The girl in the blue dress (19 page)

"He liked you, Beverley!"

"I liked him, " she replied simply.
"I, I hope there will be many opportunities of knowing him better."

"Well, " Geoffrey sighed, "at least
he is holding his own, at the moment. Come and have some lunch
now. And perhaps later, "

"Oh, do you think I should stay to
lunch?" Beverley said doubtfully, as she remembered the lack of warmth in
Mrs. Mercer's manner.

"Why, of course. Why not?" Geoffrey
looked surprised.

"I didn't want to appear to, to make myself at
home here, when I'm quite a stranger as yet. I
thought, "

But Geoffrey would have none of that. So Beverley stayed
to lunch, a well-served and admirably cooked meal, and again made what
contribution she could towards some uninspired and very formal conversation.

Geoffrey had seemed to think she might be asked for
again by his father. But when, early in the afternoon the nurse reported that
her patient was asleep and
would certainly
not be seeing anyone else that day,
Beverley said that she must go home.

"You stay here, Geoffrey. Your place is here, she
told him. "But I have stayed as long as I should, and, anyway. Mother will
be expecting me back. I ought to catch the three-thirty bus."

"What's the matter with the car?" he
asked rather impatiently.

"Your aunt said something about going out this
afternoon, " Beverley reminded him. "I'm sure she will need the car, and
frankly I would rather go by bus than ask her to make any rearrangements. I've
been going by bus all my life, " she smiled at him mischievous,
"so there's no need to look on it as a
hardship now.

"All right." He smiled too then.
"I'll walk down to the bus-stop with you."

He seemed to be feeling the need for her presence, and
it touched her and pleased her immensely that this was so. Not since the old, happy
days before Sara Wayne had come into her life, had she felt so truly
necessary to him, so much a part of his plans.

Undoubtedly his father's expressed approval had
something to do with this, if only because it made
him,
see his marriage as
something
which titled perfectly
into the new pattern of life which was opening for him.
But in addition, there was this eager, half-boyish
dependence on her in trouble which was touchingly and deliriously reminiscent
of the old days.

As they stood waiting for the bus, he unselfconsciously
held her hand in his. And when it arrived and she turned to say goodbye to him,
he kissed her
,
hard and said,
 
"
Thank you, my darling, for all your support."

She kissed him in reply and climbed into the over-crowded
bus, hardly noticing that anyone else was there, or that she was going to have
to stand in discomfort among a shopping-laden crowd, at least for part of the
way.

What did a little thing like that matter beside the
fact that Geoffrey loved her and needed her? That his father approved of her
and had virtually set his seal on the marriage. How small and unnecessary her
fears and anxieties of the last few weeks now seemed. She had tormented herself
for nothing.

There were two or three other stops before the bus actually
left Castleton, and gradually the number of
passengers
thinned, until Beverley found herself a seat
near the front, where she
seemed likely to sit in happy
solitude.

At the last stop in the town, however, a few more people
joined the bus, and one of them came running to the front to drop into the seat
beside Beverley. "Hello, Miss Farman, " said Toni's clear and rather penetrating
voice, "what are you doing in Castleton on a Saturday afternoon?"

"I might ask you the same thing."
Beverley turned to smile at her, for she was fond of the youngest Wayne. "You
don't go to school on Saturday, do you?"

"I should think not" Toni dismissed such
a gruesome idea with emphasis. "I've been to spend the morning with Wendy
Tulley, and they asked me to lunch, and
was
I glad!"

"Really?" Beverley was amused. "Was
it such a good lunch, then?"

"Oh, it was all right, you know."
Gastronomic
niceties did not find a place in
Toni's interests yet, it
was evident. "But it wasn't that. I was
glad not to be at home today, because something perfectly awful has
happened, Miss Farman."

"Has it?" Beverley remained magnificently
calm before this tragic announcement, because she had had previous experience
of the things which ranked as disasters in Tom's estimation. "What is
it?"

"I don't know that I'm supposed to tell
anyone." Toni dropped her voice and glanced round the bus. "But I guess
it doesn't matter telling you, because in a way you're almost family. And, anyway
everyone will have to know soon. Sara has broken off her engagement, Miss
Farman. And you simply can't guess what a to-do there is about it."

"SARA, your sister, has broken off her
engagement?" repeated Beverley in utter consternation. "You mean, she
isn't going to marry Franklin Lowell?"

"No." Toni shook her head emphatically.
"She just isn't going to marry him at all." She spoke as though there
were degrees of marriage
and Sara had
rejected them all.

"But, how perfectly
awful!" Beverley felt a dreadful sinking sensation which was almost
physical somewhere
in the region of
her heart. "You, you can't have got
it
right, Toni. There must be a mistake. Perhaps they have had a misunderstanding
of some sort. Something that, "
  
,

"Oh, no. There's no misunderstanding about it,
" Toni
declared. "Sara told us all
at breakfast-time this morning. Mother went quite white and Father nearly
choked, and Madeleine said what about her year at
the Academy of Dramatic Art? which I thought
rather
selfish of her."

"And what, " asked Beverley in a
fascinated tone, "did you say?"

"I said what about Franklin? But no one took
any notice, " Toni explained, "because I suppose they were all
thinking about themselves."

"I suppose, they were, " agreed Beverley
slowly.
And, unexpectedly, she bent and
kissed the little girl's
cheek. "You're a good child."

