CHAPTER TEN

"IT was Sara who was the girl in the background of Geoffrey's life, wasn't it?" Franklin repeated, as Beverley remained obstinately silent. "That was why you were so afraid I might guess something, while she was still engaged to me."

"Yes, " Beverley said slowly at last. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you now. But at the time of the ball I just couldn't let you know. It was bad enough to indulge in anxieties and suspicions myself, but I had no right to communicate them to anyone else. Least of all, to- someone so personally concerned. Besides, I didn't even know if the suspicions were well founded.

I don't even know now, come to that, " she added, with a sigh.

"But what you really think is that Geoffrey was the man Sara loved, only she wouldn't marry him so long as he was a poor man?"

"It sounds so, brutal, put like that, but, "

"The truth often sounds brutal, " Franklin assured her dryly.

"I think, in fact, I know, that Sara was greatly attracted to Geoffrey. And I can't imagine that he didn't feel something very deep for her. Otherwise, why should he kiss her even after he had become engaged to me? But I don't think marriage was ever even discussed between them. It was not a practical possibility."

"And, now?" He bit his lip thoughtfully.

"Now it has become so, " said Beverley simply. "That's all there is to it. I should be unrealistic if I didn't face the fact."

He stared at her moodily for a moment, then those bold, fine eyes of his softened, and he said, "You're a brave girl. Do you think this was why Sara threw me over?"

"No. I'm sure it wasn't. She didn't know about Geoffrey's changed circumstances until I told her, or, rather, Toni told her, an hour ago. It was just one of those coincidences that happen only in real life."

"I'm glad of that, " he said slowly. "I'd have hated to think she just snatched shamelessly at the best of both worlds. I'll be glad to remember that she drew back from marrying "me simply because she couldn't face the substitute thing, after all."

"It couldn't have been easy, " Beverley agreed. I think the family are all pretty mad with her. Except Toni, of course." And she smiled.

"Toni doesn't grind her own axe, " agreed Franklin, with a slight smile in his turn, allowing by implication that the others did. "Maybe she's too young to have learned how."

"Oh, no. She is naturally and truly interested in what happens to other people. She always will be, " Beverley asserted. "But that doesn't mean that I'm criticizing the rest of them. In fact, if it wouldn't sound impertinent at such a time, I'd say don't think too hardly of Sara."

"I don't." He turned his head and smiled full at Beverley. "And if I-felt tempted to do so, I'd remind myself that you don't appear to be thinking too harshly of Geoffrey, which must be more difficult still, What are you going to do about this new turn of events, Beverley?"

"I don't know."

"Just let things take their course?"

"Oh, not, that. I think I'll have to put the issue to the test, in some way."

"It will take some courage."

"It would take more to face the prospect of just going on, for ever wondering what the real truth was, " Beverley retorted.    .

"Well, perhaps you're right." But he frowned. I wish I could help you "somehow."

"Why, how nice of you!" She smiled at him, a good deal touched. "I guess it's something I just have to tackle myself, but it gives one a good feeling to know that someone sympathetic is in the background."

"Anyway, " he started the car again, use me if you need me. I'm feeling a bit out on a limb, at the moment, and I suppose it would soothe my pride a bit to know that I was essential to someone's planning. Selfish, of course, but you may as well profit by it, if it's of any use to you."

"I will." Beverley laughed softly and accepted his casual explanation of his offer at its face value. But at heart she was touched afresh by what she guessed to be his genuine sympathy.

He drove her home after that, but refused her invitation to come in. "Your mother and you will have enough to talk about, without a third person there, " he declared. And she saw no reason to tell him that she had chosen to keep her mother in happy ignorance of the complications in her life.

Indeed, as soon as she re-entered the house, Beverley found it necessary to resume the role of the happy fiancée whose future was looking exceptionally rosy.

"How did you get on with him?" Aunt Ellen wanted to know immediately, not even specifying who the all-important "him" might be. And she followed Beverley into her mother's room, determined not to miss a word of the story.

"How is Mr. Revian, darling?" Beverley's mother I looked at her anxiously. "You look a bit pale and I strained."

"Oh, I'm all right." Beverley put up her hands and rubbed some colour, into her cheeks, and Aunt Ellen said, "I'll get you a cup of tea in a minute. But, what | happened?"

"Nothing very much. Except that I was taken to see Mr. Revian, and he spoke kindly to me, and seemed quite, pleased with Geoffrey's choice."

"I wouldn't call that 'nothing very much, ' " declared Aunt Ellen, "I'd call that very satisfactory. You mean that he knows all about the engagement and he approves?"

"I think so, yes. He referred to Grandfather very flatteringly. Said he was the best man he ever heard the pulpit, and a grand worker in the parish too."

"That's true, " agreed Aunt Ellen with emphasis. "Though he was a little on the easy-going side with some who needed a firm hand. Still, Mr. Revian wouldn't know that. Go on, Beverley, what else happened?"

"I stayed to lunch, and meet Geoffrey's aunt,

"How did she react?" Aunt Ellen displayed an almost professional interest in aunts.

"Politely rather than cordially, but that may just be her manner."

"No, no. She's jealous, mark my words. She'll make trouble if she can." Aunt Ellen wagged her head in gloomy satisfaction.

"Oh, Ellen, don't be tiresome! Why should she? exclaimed Mrs. Farman impatiently.

"Because she feels her own nose will be put out of joint of course. But, in a way, that's a good sign. She wouldn't bother to be resentful if she thought Beverley would soon be pushed out of the way."

"I wouldn't describe, her as resentful, " said Beverley mildly. "Merely unenthusiastic."

