She smiled.“I am so glad,” she said. “Sometimes onetends to think of the school in the abstract and forget that itis here to serve individual boys. I am glad you consideredCyril important enough to be called an emergency.”
“I am not at all sure that it was the right thing to do,” Philip said, “but it is worth a try, anyway.”
“When you report this to your patron,” she said, “will he disapprove, do you think, Philip? Will he think that youhave spent his money on a triviality?”
“I am sure he will not,” Philip said, and he moved abruptly away from the window and a short distance fromRebecca. He stood with his back to her.
“Rebecca,” he said, “our betrothal has gone on too long, do you not agree?”
Oh dear, she had not had time to sort out her thoughts and feelings. She was not ready to discuss this topic. Shesaid nothing.
“Shall we marry soon?” he asked. “Let us say at the beginning of September?”
Less than a month away!
“I—” Rebecca laughed nervously. “This is so sudden, Philip. I do not know what to say.”
“Sudden?” he said, turning to her. “We have been betrothed for almost a year.”
“Yes,” she said. “Yes.”
He looked at her in the ensuing silence. His eyes were not the calm and confident ones she was used to. Theywere tormented. “I need you, Rebecca,” he said.
She swallowed. Then she smiled a rather wobbly smile. For some reason she felt very close to tears. “Oh, Philip,” shesaid, “I think I need very much to be needed right now.”
They both moved forward. And for the first time they were in each other’s arms. Rebecca rested her cheek againsthis chest and closed her eyes. She could hear his heartbeating. After a while he put a hand beneath her chin andlifted her face to his. And he kissed her.
There was no passion in the kiss. It was a mere meeting of lips. But there was enormous comfort in it for Rebecca.It was like an unexpected anchor in a very turbulent sea.Whatever had happened in the last few weeks and especially the night before, the old life, the one she had foughtso hard to build, was still there for the taking. And shewanted so desperately to recapture the tranquility and thesecurity of that life.
Philip was looking down into her eyes. “September, then?” he asked
“Yes,” she said. “Oh, yes, Philip, I should like that very much.”
Maude was alone in the drawing room when Rebecca returned home that afternoon. Her head was bent over herembroidery. However, she looked up with a rather jerkymovement of the head when the door opened. She blushedhotly and bent over her work again, folding it with meticulous care.
“Ah, Rebecca,” she said, “I have been waiting for someone to arrive home so that I might have tea. I shallring for it now.” Her voice was unnaturally bright.
“Are you all alone, Maude?” Rebecca asked. “Where is everyone?”
“His lordship has been in bed all day,” Maude said. “He rather fancies that he might have caught a chill lastnight and is taking the precaution of keeping himself warm.The Langbournes must like fresh air, I believe. Not onlywere the French windows in the ballroom kept open allnight, but there was a window open in the card room too.”
“Well, I do hope Uncle Humphrey does not take a chill,” Rebecca said. “He is very susceptible to colds.”
“Sometimes I think that he coddles himself too much,” Maude said in a rush. “If he took more air and exercise,perhaps he would be more healthy. But of course I shouldnot say so. I do not know what it is like to be of a delicateconstitution. Forgive me, Rebecca.”
Rebecca smiled and sank gratefully into a chair. “And where are your brother and Harriet?” she asked.
“They have gone riding together,” Maude said, and she unfolded her embroidery and bent her head over it again.She seemed to have forgotten about ringing for tea. “Theyleft shortly after luncheon. I thought they would have beenback by now.”
“I would not worry about them,” Rebecca said. “Harriet is a perfectly competent horsewoman and I am sure Mr. Bartlett is an accomplished rider too. And you neednot fear about the weather. It is warm and quite calmtoday.”
“Oh, I am not really worried about any of those things,” Maude said. “It is just that ... I feel responsible forHarriet, Rebecca. She is my stepdaughter, you know,absurd as it seems. And for all her confidence and headstrong ways, I do believe that she knows very little of theworld. I am afraid she is no match for Stanley. Had Iknown they planned to be gone so long, I would have insisted that they take a groom with them.”
“I am afraid Harriet would not have taken kindly to such a suggestion,” Rebecca said. “Here in the country,we tend to behave in a far more relaxed manner than wewould if we lived in town.”
“Yes,” Maude said, “but Stanley is from town.” Rebecca laughed. “But a more gentlemanly person itwould be hard to find anywhere,” she said. “I do notimagine Harriet’s honor could be safer if she had taken adozen grooms with her.”
“You are right, of course,” Maude said. “He knows that she is my stepdaughter. He would know better than tocompromise her. You must think me very foolish, Rebecca.”
