the place where they had quarrelled and ate it there. It was one of those early days of spring when the sun shines sweetly for perhaps half an hour, and then without a warning the sky clouds up and the rain comes plumping down.

They sat in the car and talked. It was past hoping for that at such close quarters Stephen would not see what Derek had seen – the slight change in the contour of the cheek, the faint dulling of the skin, and the line where the bracelet had scratched her chin. At a little distance and to the casual eye there was not much to be seen, but where there was no distance at all and the eye was that of a lover, concealment could hardly be hoped for. Stephen exclaimed, questioned, cross-examined – and went up in smoke.

‘That settles it! You must get away at once!’

‘Oh, no, we have an amnesty.’

‘Nonsense! Did she beg your pardon?’

Candida laughed.

‘Of course she didn’t! I don’t suppose she has ever begged anyone’s pardon in her life. We just ignore the whole thing.’

‘All very well for her, but where do you come in?’

‘Darling, come down off the high horse! She lost her temper, and that was all there was to it. You can’t have a brawl with a great-aunt – it isn’t done. Besides, there is Aunt Cara. She is ill, and I think she is very unhappy, and she does rather cling to me. No, Stephen, listen – you really must! I can’t just rush away in a temper and leave the bits lying about all over the place. What I thought I would do was to let a day or two go by, and then I must begin to look for a job in earnest.’

He put his arms round her.

‘You don’t need to look for a job – you’ve got one. I rang up my uncle this morning and told him you were taking me on.’

‘You didn’t!’

‘Why shouldn’t I? I don’t have to walk round my relations like a cat on hot bricks. He was thrilled, and suggested I should bring you over for the next week-end. And then, I think, it would be a good plan if you came and stayed with Cousin Louisa for a bit while I am getting on with the jobs round here.’

‘But she hasn’t asked me.’

Stephen said in a purposeful voice,

‘She will.’

Chapter Twenty-two

However much Miss Cara might have wanted to stay quietly in her bed, cosseted by Anna and visited by Candida and Derek, she was not permitted to do so. She could stay where she was for the morning, and she could have her afternoon nap, but she must get up and come down for tea. Candida, who had come to enquire, stood unnoticed by the half-open door and heard Miss Olivia dealing with her reluctance.

‘If you do not feel able to get up, I shall be obliged to send for Dr. Stokes.’

Miss Cara said in her mousy voice,

‘He is away.’

‘How do you know?’ said Miss Olivia sharply.

‘Louisa mentioned it.’

‘Then I shall send for his partner. We haven’t met him yet, but I suppose he is competent, and I have no doubt that Louisa has supplied you with his name.’

‘It is Gardiner. She says he is very clever. But there is no need to send for him – I am quite all right.’

‘Then you can come down to tea. I will ring for Anna.’

As she had not been seen, Candida thought it best to slip away.

Derek did not return until it was time to change. The evening dragged. It was Miss Cara who saved the situation by asking for music.

‘Some of those nice old waltzes, and the duets you and Candida were practising.’

Once at the piano, it was easy to stay there. Miss Cara, pleased and relaxed, leaned back in her chair, fingering out the tunes upon her knee or humming a bar or two in a kind of toneless whisper. With yesterday’s late evening for an excuse, she was able to make a move before ten o’clock, and Miss Olivia went with her.

Derek and Candida looked at each other.

‘You got home all right?’

She nodded.

‘Stephen dropped me at the gate. Did you get anything fixed?’

‘I’m practically a garage proprietor. I’ve been going through the books with Mr. Adamson. If he’d any tact he’d have turned me over to Jenny, but not a bit of it! And in between showing me the ropes he told me all about everything that had ever happened from the word go.’

Candida laughed.

‘Where was Jenny?’

‘Sitting behind the counter, and coming backwards and forwards with ledgers and those spiky things you stick bills on, and reminding him about anything he happened to leave out. You know, she really is a marvel. I shall never know half as much about it all as she does.’

They put away the music and went up together with so much friendly feeling that it seemed natural enough when he put an arm about her and kissed her good-night at the top of the stairs.

She was just going to get into bed, when Anna came in.

‘Perhaps if you will come and say good night to Miss Cara – ’

‘Is anything the matter?’

Anna flung out her hands.

‘She is sad – she cries all the time!’

‘But why? She was all right downstairs. Derek played, and we sang – ’

‘Yes, yes – it is because of that – it reminds her of the old days! And then she thinks that Mr. Derek will be going away and there will be no one to play and sing any more – and she thinks that you will go away too! And she thinks that when she loves anyone it is always the same thing – they go away and they do not come back! She thinks about Mr. Alan and she weeps for him!’

Candida said, ‘I’ll come.’

But when they reached Miss Cara’s door it was opened with great suddenness by Miss Olivia in a black velvet wrap. Candida thought she looked like an angry raven. Her foot stamped the floor and she said, whispering fiercely,

‘She is not to be disturbed! I do not know what Anna is thinking of to bring you here! Go to your room and stay there