by Neels, Betty
Half way through the next morning she remembered that old Lady Ryder was giving what she called an evening party that night. Guests were bidden for six o’clock and were expected to leave within a couple of hours. She had already accepted the invitation and Lucius would naturally be going. It was hardly an ideal place in which to let it be known that their engagement had come unstuck; it might be better if they behaved towards each other as they normally did and said nothing, especially as Virginia and James would be there. She decided to go late and leave early—a headache or toothache, or better still, she’d get Lovelace to telephone and ask her to go back home; she need not give a reason. Satisfied with this plan and solution to a ticklish situation, she repaired to her room and inspected her wardrobe. The brown velvet suit, she decided, and her amber beads.
She could see the Bentley outside Stockley House as she walked Bouncer later that afternoon, but she didn’t linger to watch if Lucius was going anywhere. She got back after a lengthy walk, had a cup of tea and went upstairs to change. She didn’t hurry, and Lovelace, a stickler for punctuality, gave her a reproving look at she went out to the car, and then one of surprise as she instructed him to telephone her in an hour’s time at Lady Ryder’s. ‘Very good, Miss Katrina,’ he said, allowing the faintest curiosity to show.
‘I particularly want to leave before everyone else, Lovelace, so don’t forget, will you?’
Lady Ryder’s drawing room was nicely full as she went in and she saw Virginia and James almost at once. Lady Ryder, after urging her to come to tea soon and tell her all about Greece, left her to find her way from one group of friends to the next. She had just left Virginia and James and settled to a staid conversation with Mrs Moffat when Lucius came in. The girl Katrina had seen in London was with him and Katrina was astonished to see Lady Ryder kiss her with the easy familiarity of an old friend before lifting her face for Lucius’s kiss.
Katrina, nodding and smiling vaguely at Mrs Moffat’s steady flow of talk, kept her eyes glued on the three of them, and when Lucius looked up and stared back at her, she was quite unable to look away.
‘There’s Lucius,’ declared Mrs Moffat, a woman guaranteed to state the obvious at all times. ‘And who is the pretty girl with him? She’s coming over here. An old friend, my dear?’
A deadly enemy, thought Katrina, and pasted a smile on her white face.
The girl stopped in front of her, smiled at Mrs Moffat and turned to Katrina. ‘You haven’t changed a bit, Katie,’ she declared. ‘Don’t you remember me? Cousin Mary, who climbed trees with you and Lucius in the summer holidays?’
Katrina’s lovely eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped. ‘Good lord, Mary! Aren’t you in Canada?’
Mary laughed. ‘No, ducky—here. My dear husband is still there, but he’s being transferred in a couple of weeks and he sent me on ahead to find somewhere to live. I’ve been in town for two days looking for a house or flat. Thank heaven Lucius answered my cries for help and has been aiding me.’
She sipped her drink and made a small face. ‘I hear Virginia’s married. I must wish her happy, I suppose. Just as spoilt as she always was? When are you and Lucius going to get married? I asked him this evening when he met me at Oxford, but he’s being very po-faced. Is it a secret?’ She glanced at Katrina’s left hand. ‘Where’s the famous family sapphire?’ Her eyes flew to Katrina’s face. ‘What have you done to your finger?’
‘Oh, I burnt it; not badly, but I couldn’t bear the ring on it.’ Katrina uttered the fib awkwardly and blushed guiltily. ‘Have you found somewhere to live?’
‘Yes, thank heaven—Lucius met me yesterday again and we signed the lease, or at least I did, with him breathing cousinly advice down my neck, and then we celebrated over lunch at the Westbury. I phoned Laurie too and he’s delighted; he’ll be here in a week. I miss him.’ Mary grinned. ‘That’s not bad after five years, is it? I’ll tell you something else— I’m having a baby in July.’
‘That’s lovely! Oh, Mary, it’s super to see you again. You’ll have to come and stay with me...’
‘With you both,’ corrected Mary. ‘Here’s Lucius, beating his way to you. What a crowd!’
Katrina had been dreading meeting him face to face, but she need not have worried; his, ‘Hullo, Katie,’ was exactly right, pleasantly affectionate. He smiled too, only his eyes were cold as he looked down at her. ‘Cut your finger?’ he asked casually, and watched as the colour washed over her face once more.
‘Burnt—not badly, though.’ She managed a smile for Mary’s benefit. ‘It’ll be all right tomorrow.’