"Well, they seem to have kept you there long enough,  anyway, dear." Beverley's mother smiled encouragingly at her daughter. "You must have stayed a good while after lunch."

"Oh, no, I didn't, really. I met Toni Wayne on the bus and, I called in at the Grange with her."

"Why?" asked Aunt Ellen, who always liked to get straight to the bottom of things. "To tell them about Geoffrey's father?"

"Not exactly, " said Beverley disingenuously. I went to collect "some work I'd like to finish this evening. Besides, Toni had told me some rather distressing news. Sara has broken off her engagement."

"Broken off her engagement? Then they won't want you working for them any more, " cried Aunt Ellen, unerringly selecting the blackest outlook from a personal point of view.

"I don't know about that. For the moment, I am to go on with what I have already begun. But, no, I suppose they won't want me for as long as I expected."

"That's the least of it, " declared Mrs. Farman, "especially as you're getting married so soon yourself.

But I'm dreadfully sorry. Did you hear what the trouble-was? How could she not want to marry that nice Franklin Lowell, I wonder?"

"I think she just decided she didn't love him, after all, " Beverley said cautiously.

"With all that money, and a fine estate?" Aunt Ellen laughed sceptically. "She's probably found some one who is a better catch. Though how, and who it could be, " she frowned as she obviously passed the cream of the county in hurried mental review, "I really don't know. I'll go and see about some tea now."

And, satisfied that she had heard all the salient points of Beverley's news, she hurried off into the kitchen.

"Will he take it very badly, Beverley?" Mrs. Farman, who had developed quite a genuine affection for Franklin Lowell, looked solemn.

"He is feeling pretty miserable at the moment, I think. He brought me home just now, and we talked about the broken engagement quite frankly, " Beverley explained. "But, at a guess, I'd say his pride has suffered more than his heart."

"Pride can hurt an awful lot too, " remarked Mrs. Farman, but she smiled slightly. "Was there someone else, Beverley?"

"Someone else?"

"I mean, did Sara Wayne decide that she wanted another man whatever the reason?"

Beverley hesitated a moment. Then she said curiously.

"I wonder what makes you ask that?"

"It's always a reason for a broken engagement, or one of the reasons. But, in this case, it seems the most likely reason to me. Franklin Lowell is a rather special person, quite apart from his worldly advantages. It would be quite extraordinarily difficult not to fall in love with him, I'd say, unless there were a strong counter-attraction. And as for falling out of love with him, No, no, Sara Wayne must have had a very definite feeling for someone other than Franklin."

"Oh, Mother, do you think so?" Beverley tried not to feel dejected and failed.

"So it seems to me. But there's no need to look glum about it, darling. Once one has accepted the fact that she has broken the engagement, I suppose the reason why is immaterial."

"I suppose so, " Beverley managed to say. But she was glad that Aunt Ellen chose this moment to come in again with the tea.

During the evening Aunt Ellen became almost cheerful. Local affairs were of infinitely more interest to her than world affairs, and she had a wonderful time examining Sara Wayne's broken engagement from every point of view. But it was only when she remarked, "This will make a great deal of difference to the other Wayne girls too, " that Beverley remembered guiltily that she had forgotten to ask Franklin what he intended to do about Madeleine's year at the Dramatic Academy.

"There will be another chance, " she assured herself remorsefully. "And there are rather a lot of other things to think about at the moment."

Once or twice that evening she was severely tempted to go out to the telephone box and ring up Geoffrey, just to hear his voice and have some reassurance from the sound of it. But if she did that, she would feel bound to tell him of Sara's broken engagement. And what she wanted above all else was to be able to see him when he first received that news.

It was possible, of course, that Sara would herself telephone and tell him, but, on the whole, Beverley thought that unlikely. And so she waited, through an uneventful evening and a rather restless night, alternately hoping for the best and trying to face the possibility of having worst happening.

Early the next morning, the respectful chauffeur in the big car came to fetch her once more to Castleton. Mr. Revian was a little better again, it seemed, but he would like to see Beverley once more. Mr. Geoffrey had not been able to come himself because he was reluctant to leave his father. If Miss Farman wouldn't mind,    

Miss Farman said she did not mind at all. And, having bade her mother and aunt a hasty goodbye, she stepped into the big car and was driven away in state, while one or two stragglers from early morning service stood in the main street of Binwick and gazed after her in pleasant speculation.

The car was very beautiful and very comfortable, and Beverley leaned back in her seat, trying hard to relax. But she knew, from the way her hands kept on clasping each other tightly, that she was feeling nervous again. Not because of the prospect of seeing old Mr. Revian this time. But because she knew that she was nearing the vital test of her relationship with Geoffrey.

It was he himself who came out to greet her, and his welcoming hug and kiss should have been reassuring enough. But when he led her into the library and said, "The old man's asleep at the moment, " she knew that here was the opportunity which she had to grasp.

For a minute or two they talked of Geoffrey's father and the slight improvement which had taken place since Beverley had been there the previous day. Then, at a momentary pause in the conversation, she heard herself say quite calmly, "I met Toni when I was going back on the bus yesterday."

"Toni Wayne? Did you? That gave you lively company, I'll bet. She always has plenty to say for herself."

"Yes. She had even more than usual to tell me yesterday." Beverley paused for a second, with the queer sensation that she was about to launch herself into space from a great height. Then, though she looked straight at Geoffrey, she spoke almost casually. "It seems that Sara has broken off her engagement"

"Sara! broken, her engagement?"

She was not really surprised that Geoffrey had lost colour. Only a sort of leaden despair seemed to replace the anguish of uncertainty.

"You mean, she's not going to marry Lowell, after all?"

