‘Happily. But don’t think for one moment of cancelling the cheque. Do that, and I shall do my worst. If we have an agreement, I’ll go upstairs and pack. But not before saying goodbye to Julia and Charles.’
His father looked as if he were about to object, but then merely nodded.
Twenty minutes later, and with the requested cheque safely in his hand, Ralph went in search of Julia. He expected to find her in her parlour, but Charles was there alone reading a book. ‘Charlie-Boy,’ he said quietly, ‘I want you to do something for me. Go and pack a small bag of your favourite things, and a few clothes. Can you do that?’
‘Are we going somewhere?’ the boy asked anxiously.
‘Yes. But it’s a surprise. A secret. So not a word to your father.’
‘Is Mummy coming with us?’
‘Of course.’
The boy nodded and slipped off the chair. ‘If you’re looking for Mummy, I think she went upstairs.’
Wondering what she was doing up there, Ralph climbed the stairs, just as he had last night. On the landing he saw that Miss Casey’s door was ajar. He pushed it further open and saw Julia inside the room.
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.
‘After what you said about Miss Casey, I came up here to see if I could find any evidence of what you’d hinted at between her and Arthur.’
‘I’m sorry I did that in front of you and Charles. I should have waited until I had my father on his own.’
‘I don’t care about that. But look what I’ve found.’
Standing in front of a dressing table, she pointed to an opened drawer. Going over to take a look, he frowned at what he saw. ‘Is that what I think it is?’ he said.
‘Yes,’ Julia murmured. ‘And it all makes sense now.’
He had no idea what she meant, but he quickly told her what she had to do next.
Chapter Eighty
Island House, Melstead St Mary
December 1962
Evelyn
Evelyn had had half a mind to feign sickness and back out of Christmas lunch at Island House, but she knew it would have raised too many questions. In particular from Kit, who would have worried what had brought on the sudden illness.
So after they had tramped through the snow on foot to attend that morning’s brief Christmas Day service at church, they had arrived at Island House where Evelyn was forced to make an enormous effort to behave as normally as possible.
The shock she had experienced on hearing Max’s voice on the telephone yesterday explaining about him and Isabella had now been compounded by something even more unbelievable. With something of a dramatic flourish, Isabella had revealed over a glass of champagne in the drawing room that she and Max were to be married. The announcement had caused Evelyn very nearly to choke on her champagne. While everybody else had greeted the news with astonished delight, Evelyn had caught Romily’s eye and detected a wary look of apprehension. And rightly so. What did Isabella think she was doing? And what was Max up to? Marriage?Him?
Thank God for Romily’s other house guest. With a naturally affable way of chatting to everybody, Red St Clair brought a breath of fresh air to the proceedings. Now as they ate lunch, which apparently Red had helped Romily prepare, he and Kit were engaged in a conversation about Kit’s time spent in Canada learning to fly. It turned out that they had a mutual friend who had trained at the same flying school. What were the chances?
And what were the chances of Max being a faithful husband? Evelyn looked across the dining table to where he was sitting between Isabella and Em. He was amusing them with some tale about a puppy he’d been given as a child, and how the dog had been utterly devoted to him. It was on the tip of Evelyn’srazor-sharp tongue to interrupt the conversation and say, ‘Well, that’s Max for you, he always could instil slavish devotion.’ She wisely said nothing.
‘You’ve always had a wonderful way with dogs, haven’t you?’ said Isabella to Stanley.
Before he could reply, Em said, ‘I’d have loved to have a dog, but Mum wouldn’t let me.’
‘And with good reason,’ responded Evelyn. ‘It would have been left to me tohouse-train and take care of it while you were away at school.’
‘But wouldn’t you like a dog now?’ continued Em.
‘Why now?’
