‘Vanessa wanted to come with us to show us the way, but she would have been missed,’ said Alexandra. ‘She was very concerned about you though, and sends lots of love.’
‘It’s so lovely to see you both!’ said Lizzie. ‘Have you brought my clothes?’
‘Clothes, food and wine,’ said Meg, handing Lizzie a paper carrier bag. ‘Here are the clothes we thought you might like for now. Vanessa has lent you some shoes. I think they were her school shoes. I hope they fit. I think her feet are a bit bigger than yours.’
Lizzie looked at the round-toed lace-ups. They would fit but they were very unattractive.
‘Vanessa doesn’t want them back,’ said Alexandra. ‘And I reckon we can see why.’
‘It’s very kind of her to find them for me,’ said Lizzie.
‘Vanessa got the picnic together, too,’ said Meg.
Lizzie’s underwear was more or less dry now but she was very glad to get into the jumper and pair of slacks Meg had brought. And fortunately Vanessa’s old school shoes fitted well enough.
Meg unpacked the picnic and spread it out on one of the Guide blankets. Vanessa had obviously put a couple of plates of canapés into the boxes from a picnic set. Then there was a wedge of cheese and some rolls. There was butter in another box and a paper bag with tomatoes in it.
‘It was really kind of Vanessa to do this when she must have been so busy,’ said Lizzie, having put cheese and butter into a roll and taken a delicious bite. ‘I didn’t realise I’d be so hungry.’
‘Well, according Hugo, you nearly drowned!’ said Alexandra.
Lizzie looked at her friends, who obviously needed to know how she’d got herself into this position.
‘We got your note,’ said Alexandra. ‘What happened? Why did you feel obliged to leave?’
‘Pour the wine and I’ll tell you everything,’ said Lizzie, knowing there was at least one thing she’d leave out. ‘But you have to tell me if it caused an uproar when Hugo came back? Presumably it was while you were all finishing dinner?’
‘You go first, Lizzie,’ said Alexandra. ‘We’ve been so worried about you.’
It didn’t take her long to get through what had happened while she was arranging the flowers, theoverheard remarks, the snobbish behaviour, her plan to get to the nearest town. She ate while she talked and when she’d finished her story and her wine, she said, ‘Your turn. Tell me everything.’
While she sounded as if she just wanted some really good gossip, in fact she wanted to know if Hugo’s sudden reappearance would affect his life forever.
‘But you could have drowned! Why did you get in that boat?’ asked Meg, distressed.
‘I didn’t drown. It was awful, but it’s over. Tell me about Hugo. He rescued me and it was just before his engagement party. His and Electra’s.’
‘Well, it was a bit awkward,’ said Alexandra. ‘But he handled it brilliantly, I must say.’
Meg carried on. ‘He missed dinner, but came into the drawing room while everyone was having coffee later, wet through and said, “So sorry, everyone, there’s been a minor emergency,” and he laughed, in the way people do when something awful’s happened and they’re trying to pretend it hasn’t. “I got a bit wet. I’ll just go and change and I’ll be with you.”
‘And then he caught my eye and gave me a look and I got out of the room as soon as I could, when everyone had stopped looking at him,’ said Alexandra.
‘Electra turned into the Snow Queen,’ said Meg. ‘Utterly beautiful but sort of frozen, as if she couldn’t speak because if she did her face would fall off.’
‘Golly,’ said Lizzie. She took a breath and steeled herself to ask the next question. ‘And did they make the announcement?’
‘Not while we were there,’ said Alexandra. ‘Hugo told me what had happened to you, though. Vanessa had seen the look too and joined us. Then I went to get your things, Nessa did the picnic and Hugo went to change.’
‘I didn’t hear anything either,’ said Meg as Lizzie turned to her for information. ‘I followed Alexandra.’
‘They might be doing it right now,’ said Lizzie blankly. ‘Announcing their engagement.’
No one spoke. Meg rubbed Lizzie’s arm, obviously not knowing what else to do.
‘Well, whatever happens,’ Lizzie went on, ‘I have to leave, as soon as possible.’
‘David is coming to pick us up after lunch tomorrow,’ said Alexandra.