"Yes, that's what I mean. She is not going to marry Franklin Lowell, " said Beverley quite exactly.

"But, " suddenly he got up and walked from one side of the room to the other, "why not?" His voice had gone hoarse. "What reason does she give? I mean, what reason did Toni give?"

"None Except that she just doesn't want to marry him, after all. That was the reason Sara herself gave, when I saw her later."

"Then you, you've seen her?

"Oh yes. I called in at the Grange on my way home "And talked to her about this broken engagement A little. She was not inclined to say very much, naturally. We aren't intimate friends after all.

"So that, you say, you've no idea why she did

'No I didn't say that. I said Sara herself gave no specific reason. But, " Beverley went on, not knowing whether a sense of justice or sheer nervousness or just stupidity prompted her to say the words, "my own view has always been that Sara really wanted someone else. Not Franklin Lowell at all.",

"I wonder what makes you think that." Geoffrey had sat down again now closer to her, but she had the queer impression that his defences were down his clasped hands were stuck between his knees and his face looked pale and drawn.

"Quite a number of things combined to make me think it, I suppose, " she said slowly. "At one time I thought it was best to ignore the fact, to put a line under the past. But now it's a different situation. He didn't reply. He just stared at her, half apprehensively, so that she was slightly bitterly sorry for him. Much more sorry than for herself. And it was not at all difficult to say quite gently. "It was you she wanted, wasn't, it, Geoffrey? And if things had been as they are now, it's you who would …."

Geoffrey, groan and buried his face in his hands, "how did you guess?

"I told you-there were lots of things-but none of them matters now. The only thing which matters is the fact that you and Sara love each other, and ……"

''But so do you! You've been such a dear, loyal, loving girl, all the years I've known you." He looked up haggardly. "That's why I thought, "

"You thought you could make a good second-best of things with me, didn't you?" She spoke without bitterness. "You probably would have too, if Sara had been permanently out of the running. But that isn't how things are, Geoffrey."

"They, could be still, " he said, but without conviction.

"Oh, no, dear!" She got up and came and stood beside him. "You don't think we could really go on from here, do you? Not even if I would accept such a sacrifice, which of course I wouldn't. You couldn't marry me now, just out of friendship and a sort of mistaken sense of chivalry. Any more than I could marry you, now that I know it's Sara you really want."

"But, what are we to do?"

"Just break our engagement and, and call it a day. Then you can go to Sara and tell her you're free. It's almost simple, really."

"No, it isn't. There's the old man to consider." Dismayed recollection flooded into Geoffrey's face. "He's taken an enormous fancy to you. He talked of little else when I was with him yesterday evening and this morning. He says you're the ideal girl for me, and that you've been the making of me, and other rather chastening things."

Geoffrey grinned faintly for a moment, but then he became serious again. "I can't imagine what sort of a shock it would be for him, Beverley, to find I really wanted, I mean, that I proposed to marry someone else, after all. It would be enough to give him another heart attack.

Quite apart from the fact that he'd decide I was an irresponsible rotter, after all. Which I suppose I am, " he added ruefully.

"Nonsense. Circumstances have just been unfortunate. But, do you really think he would take it so hard?"

"I think it could even threaten the new harmony between us."

"Then what are we to do?" She looked blank in her turn.

"I don't know. That's what I was asking you just now, " Geoffrey said gloomily. And at this moment the nurse came into the room to announce that Mr. Ravian was awake and would be very happy to see Miss Farman.

"All right. I'm coming, " Beverley made a movement towards the door. But Geoffrey exclaimed.

"Wait a moment! We've got to settle this first."

"Can't we discuss it afterwards?"

"No. We've got to know what we are going to do, from now on. He must wait a few minutes. Ask my father to wait a few minutes, Nurse. Miss Farman, won't be long." 

"Very well, Mr. Revian." The nurse gazed severely into space. "But I wouldn't delay too much, you know. He doesn't stay very bright for long at a time."

"I won't be long, " Beverley promised, and the nurse went out of the room again.

Geoffrey was pacing about once more, in nervous agitation. And, looking at him, Beverley had the distinct impression that it would be she who would have to take the initiative.

"It isn't really that he's weak, " she told herself quickly and defensively. "It's just that everything has happened so suddenly. And everything that matters to him is trembling in the balance."

Aloud she said, "Will you trust me to handle the situation in my own way?"

"You mean, tell him the whole thing now?

"Not exactly as it is, no. And not unless I see a good opening and feel that I can lessen the shock. But let me see him alone, "

"I think that's what he wants, in any case.

"And leave me to do the best I can."

"Remember that he must not have a severe shock. And the reconciliation is very real, Beverley, but it's a new and rather fragile plant."

"I'll remember."

"Bless you!" He caught her hand suddenly and held it against his cheek. "You're the dearest and most wonderful friend. I feel sick with myself for hurting you so much."

She pulled her hand away quickly. She had to do that, or she would have begun to cry. And then, because her pride had received all the battering it could stand, she said coolly, "Don't think of me as too desperately hurt, Geoffrey. If it's any consolation to you, I had already begun to wonder if, " she stopped, groped for something that would not be too hurtful, "if I had really allowed myself to become engaged to the right man."

He stared at her. "Do you mean, " he said almost hopefully, "that there was someone else with you, too?"

"Oh, I, don't want to be too explicit at this moment. But, " somehow she managed quite a provocative little smile, "don't feel too badly about it all."

And then she went out of the room arid upstairs to old Mr. Revian, aware that she had left a half-puzzled, half-relieved Geoffrey behind her.

