‘False heroics are not in my line either; but I don’t think you see yet.’
‘I do. Now you can stand up straight again, and those who can’t understand – well, they don’t matter.’
‘Then don’t your people matter?’
‘Yes, they matter.’
‘But you don’t suppose for a minute that they’ll understand?’
‘I shall make them.’
‘My poor dear!’
It struck her, ominously, how quiet and gentle he was being. He went on:
‘I don’t know your people, but if they’re the sort you’ve described – charm ye never so wisely, they won’t rise. They can’t, it’s against their root convictions.’
‘They’re fond of me.’
‘That will make it all the more impossible for them to see you tied to me.’
Dinny drew away a little and sat with her chin on her hands. Then, without looking at him, she said:
‘Do you want to get rid of me, Wilfrid?’
‘Dinny!’
‘Yes, but do you?’
He drew her into his arms. Presently she said:
‘I see. Then if you don’t, you must leave this to me. And anyway it’s no good going to meet trouble. It isn’t known yet in London. We’ll wait until it is. I know you won’t marry me till then, so I must wait. After that it will be a clear issue, but you mustn’t be heroic then, Wilfrid, because it’ll hurt me too much – too much.’ She clutched him suddenly; and he stayed silent.
With her cheek to his she said quietly:
‘Do you want me to be everything to you before you marry me? If so, I can.’
‘Dinny!’
‘Very forward, isn’t it?’
‘No! But we’ll wait. You make me feel too reverent.’
She sighed. ‘Perhaps it’s best.’
Presently she said: ‘Will you leave it to me to tell my people everything or not?’
‘I will leave anything to you.’
‘And if I want you to meet any one of them, will you?’
Wilfrid nodded.
‘I won’t ask you to come to Condaford – yet. That’s all settled, then. Now tell me exactly how you heard about this.’
When he had finished, she said reflectively:
‘Michael and Uncle Lawrence. That will make it easier. Now, darling, I’m going. It’ll be good for Stack, and I want to think. I can only think when I’m insulated from you.’
‘Angel!’
She took his head between her hands. ‘Don’t be tragic, and I won’t either. Could we go joy-riding on Thursday? Good! Foch at noon! I’m far from an angel, I’m your love.’
She went dizzily down the stairs, now that she was alone, terribly conscious of the ordeal before them. She turned suddenly towards Oxford Street. ‘I’ll go and see Uncle Adrian,’ she thought.
Adrian’s thoughts at his Museum had been troubled of late by the claim of the Gobi desert to be the cradle of Homo Sapiens. The idea had been patented and put on the market, and it bid fair to have its day. He was reflecting on the changeability of anthropological fashions, when Dinny was announced.
‘Ah! Dinny! I’ve been in the Gobi desert all the afternoon, and was just thinking of a nice cup of “hot” tea. What do you say?’
‘China tea always gives me an ’ick feeling, Uncle.’
‘We don’t go in for so-called luxuries. My duenna here makes good old Dover tea with leaves in it, and we have the homely bun.’
‘Perfect! I came to tell you that I’ve given my young heart.’
Adrian stared.
‘It’s really rather a terrible tale, so can I take off my hat?’
‘My dear,’ said Adrian, ‘take off anything. Have tea first. Here it is.’
While she was having tea Adrian regarded her with a rueful smile, caught, as it were, between his moustache and goatee. Since the tragic Ferse affair she had been more than ever his idea of a niece; and he perceived that she was really troubled.
Lying back in the only easy chair, with her knees crossed and the tips of her fingers pressed together, she looked, he thought, ethereal, as if she might suddenly float, and his eyes rested with comfort on the cap of her chestnut hair. But his face grew perceptibly longer while she was telling him her tale, leaving nothing out. She stopped at last and added:
‘Uncle, please don’t look like that!’
‘Was I?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, Dinny, is it surprising?’
‘I want your “reaction”, as they call it, to what he did.’ And she looked straight into his eyes.
‘My personal reaction? Without knowing him – judgement reserved.’
‘If you wouldn’t mind, you shall know him.’