conversation with Linnet.
Linnet wandered away across the lawn. She had the feeling that Diana could, and would, prove extremely difficult if the mood descended on her, and knowing that she was away from the restrictions of the nursing-home, and there was no one but Linnet to hold her in check, she might in time try to take advantage of the situation if Linnet wasn’t very firm. Linnet decided that she would have to be very firm, and felt the beginnings of actual uneasiness stir in her.
After lunch Diana was once more tucked up in her bed, and Linnet found some sewing and took it down into the garden. She sat in the far corner under the oak tree, and she was putting fine stitches into a nightdress she was making for herself when Guy Monteith’s car came creeping along the lane, and as soon as he had passed through the white-painted gate he caught sight of her and came over.
He was looking, she thought, unusually fit—some of that haggard look seemed to have left him—and he was wearing light grey flannels and a dark blue blazer with a club badge, and a silk scarf knotted carelessly about his neck. He looked casual and countrified and completely at his ease, and also rather debonairly handsome in his dark, intense way, and Linnet felt suddenly excited as she looked up at him. He smiled and threw himself on the short grass at her feet.
“Don’t disturb yourself, my sweet—you look enchanting sitting there, in that blue thing.” She had changed into egg-shell blue linen, with a white belt and sandals, and the delicate colour emphasized her own delicacy. “I’m lucky to find you alone. Where’s the patient?”
Linnet looked warningly towards the house, but he continued to smile lazily as he threw himself back on his elbow.
“Don’t worry, darling, I’m not afraid of her! And it’s natural for even a distant cousin to come inquiring after the health of an invalid when she suddenly arrives in the neighbourhood. Have you told her we’re going to be married?”
“No, of course not, Guy ! ”
“Why ‘of course not’? We are, you know.” He looked up at her in a slightly amused fashion. “Tomorrow I’m going to London to buy you an enormous diamond ring that will make that slender third finger of yours look positively weighted by it. Unless you’d prefer a sapphire—?”
“Guy, we hardly know one another!”
“We know all it’s necessary to know! And as for the rest—well, we’ve all our lives before us to find that out! It’s exciting to think that there’s so much to find out, isn’t it?” looking at her under his thick black eyelashes in a way that secretly turned her bones to water. She actually felt herself begin to tremble a little.
“We may be quite unsuited to one another,” she managed to remark while she re-threaded her needle.
“I may be unsuited to you, but you’re all and more than I’ve ever dreamed about!” He reached out and lightly touched the peach-coloured nylon in her lap. “What is this?” he asked.
Linnet’s blush gave away the fact that she found the question embarrassing, and he laughed softly, caressingly.
“What an adorable small thing you are!” he exclaimed, softly. “And your blush is like the first faint rosy flush of sunrise when it comes stealing over a snowy mountain peak!” She felt as if his look was devouring her. “Linnet, I adore you ... ! I want to kiss you so desperately at this moment that—”
“Please!” she begged.
He sighed, and lay back on the grass.
“Anyway, we’re going to be married soon,” he said. “You understand that? Certainly before I go back to Rhodesia—”
He could tell by Linnet’s look that she was watching someone approaching them over the grass, and he stood up gracefully to greet his cousin. Diana was looking perfectly composed and not even surprised in a heavy silk suit the colour of her spun-gold hair, and an undisturbed afternoon sleep having warmed the glow in her cheeks and brightened her eyes
Linnet wandered away across the lawn. She had the feeling that Diana could, and would, prove extremely difficult if the mood descended on her, and knowing that she was away from the restrictions of the nursing-home, and there was no one but Linnet to hold her in check, she might in time try to take advantage of the situation if Linnet wasn’t very firm. Linnet decided that she would have to be very firm, and felt the beginnings of actual uneasiness stir in her.
After lunch Diana was once more tucked up in her bed, and Linnet found some sewing and took it down into the garden. She sat in the far corner under the oak tree, and she was putting fine stitches into a nightdress she was making for herself when Guy Monteith’s car came creeping along the lane, and as soon as he had passed through the white-painted gate he caught sight of her and came over.
He was looking, she thought, unusually fit—some of that haggard look seemed to have left him—and he was wearing light grey flannels and a dark blue blazer with a club badge, and a silk scarf knotted carelessly about his neck. He looked casual and countrified and completely at his ease, and also rather debonairly handsome in his dark, intense way, and Linnet felt suddenly excited as she looked up at him. He smiled and threw himself on the short grass at her feet.
“Don’t disturb yourself, my sweet—you look enchanting sitting there, in that blue thing.” She had changed into egg-shell blue linen, with a white belt and sandals, and the delicate colour emphasized her own delicacy. “I’m lucky to find you alone. Where’s the patient?”
Linnet looked warningly towards the house, but he continued to smile lazily as he threw himself back on his elbow.
“Don’t worry, darling, I’m not afraid of her! And it’s natural for even a distant cousin to come inquiring after the health of an invalid when she suddenly arrives in the neighbourhood. Have you told her we’re going to be married?”
“No, of course not, Guy ! ”
“Why ‘of course not’? We are, you know.” He looked up at her in a slightly amused fashion. “Tomorrow I’m going to London to buy you an enormous diamond ring that will make that slender third finger of yours look positively weighted by it. Unless you’d prefer a sapphire—?”
“Guy, we hardly know one another!”
“We know all it’s necessary to know! And as for the rest—well, we’ve all our lives before us to find that out! It’s exciting to think that there’s so much to find out, isn’t it?” looking at her under his thick black eyelashes in a way that secretly turned her bones to water. She actually felt herself begin to tremble a little.
“We may be quite unsuited to one another,” she managed to remark while she re-threaded her needle.
“I may be unsuited to you, but you’re all and more than I’ve ever dreamed about!” He reached out and lightly touched the peach-coloured nylon in her lap. “What is this?” he asked.
Linnet’s blush gave away the fact that she found the question embarrassing, and he laughed softly, caressingly.
“What an adorable small thing you are!” he exclaimed, softly. “And your blush is like the first faint rosy flush of sunrise when it comes stealing over a snowy mountain peak!” She felt as if his look was devouring her. “Linnet, I adore you ... ! I want to kiss you so desperately at this moment that—”
“Please!” she begged.
He sighed, and lay back on the grass.
“Anyway, we’re going to be married soon,” he said. “You understand that? Certainly before I go back to Rhodesia—”
He could tell by Linnet’s look that she was watching someone approaching them over the grass, and he stood up gracefully to greet his cousin. Diana was looking perfectly composed and not even surprised in a heavy silk suit the colour of her spun-gold hair, and an undisturbed afternoon sleep having warmed the glow in her cheeks and brightened her eyes
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