She had little time to arrange any plan of campaign. She must just trust to her own ingenuity and good sense. And she must accept the fact that, unless a good opportunity presented itself, she would do best to possess her soul in patience and delay any form of explanation for a few days longer, rather than risk saying too much too soon.

The nurse was in the room when Beverley entered, but she rose and took her departure almost immediately, probably on previous instructions, Beverley thought.

"Come here, my dear. Come and sit down by the bed." The old man's voice sounded stronger that morning. "I want to have a talk with you."

Beverley came and sat down in the chair indicated, and smiled upon Mr. Revian with all the tranquil good humour she could achieve.

"You're better. I can see that, " she said. And he nodded briefly, but dismissed this as of no special importance.

"I want to talk to you about Geoffrey." He plunged into the subject without preamble. "You understand, him and manage him very well, I notice, "

"I've known him a great many years, " Beverley interrupted with a smile. "Ever since I was a little girl.

We're very good friends, Geoffrey and I. We always shall be."

"Well, that's quite a good basis for a marriage, I suppose." Geoffrey's father smiled. "And I hope the boy's as stable in his attitude towards you. I suppose you know, " he shot a shrewd look at her, "that he's not the strongest of characters?"

"He is essentially good and decent, " Beverley said quietly.

"Hm, yes. I think he's that. But if you marry him _____,

"Mr. Revian, have you any doubt about that?" Beverley smiled at him,

"No, no. Just a manner of speaking. You mustn't take offence so easily!"

"I wasn't taking offence, " said Beverley slowly in an odd way, I was relieved."

"Relieved?" The old man looked astonished. "Why?"

"Because Geoffrey thinks you regard this marriage as signed and sealed and the only thing possible for the happiness of all of us. Although three days ago you didn't even know of my existence, Geoffrey seems to think it would be an almost mortal blow to you if you couldn't have me for a daughter-in-law. No one's well-being should be so much dependent on another person, should it?"

"Well no, of course not." He looked disturbed and rather healthily annoyed, Beverley thought, "Mortal blow, indeed! No, no, I wouldn't use a term like that. But this is quite an academic argument, I take it, "

"No, Mr. Revian. It isn't, entirely. And that's why I'm glad of the chance to talk to you. Whatever my faults may be, and I have a number, at least I'm straight with the people I like. And I like you."

There was a moment's silence. Then he said gruffly,  "I like you too, come to that. So you can be as straight as you like with me. What is it you want to say? Something I won't want to hear? That's usually what people mean when they say they're going to do some straight talking."

She smiled slightly, but she put up a silent little prayer that she might find the right words. "Mr. Revian, have you ever been quite, quite sure of something in your life, and then found out, after all, that you were wrong?"

Again he shot her that penetrating glance. "I suppose so, yes. Most people have, if they're honest with themselves."

"Well, that really happened with Geoffrey and me. We'd known and liked each other so long that we both thought, honestly, that we would be happy married to each other. That's why we got engaged, some months ago now. But then, quite recently, we both had the same experience. We met someone else, "

"Both of you?" The old man looked sceptical.

"Both of us, " Beverley insisted firmly. "Neither knew about the other, and right up to yesterday, we both meant to stand by our bargain. You see, we were truly too fond of each other as friends , to be able to face letting each other down. But then, yesterday, "

"Yes? What happened yesterday?" asked Mr. Revian, as she paused.

"I suppose, " Beverley said slowly, "that when one is under an emotional strain, and Geoffrey particularly was, after the happiness of being reconciled to you, one is not so good at hiding one's feelings. Somehow we came to talk frankly to each other, Geoffrey and I, and we found that, while we shall always be fond of each other as friends, we both want to marry someone else."

"You both, " The old man swallowed, and for a moment Beverley wondered if she had gone too far and too fast.

"Please, please don't mind too much, " she begged him. "Or else I shall feel a wicked, selfish girl, instead of a very happy one."

Again there was silence, while Beverley held her breath. Then he said, rather disagreeably,

"So you'll always be good friends, eh, in the modem way?"

"Oh, yes, of course! And it's not especially modern. We've been friends for years. There's no reason why we shouldn't go on being so." 

"Does that mean that you'll go on being friends with me?" he demanded with a grim smile.

"Yes, please." Beverley leaned forward and kissed his cheek lightly, which seemed to surprise and please him immensely. 

"I've a suspicion you're a minx, " he said. "Well, who is the girl that my boy is going to marry?"

"A perfectly lovely girl called Sara Wayne."

"Of Huntingford Grange?"  

''Yes" 

"Father's a bit of a mountebank, but her mother's good stock, " was the slightly disagreeable comment on this. "And who are you going to marry?"

"I"   .

"Yes, you. You've got a part in this double romance too, haven't you? Unless you've been foxing me with some story all the time." And he gave her such unexpectedly penetrating look that Beverley felt herself tremble.

"Of course I haven't been 'foxing' you, as you call it Why should I?" she protested.

"In order to shield that boy of mine, " was the devastatingly shrewd retort. "You can't tell me much about him, you know, even though I'm confoundedly glad to be friends with him again. But I'll not have him behave badly to a girl of your caliber. Not if I have to turn him out of the house again."

"But you mustn't even think of doing that!" cried Beverley in great alarm, "You'd spoil everything for all of us."

"And who are 'all of us?'" was the dry enquiry.

"Why, Geoffrey and Sara, and me and, and, "

"Yes? Who?" 

She thought for a wild moment of saying, "John Smith, " but she knew that no fictitious creature was going to satisfy this rather terrifying and angry old man.

She had to find somebody genuine, somebody who would do as a sort of "stand-in" in this emergency. Somebody, but who?

And then, quite distinctly and with complete reassurance she recalled Franklin Lowell saying, only yesterday, "Use me if you need me. I suppose it would soothe my pride a bit to know I was essential to someone's plans."

