The girl in the blue dress by Mary Burchell Page A

said
reminiscently. "But she wasn't old Miss Eithorpe then, of course. Only middle-aged and quite extraordinarily
difficult. She was supposed to have been crossed in love, which was reckoned to
account for all her eccentricities. But I don't know that I believe much in
that sort of explanation. It's so easy to blame all one's disagreeable
qualities on something in the past, isn't it?"
    "Like the psychologists who claim that
criminal behaviour in an adult is directly traceable to a well deserved hiding
when one was ten, " suggested their visitor.
    "Oh, yes!" Mrs. Farman looked at Franklin
Lowell with almost affectionate approval.
Then, after a pause, she said elliptically, "I think common sense is such a
nice quality, don't you?"
    "It's a wonderful basis
for sympathetic understand ing, "
he agreed, with a twinkle. "Has, Beverley, " he hesitated only a
second over her name, "told you that I have a picture of her when she was
about twelve or thirteen?"
    "Yes, indeed! It's Geoffrey's picture of her, isn't
it? I'm so glad you have it."
    "Why, Mrs. Farman?"
he asked rather curiously.
    "I'm not quite sure.
Except that you would value it for its human, Beverley-ish qualities, and not
just make a fuss about it for its artistic merits, I think. Besides, it's nice to think of anything so personal
belonging to a friend, rather than a collector."
    "You have the most charming way of paying
compliments, " Franklin told her, with a laugh, as he rose to go. "I
hope I may come and see you again."
    "Please do. You will always be welcome, "
Mrs. Farman said. And then Beverley went with him to the front door.
    "Is there anything to be done for her?"
he enquired, suddenly much graver than Beverley had seen him before. "She
is so charming, and brave."
    "I know. Everyone loves her. But, no, I'm afraid
there isn't very much. I am sure she liked seeing you, though, and thank you so
much for coming in."
    "Thank you for asking me, " he said. Then
he bade her goodbye and went out to his car.
    As Beverley turned back into the house again, Aunt Ellen
emerged from the kitchen and uttered the first expression of unqualified
approval Beverley had ever heard from her.
    "Now that, " she said, "is what I
call a man!" Then she went back into the kitchen again, to see about supper.
    CHAPTER SIX
    DURING the next few days Beverley lived in a state of painful indecision. She kept on telling herself
that few emotional problems are improved by being discussed at length, and
that the heart-to-heart talk has accounted for more broken friendships and
romances than almost anything else.
    But the longing to speak frankly to Geoffrey, to
ask him to define his exact attitude towards Sara was sometimes almost irresistible. To her innermost soul, she
longed for some sort of reassurance, some statement from him which might possibly
admit a one-time affection but which would also establish be yond all doubt that no feeling for Sara still
lingered. And yet, suppose she did tell him of her doubts and fears, her
conjectures and beliefs? If these were groundless, and if he had, in fact, never
really re turned Sara's love, could anything be more embarrassing or
undignified than the position she would then
be in?
    As for the other possibility, the much stronger probability,
that he had indeed at one time loved Sara, what right had she to ask him to
admit the fact? "It isn't even my business if he loved her once but doesn't
any longer, " Beverley assured herself, with a splendid detachment which
reached no further than words. "What's past is past. If it is all over, "
    But there, of course, was the nib. Was it all over?
Or did Geoffrey still hanker after the girl who was divided from him by practical circumstances? Was he, in fact, marrying
herself, as second-best, in order to console himself for the loss of the girl
he really wanted?
    When she was actually with Geoffrey, Beverley was considerably
reassured, for his manner to her was as affectionate
and intimate as it had always been. It