“It all turned out wonderfully for me,” said Annabelinda.

“I think I was lucky, too,” added Andrée.

“Edward wants to say ‘how do you do,’ ” I said to Annabelinda.

“Hello, Edward,” she said.

He looked at her with curiosity and replied, “Hello,” and added, “Why do you wear that funny hat?”

“Edward’s appreciation of haute couture is not fully developed,” I said.

“It’s not funny, Edward,” chided Andrée. “It’s beautiful.”

“Thank you,” said Annabelinda. And to Edward, “I’m sorry you don’t like my hat.”

“I do like it,” he insisted. “I like it because it’s funny.”

“What are you making with your puzzle, Edward?” I asked.

“It’s a cat. His whiskers are on this one…and this is the start of his tail.” He turned to Annabelinda. “At the bottom,” he went on, “it spells cat.”

“So clever,” she murmured.

Edward turned away and said, “Shall I do the elephant?”

“Well, he is your favorite,” I said.

He was not really interested in Annabelinda beyond her hat. I thought how strange it was that he should not know her for his mother. It occurred to me that there might have been some instinct which would show itself; but there was not.

I squatted on the floor and we completed the cat and started on the elephant while Annabelinda chatted with Andrée.

Annabelinda talked mainly about herself, and Andrée seemed quite content to listen. She was explaining that she was going house hunting. “Always such fun.” The major would be giving her a free hand. As long as it was somewhere suitable, that was all he would care about; and she knew exactly what he wanted.

They were deep in conversation about houses while Edward and I finished the elephant and started on the giraffe.

The first week at the house passed very quickly, though fruitlessly as far as any discovery was concerned. I was beginning to be certain that the spy could only have been some visitor to the house.

Mrs. Cherry was friendly with the housekeeper of one of my father’s friends and she occasionally came in to take a cup of tea. I could not believe that the portly Mrs. Jordan, who complained a great deal about her rheumatics, could possibly creep about the house searching for vital information without Mrs. Cherry’s being aware of it.

The, mystery deepened. It could only have been some casual workman who had called at intervals perhaps, as it had happened more than once. It was a pity my father could not question Mrs. Cherry, but the one thing he did not want was to call attention to his suspicions.

I was watchful. Sometimes I would wake in the night and sit up listening. One night I even went down to the study. The door was firmly locked and everything was in darkness.

We went to Marchlands on Friday afternoon. Edward was joyfully reunited with his pony, Billy Boy, and enjoyed the animal even more because of the short separation. And on Monday we were on the move again.

During the second week Robert called.

I was delighted to see him, yet fearful because I knew what this meant. The course was now completed and he would be going away.

I was right. He was to leave at the end of the week.

“Oh, Robert,” I said. “How I wish…”

He gripped my hand and said, “I’ll be back soon, you’ll see. I’ll tell you what I’d like to do. I’d like to take a walk in the park…just like we used to. Just go over the old ground to remind myself while I’m away. Not that I shall need reminding.”

“Let’s do it.”

We walked through the trees and down to watch the ducks, which years ago we used to feed.

“Everything looks the same as it always did,” said Robert. “We’re lucky not to have the enemy invading this country.”

“Oh, how I wish it could all be over…and that you had not to go away.”

“It can’t go on much longer. Things are moving in the right direction. It just means hanging on a little.”

“It will be four years in August,” I reminded him. “People keep saying it will be over soon, but it goes on.”

He put his hand over mine. “The end is coming. I am sure of it,” he said.

“But you are going out there again. You’re so calm about it…almost as though you don’t mind.”

He was silent for a moment, then he said, “I suppose I am one of those people who don’t always show what they are feeling. At the moment, I am wishing I could sit on this seat forever…with you.”

“I do love you, Robert.”

“I know. Do they say ‘like a sister or brother’…as the case may be.”

“No, more than that. It’s true I have always thought of you as part of the family, because your mother and mine were brought up together for much of their childhood. No, it is more than that. Especially with you. I could not bear it if you did not come back.”

“I’ll come back,” he said. “I’ll come back to you.”

“You asked me to marry you. Is the offer still open?”

“It will be open until you accept it…or marry someone else.”

“It is time,” I said, “that we were thinking about the future.”

“Do you mean…?”

“I mean that I am getting older and wiser. I’m beginning to understand myself. The thought of your going away has made me realize how much you mean to me. Robert, you must come back to me.”

“I’ll have everything I want to come back to now.”

“I should have told you before…”

“We could have had a hasty wedding before I went. Perhaps this is best. I never wanted to hurry you. I could see how you felt. You’ve known me all your life. There was no sudden realization. Love did not have to be implanted by Cupid’s arrow in one exciting second. It was always there for me. It started when I first saw you nibbling the edge of your blanket in your pram in this very park. All the tricks of romance were missing. We didn’t have to go through the preliminary stages. It made it difficult to realize.”

“For you, too, Robert?”

“Oh, no…no. I could see it more clearly. When you were seven years old I decided I wanted to marry you. I was a little put out by the difference in our ages at that stage, but thank Heaven when you get older the gaps don’t seem so wide.”

“Wise old Robert!”

“Not very bright in some things, I fear, but in this I know exactly what I want, and what is right for me and—I hope—for you.”

“I know it is right.”

“Then we are engaged to be married. Is that so?”

“It is.”

“How wonderful it is sitting here with you. Look at that small boy feeding the ducks. You see that greedy one….Oh, good, he’s been pushed aside and the little one’s got the piece of cake, or whatever it is. Oh, it is wonderful to sit on this seat and become engaged!”

I slipped my arm through his. I sensed his contentment and shared it until I reminded myself that in a few days’ time he would be in the midst of danger.

“I wish we were still at Marchlands,” I said. “I wish your leg was so bad you couldn’t go. I’d wish anything to keep you here.”

“This is the happiest moment of my life. I just want to enjoy it.”

“How can I enjoy it when you are going away, when I don’t know when I shall see you again?”

“I will come back.”

“How can you be sure? How can anyone be sure of anything in this fearful world?”

“I shall come back. We shall sit on this seat and there will be nothing to fear.”

“If only that can be! I am sorry to be so uncertain, Robert. We have wasted so much time because I was foolish. But at last I have had time to see things as they really are. What I want more than anything in the world is for you to come back safely to me.”

“I shall. I promise you. Dearest Lucinda, I shall come back.”

I had to believe him, for I could not bear to contemplate a future without him.

I spent the next day with Robert. I was catching his mood of optimism. We made plans for the future as though it were certain to come.

Then I said good-bye to him and he went off. I guessed it would not be long before he was on the battlefield. I tried not to think of it. I forced myself to plan for the future, to believe in it as he had.