He had not meant it so literally, of course. But she could not even wait to think what an outrageous thing she was doing. She took a deep breath and said very calmly,

"I didn't really want to tell anyone yet. Not until we had actually fixed things up. But, I'm going to marry Franklin Lowell."

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN   ^

"FRANKLIN LOWELL?" repeated old Mr. Revian in an astonished tone. "Do you mean Franklin Lowell of Eithorpe Hall?"

"Yes " said Beverley resolutely, though her heart really quaked when she thought what she was committing herself to.

“A very fine match for you, isn't it?" The old man spoke bluntly.

"I suppose it is, " she agreed, wondering now why on earth she could not have instanced someone much less distinguished and much harder to identify.

"And you're telling me that you and he are more or less engaged?"

"Like Geoffrey and Sara, yes." She saw no point in watering down her statement now. She had made it, and she had better stick to it. It was not as though Mr. Revian ill in bed, could make any real investigation or provoke any crisis. To him the situation was of interest only in so far as it affected Geoffrey's story.

At least, that was how Beverley profoundly hoped it

For a moment or two there was silence. Then he said, “Well! you tell me that's how things are, there isn't much I can do about it, I suppose, but accept the position. But I'm sorry you're not going to marry my boy I think you'd have been the making of him.”

"The girl he really wants will be the making of him, ” Beverley managed to assure Geoffrey father with a smile. "That's how it is with any man.

"Depends what sort of girl he wants, " retorted old Man.

''Sara Wayne is the girl Geoffrey loves and she is quite capable of bringing out the best in him.” Beverley asserted, and in that moment she was fairly positive of the outcome.

“I am sure you're right." Geoffrey's father was not willing to be convinced in the first few minutes. "And now I suppose you want to go? You won't bother to come and see me, now that I'm no longer going to be your father-in-law."

"That doesn't follow at all. Geoffrey and I are remaining, "

"Yes, I know all about that. You've used that silly expression about remaining good friends once already, " he admonished her impatiently. "And it doesn't really mean a thing. Or it shouldn't do so. If Geoffrey is going to marry Sara Wayne, he won't have much time or notice for the other girl he nearly married. And well you know it, since you're a sensible girl."

Beverley looked him straight in the eyes. Then she smiled, although she knew that she was saying her final goodbye t Geoffrey, in all that mattered, and she managed to say quite firmly, "You're right, of course. It wouldn't be tactful for me to turn up here often in the near future. But that still doesn't mean you and I won't see anything of each other later. It just means that you will have to get well quickly, so that we can meet elsewhere."

"Are you trying to arrange some clandestine meeting with me?" he enquired, with a good deal of enjoyment.

"Not exactly." Beverley smiled. "But I promise you we will not lose sight of each other, even though I'm not going to be your daughter-in-law."

"All right. Though I .suppose Franklin Lowell will be having the last word now on how your time is spent."

"Franklin, Oh, yes. Yes, of course. But I shall have some say in it too."

"I'll be bound you will!" He looked at her with approval still tinged with regret. "You're really what I mean by a girl of spirit. I'm sorry Geoffrey hadn't the sense to appreciate you. Yes, I'm truly sorry. And I only hope this Wayne girl is worth half as much as you."

"You'll love her, " Beverley predicted confidently.

"How do you know? You don't know what I love, " he retorted crossly. But he bade her a friendly goodbye after that. And Beverley went downstairs, with the curious feeling of having passed a stiff examination, without deriving much sense of elation from the fact.

Geoffrey was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs, and she had the impression that he must have been walking up and down the hall for some time, even possibly coming halfway up the stairs from time to time, in doubt whether or no he should interrupt the conversation.

"Well?" he said, too anxious to put his query less than crudely. "What happened?"

"Come into the library, or somewhere where we can talk more privately, " she told him. And it was she who led the way into the silent, empty room where, half an hour ago, they had had their revealing discussion.

But she had no wish to keep him in suspense, and as soon as he had closed the door, she faced him and said, "It's all right. I've told him everything.

"Everything?" Geoffrey looked slightly alarmed.

"Well, everything that was necessary." She pushed back her hair with an unconsciously weary little gesture.

"I explained that we had mutually come to the conclusion that we really only, liked each other as very good friends, and that, in fact, we both wanted to marry someone else."

"Both?" Geoffrey said.

"I had to make it both. Otherwise he would have gone off the deep end, with some idea that you didn't value me at my real worth, and that you needed to be taught a lesson by him."

"Good lord!" Geoffrey looked rather disgusted.

"It was all rather melodramatic and Victorian at that point, " Beverley conceded. "But I managed to imply that this was the way I wanted things too. I think he was genuinely disappointed that I was not going to belong to his family, after all. But I told him how lovely and charming Sara is, "

"You, you spoke about Sara personally?

"Certainly. The sooner he knows about her, the better. Besides, it all sounded more real and convincing if I gave actual names. And maybe it left less for you   162to explain." She smiled at him, and it was the smile she might have used to someone much younger than herself. '

"Oh, Beverley, how good you are, " He came near to her and took her hand, though really she would have much preferred him not to touch her. "I don't know what to say to you, how to thank you, "

"There's nothing to thank me for. I kept on telling him that you and I remained good friends, and it's true, I hope."

"Of course!"

"Well, I only did what a good friend should."

"And you don't think the shock was too much for him?"

"No. I think he was healthily annoyed at one or two points. But I saw no signs of physical strain because of it. In fact, he struck me as being a great deal brighter and more energetic than he was yesterday."