"Why?" enquired Toni, to whom this view
was evidently novel.

"Oh, never mind. It would take too long to
explain. But I, I'm very sorry to hear about this, Toni."

She could not say that she was shocked and
frightened beyond description, or that the very foundations
of her new-found security and happiness were
rocking. She could only say conventionally that she was sorry to hear the news.
And then add, with unconvincing
optimism,

"But perhaps it will all blow over. Perhaps
Mr. Lowell will be able to talk her out of this idea."

"No." Toni shook her head again. "I
think he'd already said all he had to say last night. They must have settled it
then, because they were out together. And
this
morning she came to the breakfast-table without her
ring."

"I see."

The bus jogged on over the
rough country roads,
and Beverley
stared ahead and tried to tell herself
that
there was no need to panic. Even if Sara had decided that she could not marry
Franklin Lowell, after
all, this 'did not necessarily mean that she
hoped to marry Geoffrey.

"It isn't even as though she could possibly
have known about his changed prospects, " thought Beverley. "At least,
" She felt her heart miss a beat.

Could Sara possibly have known? and was that anything
to do with her sudden decision not to go on with her engagement to Franklin?

Beverley did some feverish calculation, and decided
that unless Geoffrey had deliberately telephoned his
news to Sara, there could be no possibility of her
having known
the changed circumstances.

"And he wouldn't do that, " Beverley
assured herself. "Why should he? Besides, there was nothing in his
manner to suggest that he had even thought of Sara
since he had the news about his father."

"Why were you in Castleton, Miss Farman?"
asked Toni again, at this moment, in innocent curiosity.

"Were you just shopping?"

"No." Beverley roused herself from her
thoughts
with an effort, and decided there
was no harm in telling
the exact truth. "Geoffrey's father was ill,
and sent
for him. And then he decided that
he would like to see
me too. I've just come from his place now."

"Geoffrey Revian's father?" Toni looked
interested.

"But I thought they weren't on speaking
terms."

"Well, they are now, "
Beverley said briefly.

"D'you mean there's been
a reconciliation?" enquired
Toni,
scenting drama.

"You might call it that, I suppose."

"Was it a deathbed reconciliation?" Toni
evidently liked that idea immensely.

"No. I hope Mr. Revian is going to get
well."

"But he might not?"
suggested Toni, in the interests
of
dramatic possibilities which, for the moment, outweighed even her
characteristic kindliness.

"He is very ill, " Beverley conceded. And,
because she could not resist trying this line of enquiry, she added casually, "Had
you not heard anything about it?"

"No. How should I?" Toni looked
surprised.

"Oh, well, Mr. Revian is
a very well-known man in
the district.
I thought perhaps one of the family might have heard something."

"If so, no one told me." Toni sounded
slightly aggrieved. "No one ever does tell me anything."

"Well, I've told you something now."
Beverley smiled slightly.

"Yes. Thank you very much. Miss Farman, "
Toni
said gratefully. "I'll like telling
the others. And I can
really say that Geoffrey is reconciled with his
father? and that you've seen him? and that he liked you?"

"Yes. I think you can say all that, "
Beverley told her slowly, for there seemed no point in delaying the news. "But
how do you know that he liked me?"

"He couldn't help it, " said Toni simply.
At which Beverley felt oddly cheered.

Presently they began to near the stop for
Huntingford Grange, and suddenly Toni said, "Why don't you get out with me,
Miss Farman, and call in at home? You might cheer them up a bit."

"I don't think I can flatter myself that I
should do that." Beverley smiled and shook her head. But she was
immediately assailed by the most terrible temptation to hear for herself what
had really happened, and to see
the effect
of her own news.

"You would, you know, " Toni told her.
"They all like you. And by now they must be tired of talking to one
another about this business."

"But I have no possible excuse for
coming." Beverley was weakening, in spite of her better judgment. "It
would look as though I were just drawn there by curiosity, which would be
unpardonable."

"You could call in for some work you had
forgotten, " suggested Toni practically.

"I, well, yes, I suppose I could do
that." Beverley
felt her resistance
crumbling, and she snatched at the
proffered excuse. "Yes, as a matter
of fact, there is
something I would rather like to take home with
me. There is so little time, "

And then she stopped. Because, of course, if Sara were
not going to marry Franklin Lowell, after all, there was all the time in the
world.

"There's no great rush now, " agreed Toni
soberly. “But do come, just the same."

So Beverley got off the bus when Toni did, and together
they walked up the lane to Huntingford Grange.

Fortunately she was saved from making her own excuses,
for Mrs. Wayne was in the hall when they entered, and Toni immediately broke
into explanations. "Oh, Mother, I met Miss Farman on the bus, coming
back from Castleton, and she's called in to fetch some
work she forgot to take yesterday. And she's been into Castleton to see
Geoffrey Revian's father, who is very ill and just been reconciled to Geoffrey,
in case he dies. Isn't that interesting?"

"Very interesting, " said Mrs.’ Wayne
absently. "Good afternoon, Miss Farman. Do come upstairs. I should like to
speak to you."

For the first time in Beverley's experience, Mrs.
Wayne seemed uncertain in her manner, and
Beverley found it in her heart to be genuinely sorry for the mother of the
beautiful but unpredictable Wayne girls. Her scale of values might be very
worldly, but in her way she wanted what she thought was best for her daughters.
It must, Beverley supposed, seem to her that Sara had gone out of her mind.