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But his eyes actually rested upon Hannah as he spoke, and for no other reason than that they were distinctly quizzical she flushed brilliantly.

No sooner had the doctor departed than Tremarth announced his intention of leaving his bed, and getting shaved and dressed. He also said he was going downstairs and into the garden, and not waiting for the following day.

Charlotte instantly looked alarmed and protested that he was not fit, and that the doctor’s advice should be followed to the letter; but her invalid merely requested her politely to leave the room, and suggested that perhaps Hannah would help him to dress. He was not exactly wobbly on his feet, but it would accelerate things if she lent him a hand.

“But there’s no hurry — ” Charlotte protested.

Richard Tremarth began to look slightly like a hunted man.

“There is a good deal of hurry,” he asserted. “When Miss Brown arrives I have no intention whatsoever of entertaining her up here, and outside in the garden she, too, will get the benefit of the sea air.” He grinned sideways, almost boyishly, at Charlotte. “I don’t feel my own man lying in a bed with a girl like Miss Brown sitting feeding me grapes and offering to read extracts from the daily newsprint aloud to me,” he confessed. “Besides, it isn’t fair to her.”

Charlotte couldn’t prevent herself from being awkward.

“Why isn’t it?” she demanded. “Presumably the only reason she’s down here at all is because you’re unwell?”

“Is it?” His white teeth flashed in his thin brown face as Hannah stood ready with his dressing-gown, having already placed his slippers within easy reach of the bed. “You don’t think I’m the fortunate one to be visited by anyone as dazzlingly attractive as Miss Brown, and that in order to show my appreciation I ought to make an effort, at least?” Charlotte looked openly taken aback, and Hannah smiled in an amused fashion which she endeavoured to make secret as she urged that he should take his time over getting out of bed, and asked whether he liked a really hot bath, or whether he preferred it merely tepid.

“I think you’d better leave us now,” she said in an aside to Charlotte, and the latter made no further references to Miss Brown and went downstairs feeling very much as if she had been snubbed, or at any rate put in her rightful place.

She went through to the kitchen to inspect the contents of the larder and plan the meals for the day, and it was while she and Mrs. Ricks, the daily help, were discussing the curious obstinacy of men when they were unwell, having already discussed the rival merits of junket and rice pudding as a sweet for lunch, that the local taxi made its appearance in the drive, and the enchanting Miss Claire Brown was decanted at the foot of the terrace steps.

She was dressed all in blue this morning — a light, azure blue that lent her a slightly angelic appearance, and plainly had the local taxi-driver slightly bemused as he accepted a generous-sized tip for his services so far, and arranged to pick her up in the same somewhat decrepit taxi at about six o’clock that evening.

“By which time our invalid will be feeling a little exhausted, I imagine,” she said as she turned to confront Charlotte, who had emerged from the house to greet her. “By the way, how is he?” she asked. “Much better, I hope?”

“He seems better, and he says that he is very much better,” the mistress of Tremarth informed her a little stiffly — she was afraid there was a smudge of flour on her cheek, and she had most unfortunately forgotten to remove her apron. The taxi-man’s eyes, although they widened with a modest amount of appreciation at sight of her, didn’t glow in the slightly fanatical way that they did as they returned to his fare, all light blue and golden.

“Oh, that’s splendid,” Claire replied, looking really pleased. “I was half afraid I might have exhausted him yesterday.”

She accompanied her hostess into the house.

“I’m a little early, I’m afraid,” she apologised, “but I did say I wanted to spend the whole of the day with him. Can I go straight upstairs to his room?” making for the staircase.

But Charlotte took quite an acute pleasure in preventing her.

“As a matter of fact, you won’t have to go upstairs,” she said. “The doctor suggested Mr. Tremarth should get up for a few hours, and he’s coming downstairs. If you like, you can go and sit in the drawing-room until he comes down, and I’ll bring you some coffee. Or you can wander in the garden ... as you please! ”

Miss Brown looked displeased at being prevented from ascending the handsome oak staircase. She said something about doctors doing the most extraordinary things nowadays, and elected to go and sit in the drawing-room, to which Charlotte shortly afterwards carried a tray of coffee and some of her own home-made shortbread biscuits. Miss Brown disdained the biscuits, but accepted a cup of black coffee, and in between smoking a cigarette and sipping her coffee let her eyes rove openly round the room and commented on it as being quite a treasure-house.

“You seem to have quite a collection of antiques,” she remarked, “and although I don’t know much about these things I’d say that some of them are valuable. That rosewood desk over there, for instance — ” nodding at it — “looks like Sheraton to me, and I’d say that’s a very valuable picture in the alcove. If you’re ever hard up you can make money on these things.”

Charlotte studied her.

“Mr. Tremarth wanted to buy them — all of them! ” she emphasised.

Miss Brown looked only partially surprised.

“Yes, I did hear he was interested in making a purchase down here in Cornwall,” she admitted. “After all, he’s Cornish, isn’t he?” as if that explained the slight idiosyncrasy. Her light eyebrows crinkled in a frown. “Personally, I wouldn’t choose to have my headquarters in an out of the way place like this, but if you don’t have to remain tied to it it’s not so bad.” She nodded her charming golden head, as if to give emphasis to her thoughts and to convince herself. “Yes; under the circumstances I think I could put up with it, and after all this is a very attractive house.”

