The girl in the blue dress by Mary Burchell

it quite right that Geoffrey
should accept help from the man Sara was to
marry?
    "You mean, " said Franklin Lowell
carelessly at this point, "that he doesn't like me and might not want to
accept help from me?"
    "Why, how did you know?" She was too much
taken aback for polite concealment.
    "That he doesn't like me?" Her companion
was perfectly good-humoured about it.
"One always knows, unless one is a fool. I don't much like him either, come
to that, " he added, without rancour. "But then it isn't
necessary that I should."
    "Isn't it?" She looked nonplussed.
"But why should you help him if you don't like him?"
    "I've told you. Because I like you. And I
admire his work."
    Beverley noted the changed order of his reasons, and
wondered just how much value one should set on academic admiration.
    ''If he were not marrying me, would you make the same
offer of help?" she "enquired suddenly.
    "No. I don't expect so. But don't split hairs
about t hat, " he told her carelessly.
"Think it over. There is no need to decide anything at the moment. But if
you come to the conclusion that you like the idea, it can all be arranged. You
can even, if you like, bring in an unknown benefactor, and not tell
Revian who is putting up the money."
    "I don't think that would be practically
possible, " she said gravely.
    "Anything is practically possible if one wants
it sufficiently, " he retorted, with a
touch of that almost arrogant good humour which is seen only in those to whom
success comes naturally. "This is your place isn't it?"
    "Oh, yes." In her eagerness and interest,
she had hardly realized that they had arrived in Binwick and were how stopping before her own front door. "Thank
you so much for so many things, " she turned, and held out her hand
to him, "but most of all for this
wonderful, unbelievable offer to Geoffrey."
    "To you, " he corrected, but he smiled.
    "Well, thank you, anyway. I hope I haven't
taken up too much of your evening."
    "No, of course not. I'm not doing anything
except drive back home."
    "Truly? Then you wouldn't, " she
hesitated diffidently, "you wouldn't care to come in and see my mother, would
you?"
    "If you think she would like me to, of
course."
    "She would love it, I'm sure!" Beverley
flushed with pleasure.
    "I don't know why she should, " he said, with
some amusement. But he got out of the car immediately.
    "Because when you spend all your time in bed, it's
always interesting to see new people, " Beverley explained. "Besides,
you're a local personality. Rather like someone in a book, " she added a
little naively.
    This idea seemed to amuse him too, and very slightly
puzzle him. But he followed Beverley up the garden path without any
self-consciousness.
    When Aunt Ellen opened the door to them, with an
expression of half-offended astonishment, Beverley wondered if she had made
something of an error in inviting Franklin Lowell in. But, to her amusement and
a good deal to her surprise, he immediately turned on Aunt Ellen such a battery
of charm that even she produced a wintry little smile and said she was sure her
sister would be happy to see him.
    There was, Beverley felt, something strangely
exhilarating in the presence of this tall, good-looking, vital creature in
then- small front room. And when she led the way into her mother's room, she
saw reflected in Mrs. Farman's face something of her own rather breathless
enjoyment of the impact of Franklin Lowell's personality on their quiet home
scene.
    He was completely easy in his manner towards her mother,
and they liked each other on the instant, Beverley saw. Indeed, after a very
few moments, he drew up a chair and sat down, evidently intending to stay for a time, while Beverley curled herself up
at the end of the bed and prepared to enjoy her mother's pleasure in
their unusual visitor.
    It was surprising how much they found to talk about.
But, as a girl, Mrs. Farman had known Eithorpe Hall and its surroundings well.
    "I remember old Miss Eithorpe, " she