Geoffrey was silent for a moment, and she saw, from his expression, that he was slowly digesting the wonderful fact that he was free to take his happiness where he knew he would find it.

But, even then, he needed absolute reassurance. He said,

"You told him categorically that, that, "

"You and I are no longer engaged." She finished the sentence for him quite calmly. And, as though to give point to the words, she drew off the beautiful ring she had worn with so much pleasure and held it out to him.

"Oh, Beverley, I wish you'd keep the ring. It, it suits you somehow, and, "

"No dear. I couldn't do that, you know." She still spoke calmly, though she felt a great desire to break down and weep at this moment. "Please take it." And she put it on the desk beside him, since he seemed unable to go through the actual motions of taking back his ring.

"I also told your father that you and Sara will be announcing your engagement quite soon. And I hinted very strongly that I should be doing the same."

"With whom?" he asked quickly, and for a moment he looked startled and, in some quite illogical way, annoyed.

She hesitated for a fraction of a second. Then she said resolutely, "He will probably mention it, if I don t tell you. I simply had to name someone, Geoffrey, or else your father wouldn't have accepted my story about this being a mutual arrangement. I told him I was going to marry Franklin Lowell."

"Lowell? But you're, not, are you?”

"No of course not. Don't be silly! I had to invent someone, I tell you. To name an actual person.

"Yes I understand that. But, Lowell! It seems a bit near home, somehow. What's he going to say, if he ever hears of this?"

"He won't hear of it, " said Beverley hastily. You must see to that! Your father won't be in any position to talk to anyone in the outside world for some time.

His life is bounded by his bedroom. He hasn't even a telephone there. And, long before this situation changes, he will have got used to your being engaged to Sara. Then presently, just as a matter of interest, you can let him know that, that my engagement didn't come to anything."

"He'll be upset about that."

"Well, then, he must be upset!" cried Beverley, who felt suddenly that she had done absolutely all she was capable of doing for the Revian family and that now they must look after themselves. "It won't be a matter of great moment to him by then. He hardly knows me, really, except as a girl he was very willing to accept into his family. He may be sorry for me, " she winced, because she was rather tired of being an object of pity and a cause for guilty feelings, "but it won't go further than that. He'll be enjoying his return to health by then, and I, I'll be making quite a new life of my own."

"Will you, Beverley?" He tried to take her hand again, but she avoided him. "Will you really not feel too badly about this? I'd like to think, "

"I'll manage splendidly, " she told him coolly. "I'd be a hypocrite if I pretended I was not quite badly hit by this. But that doesn't mean I shan't get over it one day and perhaps be very happy with someone else."

"Oh, my dear, I do hope so!" Geoffrey said this from his heart, prompted no doubt as much by an obscure sense of guilt as by genuine good feeling.

They said goodbye after that. In a perfectly friendly spirit, but rather awkwardly, as though they had suddenly become well-disposed strangers, who had so little in common that it was difficult to know how to treat each other. Then Beverley went away to catch her bus. For in his agitation, or possibly his relief, Geoffrey forgot this time to suggest that she should be driven home in the car.

Beverley would have refused, even if the offer had been made. But somehow this tiny indication that his thoughts were already so little employed on her welfare made her feel indescribably dejected. Once more she sat in the front seat of the bus on the way home, and once or twice she had to put up her hand to wipe away an uncontrollable tear, for all the vanished hopes and dreams, and joys that had been hers.

She reached home just in time for lunch, which surprised Aunt Ellen, who immediately suspected disaster, even before she noticed her niece's ringless left hand.

However, at first she was too busy "dishing up" to make many enquiries, and it was not until they were all having coffee in Mrs. Farman's room after lunch that Aunt Ellen suddenly exclaimed,  "Beverley! You've lost your ring!"

"No, I haven't." Beverley spoke curtly, for she secretly dreaded another scene of explanation. "I've given it back."

"Given it back!" For once her mother and aunt spoke in unison, and her mother's tone was almost as dismayed as Aunt Ellen's.

"Do you mean that you have broken your engagement, dear?" her mother asked anxiously. While Aunt Ellen asserted with gloomy triumph.

"No, he has! Just as I said he would. Beverley isn't good enough for him now that he's a rich man."

"Oh, do be quiet, Ellen!" Mrs. Farman hardly ever spoke so sharply to her sister, even when goaded, and Aunt Ellen immediately assumed an expression of deep offence. "Let Beverley speak for herself. That is, if you want to tell us about it, darling, "'Mrs. Farman added.

"I shall have to tell you some time. It may as well be now." Beverley managed to make her voice sound very well controlled and matter-of-fact. "Geoffrey did not break the engagement. I did. And I did it because I found that he was really in love with someone else." _

"Oh, my dear, " her mother put out a sympathetic hand to her, "I'm so sorry.",

But Aunt Ellen, who simply could not maintain her offended silence in face of so many questions which were crying out to be asked, wagged her head critically and enquired, "Why did he get engaged to you, then, if he really wanted someone else?"

"It was all a mistake. Aunt Ellen. People do make mistakes sometimes, you know, even about the things that matter most. You may as well know now. The other girl is Sara Wayne."

"Sara Wayne?" Is that why she broke off her engagement to Franklin Lowell? Nobody seems to know their own mind any more. I don't know what young folk are coming to, " Aunt Ellen declared..

"They always made silly mistakes like this, her sister reminded her, but she looked grave. "Was this really why Sara broke her engagement, dear?"

"No " Beverley shook her head. "In a way, it was the other way round. When Geoffrey heard that she was free he rather gave himself away. I had been suspecting something for a little while, and I asked him to be frank. You mustn't think he wasn't upset at having to hurt me. But once I knew what the true position was, of course there was only one thing

"Of course, " agreed her mother, but she sighed.