She tried to think of something to say. Lucius wasn’t going to help and Mary was looking at her with a faint amused smile. Oh, God, send that message from Lovelace, prayed Katrina silently, and let out an audible sigh of relief when Lady Ryder came towards her. ‘My dear, there’s a message from your butler, he asks that you should go back—nothing catastrophic, he says, but only you can deal with it.’
Katrina’s face wore the expression of someone who had just been offered a reprieve under the very shadow of the scaffold. ‘Oh, how tiresome,’ she declared, and the relief in her voice was so marked that Lucius, watching her face with eyes alight with amusement, said dryly: Til drive you if you like, Katie?’
‘No—oh no, thanks. It—I don’t expect it’s anything much. I’ll see you... Mary, give me a ring soon, will you? It’s been lovely...’
She said goodbye to Lady Ryder and slipped away. Thank heaven that was over, and she considered that she’d managed rather well. It had been pure inspiration putting a plaster round her ringer. As she drove she reviewed the days ahead. There were one or two dinner parties to which naturally enough Lucius had been invited too; she would have to have ‘flu or something for a few days, and by then he wouldn’t be angry anymore and she would apologise... She drew up before her door, but she didn’t get out of the car. There was no help for it, she would have to tell him the truth and he could make what he liked of it. The tiny hope that perhaps he loved her just a little was doused by the memory of his cold eyes. She got out of the car, then got in again and drove it to the garage and walked slowly back to the house.
She had supper on a tray, took Bouncer for a quick walk in the gardens and then went to bed to spend most of the night rehearsing what she would say to Lucius. By now she was concerned only with telling him everything. He would have to sort out the muddle afterwards. She had no doubts that he would be able to do that; he had always dealt with her problems for her. She got up late, heavy-eyed and looking rather pale, plain and quite unable to face breakfast, took Bouncer for a walk and then on impulse, cast an anorak over her sweater and skirt and walked down the drive, along the lane and in through the open gates of Stockley House. Cobb was crossing the hall as she mounted the steps, and he opened the door to her and she said rather wildly: ‘Don’t bother to say I’m here, I’ll go in.’
Lucius would be in his study: Katrina crossed the hall with Cobb tutting behind her, gave a perfunctory knock on the door and opened it. Lucius was sitting at his desk and his farm manager was sitting opposite him. He looked up as she went in and stopped short just inside the door.
‘I’m sorry—I didn’t know that there was someone with you.’ She sounded despairing.
Lucius had got to his feet. ‘Hullo, Katie,’ he said gently. ‘Don’t go.’ He handed his manager some papers. ‘See about those repairs, Tim, and check the price of that feed we ordered. We’ll leave the rest until tomorrow morning.’
When they were alone, he said: ‘I’m listening, Katie. Do you want to sit down?’
‘No.’ At the sight of him all her prepared speeches flew out of her head. ‘Lucius, I didn’t know it was Mary. I—I thought it was a girl—the girl you’re going to marry. I’m truly sorry for being so beastly and not giving you a chance to say anything, but it wouldn’t have mattered, would it? Only I won’t go on like this any longer; it’s all such a muddle.’ She drew a breath. ‘I haven’t burnt my finger,’ s
he added, as though that were important. ‘And what I really came to say was that I’ve been in love with you for quite some time, which makes it all very awkward.’ She wasn’t looking at him any more, but it was a relief to spill everything out, just as she had done since she was a little girl. ‘I thought if I went away for a bit—there’s Aunt Edna in Scotland...’ She stopped because Lucius was laughing.
‘My darling girl!’ He came round the desk and put his arms around her. ‘My dear, darling girl, of all the nonsense—the only sensible thing you’ve said is that you love me, and my goodness, I was beginning to think you’d never admit it! Just cast your muddled mind back, my love. The reason I went around with Virginia was so that I could see more of you; the reason I suggested we became engaged to confound all her silly tales was because it seemed a heavensent opportunity to get you into the right frame of mind to fall in love with me. I thought I was succeeding in Greece, too.’
He lifted her hand and pulled the plaster off her finger and took the ring out of a pocket and slipped it back on. ‘You are truly delightful, and I love you, my darling. I think I’ve loved you since you were a little girl, and I’ve watched you grow into a lovely woman...’
‘Lovely?’ asked Katrina, amazed.
‘Lovely.’ He bent to kiss her. Presently he said: ‘I’ve got a special licence in my pocket, so we can be married when we like. You shall wear that pink thing and the hat with roses—you looked beautiful...’
She smiled at him. ‘Did I? You said ‘Roses and Champagne’.’
Lucius kissed her again. ‘I’m a romantic man at heart,’ he told her.
