He said stiffly, “I don’t really know what you mean.”

Her eyes were brightly blue.

“Nonsense, my dear man! You know as well as I do! He would be the answer to any maiden’s prayer, only it doesn’t always work out in the domestic circle. I suppose the money is all tied up?”

“Naturally. Really, Mettie-”

She nodded.

“Yes, yes, I know-most improper to speak of it! But what’s the good of being old friends if you can’t? And whilst we are being indiscreet you might just as well tell me why Valentine looks-”

“My dear Mettie, I haven’t the slightest intention of telling you anything! Not that there is anything to tell. Valentine has been run off her legs. She is tired out and no wonder.”

“Oh, well, if that is all-Brides ought to look their best but they very seldom do. Gilbert seems devoted enough. He’s got rather a knack of it, hasn’t he? Too charming to too many people. But I suppose with Valentine it’s the real thing, so all the others will be thinking how lucky she is. And of course he will be the next Lord Brangston. Too tiresome for the poor people having all those daughters, but very nice for Valentine. Not that a title does you much good nowadays, but it’s decorative and she can afford to keep it up.”

Gilbert Earle had crossed the room to where Valentine stood with John Addingley, a tall hatchet-faced young man with a strip of plaster crossing his upper lip. Valentine stood between them. She had used rather a delicate lipstick, because when she tried the brighter shade it made her look too pale. She had put a little colour on her cheeks, and it looked all right upstairs, but when she caught a glimpse of herself in one of the long mirrors between the windows down here she could see that it stood out on the smooth white skin like a stain.

Gilbert said, “Am I allowed to take you in?” and she smiled a little and said, “Yes, I think so. We are only waiting for Scilla. It’s shocking of her to be late, but she always is.” Her voice was sweet and quiet. It sounded as if she was too tired to raise it or to accent the words. There was no feeling behind them.

In the pause that followed Maggie Repton was heard to say, “Oh, dear-” and Sir Timothy Mallett took out his watch and looked at it.

Then the door opened and Scilla Repton came in in a gold dress with the least possible amount of top to it. Arms, shoulders, and breast were as white as milk. Her hair was golden under the light. She came in without hurry and stood a moment, smiling, before she said in her languid voice,

“Oh, you’re all here. And I’m late again-how dreadful of me! Maggie, who do I go in with? Is it the bridegroom, or Sir Tim-I can’t remember.”

Gilbert met her eyes with a laughing look.

“Oh, not with me, I’m afraid. Valentine and I are on show as a pair tonight-aren’t we, darling?”

Valentine said gravely,

“I suppose we are.” There was a faint note of surprise in her voice, as if it had only just struck her. And it was true. They were on show like exhibits in a glass case with all the lights turned on so that everyone might see. But after tomorrow they would be alone. A stab of fear went through her, a sense of the irrevocable.

Scilla was smiling, her head a little tilted back, her lashes drooped.

“Oh, no,” she said, “-have a heart! After all, you’ll be going off together for the rest of your lives. It’s our turn tonight. Val can do her best to soothe Roger’s lacerated feelings, and you, darling, are coming in with me, so that is all about it.”

The evening was over and quite a number of people were glad of it. Connie Brooke was one of them. It ought to have been a wonderful party, the sort of thing to remember and look back on when times were dull. And she had had a lovely dress to wear too, one that Scilla Repton had given her, almost new and just the pale blue she liked best. Penny Marsh thought it made her look too pale-“run-in-the-wash” was what she had really said. But everyone knew that fair girls could wear blue, and it would have been quite all right if she hadn’t been so upset and cried so much. Her skin showed it terribly when she cried, and her eyelids were still hot and swollen. She had hoped no one would notice it.

But Cousin Maggie had. She had come right up to her in the drawing-room after dinner and asked in her fidgeting sort of way whether there was anything the matter. It was kind, but it made her want to cry again. And of course she had recognised the dress-“I suppose Scilla gave it to you. But really, my dear, the colour-rather trying! Perhaps you haven’t been sleeping.”

“No, Cousin Maggie, I haven’t been sleeping.”

“Oh, well, you shouldn’t let it go on. Nora Mallett was quite concerned. She said you looked as if you hadn’t slept for a week! And I said I would give you some of my tablets- very good ones which Dr. Porteous gave me two years ago when I was staying with my cousin Annie Pedlar. They were wonderful! And you do feel so much better about everything when you’ve had a good night’s sleep.”

Well, of course they both knew that she had been dreadfully upset two years ago about Cousin Roger’s marriage. As if anything more wonderful could have happened! There they were, two dull elderly people, and Scilla-wonderful, beautiful Scilla-had been willing to come and live with them. She let her thoughts dwell on how marvellous it would be to live in the same house as Scilla and see her every day.

As she walked home across the Green with Mettie Eccles she kept on trying to think about Scilla-how lovely she had looked in that golden dress. She was much, much more beautiful than Valentine. Talk about looking pale-Valentine had looked like a ghost, everyone was saying so. Why should she be pale? She was the bride, tomorrow was her wedding day, she had everything that a girl could possibly want. Her own unhappiness came up in her throat and wouldn’t be swallowed down. She wondered if Cousin Maggie’s tablets would really make her sleep. It would be wonderful if they did. She would have to dissolve them-she had never been able to swallow anything like a pill…

Miss Mettie was saying, “You don’t look fit for anything, Connie. You had better have something hot and get to bed as quickly as you can.”

“Oh, yes. I left my cocoa all ready on the stove-I shall have to heat it up. And Cousin Maggie gave me her tablets, so I shall be sure to sleep.”

Mettie Eccles said sharply, “I thought you couldn’t swallow a tablet. I remember your mother saying so.”

“I’ll dissolve them in my cocoa.”

“Goodness-they’ll taste nasty! But of course you don’t taste things, do you? Why can’t you just swallow them?”

Connie said weakly, “I don’t know-I can’t.”

She did hope Miss Mettie wasn’t going to argue with her about it. She didn’t feel like arguing with anyone tonight. It would be easier to try and swallow the tablets, but if she did she would be certain to choke.

Mettie Eccles went on about it all across the Green.

“How many tablets did she give you? How many did she tell you to take?”

“I don’t think she said. I expect it will be on the bottle.”

“Well, I shouldn’t take more than one if I were you. It isn’t as though you were used to things like that.”

They said good-night at Miss Eccles’ gate and Connie went on alone. It was a great relief to be alone. She didn’t want to have to think any more, or to talk, or to answer any more questions. She only wanted to have her hot drink, and to lie down in her bed and go to sleep.

She always left a light burning when she was out. She didn’t like the feeling of coming into a dark house. She unlocked the door, and there was the light waiting for her. When she had locked it again she went through to the kitchen. Her cocoa stood ready on the oil stove in an enamelled saucepan. She lit one of the burners, put the pan on to heat, and went upstairs. Now that the evening was over she was so tired that she could hardly drag one foot after another, but she hung the pale blue dress away, in what had been her mother’s room, before she went down for the cocoa. She took Cousin Maggie’s tablets with her. She thought she would have slept without them, but she wanted to make sure. When she had drunk the cocoa she washed cup and saucepan out at the sink, put out the light downstairs, and went up to bed. It would be lovely to have a real long sleep.