"And what has old Mr. Revian to say to all this?" enquired Aunt Ellen after a moment of blackest thought. "I suppose he's only too glad that Geoffrey is going to marry someone from the county instead of a village dressmaker?"

"On the contrary, " said Beverley dryly, "he was a good deal annoyed and upset. I had to go to a great deal of elaborate explanation and some pretence to soften down the news sufficiently for him to accept it, in his weak state."

"Well, that's something, " Aunt Ellen conceded grudgingly, the hurt to her family pride somewhat assuaged by the thought of Mr. Revian regretting the attractive Sara Wayne as a substitute for her niece.

There was silence for a moment. Then Mrs. Farman, who missed very little, asked somewhat diffidently, "What did you mean by saying, dear, that you had to resort to a certain amount of pretence, when you explained things to old Mr. Revian?"

Beverley paused, chose her words carefully, and replied as casually as possible,  "He seemed ready to blame Geoffrey, ".

"Quite right too, " interjected Aunt Ellen.

"And I had to imply that the arrangement was mutual. That, in fact, I was as anxious to break the engagement as he was."

"And how did you do that?" enquired her mother, with some curiosity.

"By telling him that I too had changed my mind and wanted to marry someone else."

"Who?" asked Aunt Ellen, on to that interesting point like a bird on a nice fat worm.

But fortunately, before Beverley could be driven to further dissembling, her mother answered for her.

"She doesn't mean that she mentioned anyone specifically, Ellen. Don't be silly! I suppose you just made a general statement, dear?"

Beverley smiled wanly and nodded vaguely, glad that her mother had never met Mr. Revian and therefore did not know how unlikely he was to be satisfied by any general statement.

After that there seemed little more to say on the melancholy subject, and Beverley was able to escape to her own room. But though she had supposed, for the last few hours, that what she wanted more than anything else was the luxury of a nice private weep, as soon as she found herself free to indulge in this, tears deserted her.

She sat for a while on the side of her bed, thinking back over the conversations with Geoffrey and his father. And then, because it was not in her nature to mope idly, she got up with a sigh and unpacked the parcel of work she had brought from Huntingford Grange the previous day.

She had picked up her needle and thread and already made a beginning before the fact was suddenly borne in on her, with quite terrible significance, that she was resuming work on Sara's trousseau, which would be needed after all, because she would be marrying Geoffrey. And at tins point Beverley really did cry.

The next day she went off to work as usual, outwardly composed but inwardly full of trepidation. It was not possible to guess how quickly Geoffrey might have moved, or whether any echo of the new situation had yet reached the Waynes, or, at least, Sara.

But, whenever this did happen, it seemed inevitable that there would have to be further explanations and excuses and pretence of being happy when one was perfectly miserable. And Beverley felt singularly ill equipped to deal with any such crises at the moment.

Strange to say, however, nothing at all disturbing. happened, either that day or the following one. Beverley continued to work in her room at the top of the house, and no one came near her except the maid who brought her lunch, and Mrs. Wayne who came up to ask her something about a dress she was making for.

It was on the Wednesday" that the crisis broke. And it was Sara herself, who with rare decision and courage, gave the first sign of it. Almost as soon as Beverley had arrived, she came running upstairs and into the room her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling, in a way that made her breathtakingly beautiful.

"Oh, Beverley, " she closed the door and leant against it, "don't hate me, will you? No, of course you won't, because you're so fantastically and wonderfully generous. Oh, I'm so happy, and you're the last person I should say that to! Please forgive me I don t know what I'm saying, only, " she came over suddenly and put her arms round Beverley and kissed her, you've made it all so wonderfully, unbelievably easy. And you could have spoiled everything. Most girls would have."

"Oh, no! Not most girls. Only some girls, " Beverley protested. But she kissed Sara back again, because it was impossible not to when she was so transparently happy and grateful. "It was so perfectly obvious that it was you Geoffrey wanted. I'd have been an idiot as well as a beast, to try to hold on to him."

"But the way you did it all! Smoothing everything with his father. Geoffrey told me about it."

"Oh, well, if one's doing anything at all, one may as well do it properly." Beverley smiled, with a half amused indulgence which surprised herself. She supposed it was spiritless of her to feel so kindly towards her rival, and to go on reassuring her in this way. And yet, for the first time since Sunday, she felt an odd warmth at her chilled heart. A sort of satisfaction over the righting of some cardinal error with which she had been living for years.

"They had to come together, Geoffrey and this lovely girl, " she thought suddenly. "They are meant for each other. She looks a different person, now she knows she is to marry him. And he, " She recalled almost without pain this time, the shining relief and wonder on Geoffrey's face when he'-had realized that he was free to marry Sara.

"It's all right, Sara, " she said slowly. "I'm glad we all found out in time. It would have been so perfectly awful if all this had happened after I had married Geoffrey."

"You're an amazing girl, " declared Sara, with a smiling little shake of her head. "You manage to speak so objectively and with no ill feeling, ”

"I have no ill feeling!" Beverley exclaimed sincerely "This was something none of us could have foreseen or prevented."

"But don't you, " Sara hesitated, "I suppose I shouldn't ask this, and yet I want so much to be reassured don't you feel angry and miserable that such a thing should have happened to you? Or is there perhaps, Geoffrey hinted there might be someone else with you too?"

Beverley wondered just how closely this dangerous pretence was going to cling to her. But, with Sara looking so eager and anxious, there was only one reply to make.'

"I can't say much about it yet, Sara, but, yes, there might be. Anyway, please don't spoil your own happiness with any worry about me. Things have a way of working themselves out, and I don't think this situation is going to be any exception."

