Just before they went away Katharine said how kind it was of Mrs. Salt to send them a pot of her apple honey.

Abel nodded.

‘She said she was going to. My cousin Sarah Hill sends it to her. I’ve got a pot or two myself. Sarah won’t let on how it’s made, but she lets us have some every year. Abby said something about bringing a pot round here for you tomorrow. That Emily’s all right again, and she’s coming to have tea with me. She said she’d bring it along then and leave it for you. You’ll like it.’

Katharine said, ‘It’s lovely. We had some when we went to tea with her. But we’ve had our pot already – we found it waiting for us when we got back to the flat last night. I was going to ring Mrs. Salt up and thank her, but William said she would rather have a letter, so I’m going to write to her as soon as we get home. It was so very kind.’

Abel wagged his head.

‘She must have taken it round herself,’ he said. ‘But Sunday evening she’d have been in chapel – never misses, wet or dry – ’ He paused, and then added, ‘William’s right about the telephone. It took a long time before she’d have it put in, and she wouldn’t have had done it then if I hadn’t put it to her that one or other of us might be took suddenly, and no chance of a last word if it wasn’t for being able to call up and say so.’

It was half-past twelve before William parked his car in the yard at Eversleys and walked round the building to the front door. The factory stood on the outer edge of the London fringe. It did not seem to have suffered any bomb damage, but even from the outside it had rather a going-down-hill appearance. His previous visit had been paid after dark. He took time now to look about him. The neighbourhood had changed a good deal. The big electrical works opposite was new. Marsdens, which had towered up a couple of hundred yards away, was gone – the site cleared, new foundations rising. Looked as if there had been a direct hit there.

When he had had a look round he went inside. This time he wasn’t going to be put off with seeing Miss Jones. He went up the stairs and into the outer office. A girl looked up from her typing, and he asked,

‘Is Mr. Cyril Eversley in?’

She said, ‘No.’

‘Mr. Brett?’

‘Yes.’

William said, ‘Then I’ll just go through and see him. You needn’t announce me.’

He left her fluttering behind him and went out of the other door and along the passage. Brett’s room used to be at the end. He wondered if he had changed it.

Apparently not. There was his name on the door, like everything else a good deal the worse for wear. He turned the handle and went in. This time there wasn’t going to be any surprise. Cyril would have been on the telephone – possibly Mavis too, but certainly Cyril. The only question was how Brett was going to take it. There was just a moment after he got inside the door, and then it was,

‘William – my dear chap!’ and his hand was being wrung.

Well, that was that, and a considerable relief. He looked at Brett, and found him a little heavier, a little older, but essentially the same. In face, after the first moment, it was difficult to see any change at all. The warmth, the charm, were paramount.

‘My dear chap, I never was so pleased in my life! Cyril got me on the telephone an hour ago – said he’d been trying to get hold of me ever since you turned up yesterday. Well – ’ he laughed with a sound of real enjoyment – ‘I was weekending, and one doesn’t hurry back on Monday morning – at least I don’t. There isn’t all that business to attend to. I wish there were. I’m afraid things aren’t quite what they were when you went away.’

William said, ‘So I gathered from Cyril.’

Brett’s eyebrows rose. The dark eyes under them took on a rueful, laughing expression.

‘We got through the war, but that’s about all you can say.’ The laughter flickered out. ‘Look here, William, it’s no good making any bones about it, we’re in the devil of a mess.

There was a pause before William said,

‘What sort of a mess, Brett?’

Brett Eversley looked him straight in the face and said,

‘Katharine’s money’s gone.’

Katharine, waiting in the flat, picked up the telephone receiver and heard William’s voice sounding rather faint and far away.

‘That you, Kath?’

She said, ‘Yes.’

‘Look here, darling, I can’t possibly get back to lunch. We’re up to the eyes in business… Yes, Brett’s here. I’m speaking from his office. We’re going into things together. Cyril’s still at Evendon. About that appointment with Mr. Hall – I can’t keep it. Brett rang through and caught him before he went out to lunch, so he knows I’m back, and I’ll be seeing him tomorrow.’

‘When will you be home?’

‘I’ll try and make it by five – but don’t wait tea.’

She said, ‘Of course I will. We’ll have apple honey.’

She hung up and went back to the table, which was set for lunch. There was a savoury stew in a casserole keeping hot in the kitchen, but the cold shape was at the far end, and a little cut glass dish of Abigail Salt’s apple honey. Katharine picked it up and put it away in the glass-fronted cupboard. She wasn’t going to start on it without William. She took out the remains of a pot of raspberry jam instead. Then she went to the kitchen to fetch the casserole.

It was well after five before William came home. He looked at the tea-table drawn up in front of the fire, at the whole warm glow of the room, and at Katharine. Then he kissed her. She said,

‘How did you get on, darling?’

‘It’s the real devil of a mess, Kath.’

She said, ‘Well, don’t bother about it now. Have your tea.’

He kept his arm about her.

‘Presently.’ Then after a moment, ‘You know, I think Brett is really glad I’m back.’

‘Was he – nice?’

William gave a sort of half laugh.

‘Perfectly charming. Brett’s got a brain if he’d use it. Cyril hasn’t – at least not the kind that’s any good to himself or anyone else. And I don’t mean that unkindly either. What I do mean is that Brett has got brains enough to see that it would have to be one thing or the other. I’d either got to be William Smith who was trying it on, or he’d got to get busy with the fatted calf and all the trimmings – that was obvious. And he wouldn’t want more than one look at me to see that the William Smith idea wouldn’t wash, so he did the thing handsomely. And of course it was very good business, because they’ve got themselves well on to the wrong side of the law, and Brett doesn’t want to go to prison.’

Katharine said, ‘Oh – ’

‘Your money’s gone, Kath.’

She said ‘Oh – ’ again.

‘It was the old game. They took a bit to pull the firm round, and then took more to bolster it up. They’d got to the point where they’d have been ruined if you married. Brett skated away from that, but of course it’s why he was trying to marry you.’

Katharine’s lip quivered.

‘There couldn’t be any other reason, could there, darling?’

‘Well, you said yourself he wasn’t in love with you,’ said William reasonably. ‘Thank goodness! There are quite enough complications without that. What I really set out to say was that I think Brett would have put up a pretty good show of being glad to see me whether he was or not, because he’s got brains enough to know which side his bread is buttered. But I’ve got a hunch that he really was glad to see me. I don’t think he could put on an act that would take me in.’

Katharine nodded. William always could see through people. He seemed so simple and easy, and in a way he was, but he saw through most brick walls. She said,

‘What are you going to do about them – about Brett and Cyril?’

‘Oh, Cyril can retire. Evendon, if it’ll run to it. He’s no use to the firm. Brett – ’ he grinned suddenly – ‘Brett can turn on the famous charm and go out and get us orders for the Wurzel toys. I’m going large on them, and I think they’ll pull us out of the mess. Gosh, I’m hungry! We had a sandwich lunch. Make the tea while I go and get washed.’