"Oh, Beverley, you darling!" Sara, who had never shown herself half so demonstrative before, hugged Beverley again. "I can really be happy now, without a bad conscience. Everything is simply wonderful!"

And, radiant with fresh happiness, Sara went off presumably to tell either her family or Geoffrey that everything was indeed all right.

Beverley wished now that she had detained Sara long enough to hear just what had happened, how much her parents knew, if they approved and so on. But it was obvious that, in her new-found happiness, Sara cared only about the one salient fact that she was to marry Geoffrey, after all. Everything else was a matter of irrelevant detail.

Later, Mrs. Wayne came up, with some sign of embarrassment in her usually self-possessed manner, But all she said was, "Miss Farman, I'm sure you don't want to discuss this new development with any of us. But I hope you don't feel too badly about Sara's engagement. I mean her new engagement." She coloured slightly and bit her lip.

"No, of course not." Beverley wondered how many more people she was going to have to reassure, in this synthetically bright way. "Geoffrey and I made a mistake. We both recognized the fact. And I hope Sara and he will be very happy."

"Thank you." Mrs. Wayne hesitated again. Then she went on determinedly. "Do you still feel willing to go on working for us?"

It was Beverley who hesitated that time. For she saw herself, m her mind's eye, stitching away at Sara's wedding dress. But she could not afford to quarrel with her bread and butter, for a matter of sentiment, she told herself. And so she replied quite calmly,

"I don't at all mind continuing to work for you, Mrs. Wayne. But I don't feel that it would be very suitable for me to make Sara's actual wedding-dress."

"No, of course not, " Mrs. Wayne agreed very willingly. And then she went away, with the air of a woman whose problems were working out better than she had dared to hope.

For the rest of the day Beverley worked on without interruption, until, late in the afternoon, the sound of footsteps galloping up the stairs intimated that Toni was home from school and on her way up to the sewing-room.

She burst in, breathless and evidently full of news and drama, and her first words were, "Oh, Miss Farman, I was right about Sara and Geoffrey Revian, all those weeks ago, wasn't I?"

"Yes." Beverley smiled slightly. "It seems that you were."

"It's all settled. Did you know? She's going to marry Geoffrey."

"Yes, I know."

Toni drew near. "It all happened so suddenly, didn't it? Have you heard about it?"

"Not in detail. But you can tell me, if it isn't private." "Oh it isn't private. The whole family knows, " Toni declared. "It seems Geoffrey rang Sara up yesterday and asked her to meet him in the afternoon, and she found he wasn't engaged to you, after all, and so she got engaged to him herself, and then they came back here in the early evening, it would be just after you'd gone, I think, and they told us all."

"I see. How did your parents take it?"

"Oh the usual way parents do, you know, " said Toni tolerantly. "They were a bit taken aback at first, but quite pleased afterwards, because, even if Geoffrey isn't such a good match as Franklin, he's pretty good now he and his father are friends. And they'd been so upset about Sara not marrying Franklin, that I suppose they were quite relieved and delighted that at least she was going to marry Geoffrey."

"I suppose they were, " agreed Beverley a trifle dryly.

"Anyway, Geoffrey said his father wanted to see Sara" Beverley had a sudden desire to laugh nervously at the familiarity of that, "and so he took her back to his home with him. And I went too.

"You went too?" Beverley looked astonished. How on earth did you manage that?"

"I asked, " Toni said simply. "Several times. And after a while, Geoffrey, who was in a wonderfully good mood and ready to do anything for anyone, said, 'Why don't we take her? The old man will like her, and it might help things.'"

"I suppose it well might." Beverley looked at the little girl before her with some amusement and appreciation "I imagine you got on very well with him."

"Oh yes I did, " agreed Toni, with no false modesty.

"And afterwards, when Geoffrey and Sara went downstairs together, to talk to each other the way people do when they've just got engaged, I stayed with old Mr. Revian and we had a nice long talk. And that, Miss Farman, " she added, dropping her voice confidentially, "was when he told me about you and Franklin. And I'm so glad. Otherwise I'd have been quite miserable about your not having anyone, now that Sara has Geoffrey."

'About, about me and Franklin?" repeated Beverley, with the odd sensation that someone had slipped a piece of ice down her spine. "What did he tell you about me, and Franklin?"

"About your getting engaged too, " explained Toni comprehensively. "And he said___"

”But we're not!" cried Beverley, in great agitation.

“Oh, not absolutely officially. I do understand that, Miss Farman. It would be almost too much of a good thing lf You and Sara just changed round like that. But I told him how worried I was about you. Because I like you, Miss Farman." Toni beamed at her affectionately. "And he said I needn't cry about you___"

"Did you cry about me?" asked Beverley, touched even in the midst of her anxiety.

"Just a bit, you know. But he said I needn't, and that he'd tell me a secret. And so he did, and then I knew it was all going to be all right. And I'm so glad."

'Th-thank you, " said Beverley helplessly. "It's very sweet of you to be so concerned about me. But you do understand, don't you, that this is absolutely private for the moment. You mustn't mention a word of it to anyone. Not to anyone."

"Oh, yes. I do understand that, " Toni agreed solemnly. And as though to add weight to her assertion, she licked her forefinger and drew it significantly across her throat. "I wouldn't breath a word of it to anyone in the family."

"Nor anyone outside the family, either, " cried Beverley, prickling with apprehension.

"No, of course not. The only person I mentioned it to was Franklin himself, because he gave me a lift home from school. But it was all right mentioning it to him, wasn't it. Miss Farman? because of course he knows all about' it, doesn't he?"