“What circumstances?” Charlotte enquired bluntly.

Miss Brown turned her lovely light blue eyes upon her. And then

she smiled — very deliberately, and a little provokingly.

“Oh, come now, Miss Woodford,” she said, “you don’t have to have all your i’s dotted and all your t’s crossed, do you? I rather gathered from Richard that you were terribly shrewd and hard-headed — this was when he met you first of all, of course, and before his accident. When you told me just now that he wanted to buy all this — this conglomeration of good and bad furniture and other odds and ends,” waving a hand to indicate the room’s contents, “I knew that he was interested. I told you so last night, as a matter of fact, and you chose to be coy about his offer to buy. But if you want me to tell you why I'm interested “well, you might as well know that I’m not just Richard’s secretary. In fact, I’m not his secretary at all! ” “Oh, really?” Charlotte exclaimed, staring directly and rather fixedly at her.

Miss Brown inhaled a deep puff of smoke, and then exhaled it very gradually.

“I did work for him once — about a year ago,” she admitted. “I wanted a job, and he found me one. But I’ve known him for several years, and I think you can take it that we’re very good friends. In fact —

But at this stage of her revelations Richard himself chose to make his appearance, having somewhat slowly descended the stairs, and Claire rushed at him and seemed to be quite overcome by the sight of him standing on his own two feet once more.

“Oh, darling!” she exclaimed. “Oh, Richard, how wonderful to see you up and about again! I was so afraid I’d exhausted you yesterday, but I must have been good for you after all.”

Richard seemed very glad to reach a chair on the terrace, and he seemed even more appreciative when Charlotte stuffed a cushion in behind his shoulders and he was able to lie back comfortably, and

Hannah draped a rug across his knees because of the keenness of the morning breeze.

“This is good,” he declared, as his eyes rested contentedly on the line of blue sea. “This is very good indeed!”

Claire drew another of the comfortable terrace chairs up close beside him, and Charlotte accepted the hint and withdrew into the house. Hannah, a little more loath, apparently, to leave her patient alone with his visitor, retreated after lingering for a minute or so longer, and when she joined Charlotte and Mrs. Ricks in the kitchen she confessed that she was not entirely happy that Miss Brown intended to remain for the whole of the day.

“It’s true that she seems to know him very well, but I’m by no means certain that he welcomes her company as much as one might suppose,” she said.

Charlotte drank a half-cold cup of coffee and argued rather peevishly that she was quite sure Richard was delighted to have Miss Brown sitting with him.

“After all, she’s pretty enough to gladden the heart of most men, and even invalids can be responsive when it’s someone they particularly wish to see,” she opined a trifle dourly.

Hannah glanced at her.

“You think Richard was very glad to see Miss Brown? Well, perhaps you and I get entirely opposite impressions — ”

Charlotte banged her coffee cup down on the kitchen table.

“If you want to know the truth,” she said bleakly, “they’re practically engaged to be married. Oh, I haven’t had it officially from either of them, but Miss Brown was about to let a rather interesting cat out of the bag when she and I were in the drawing-room just now — and she’d ceased taking an interest in my furniture ! And if Richard hadn’t put in an appearance when he did I’m quite sure it would have proved to be a very interesting cat indeed.... Nothing less than that she plans to marry him one day. Possibly quite soon! ”

“Oh!” Hannah declined to appear very much impressed. “What makes you think that?”

“Because she’d got as far as admitting that they were very special friends ... and also I’m quite sure she knows all about Richard’s interest in this house. She was trying to make up her mind whether or not she’d enjoy living here.” “Oh! ” Hannah said again.

“And she seems to think it will be all right if she doesn’t have to spend too much of her time in a tucked away place like Tremarth... all right for holidays, that is. She even thinks she might enjoy living with some of the furniture! The rest she’s not so sure about! ”

Hannah went up to her and quite unexpectedly put an arm about her shoulders. As she gave her a hug she said encouragingly:

“You’re letting your imagination work overtime, my dear! And in any case, there are two sides to everything... and Richard at the moment is absolutely convinced she’s more or less a stranger! ” Charlotte actually seemed to brighten.

“Yes, he does, doesn’t he?” she said more hopefully. “And even if he finds out that he’s committed to marry a stranger, he might not take to the notion too enthusiastically. He might even hesitate — at any rate until he’s got his memory back.”

“And that could take weeks or months — if he doesn’t recover in it in the next few days,” Hannah offered it as her purely professional opinion.

Charlotte looked as if she found the notion of their patient being deprived of his memory for'

a considerable length of time surprisingly attractive ... even wholly desirable.

But later on that morning, when she went out into the garden to pick

raspberries, and returned to the house by way of the terrace, she felt as if a slight chill enveloped her comparatively cheerful spirits as she observed the pair sitting watching the sea. They appeared to have fallen into a state of contemplative silence, and despite the fact that Richard was frowning, as if the charms of the prospect were just a little bit wasted on him in his present state of invalidism and mental confusion, Claire Brown had an engaging half-smile on her lips,' and there was no doubt about it she found the prospect — possibly, also, of the future — very satisfactory indeed.

Charlotte halted her footsteps, and decided not to pass behind their chairs in case she disturbed them; but although he didn’t turn his head Tremarth must have heard her footsteps, and he called out sharply as she was about to turn on her heel:

“Is that you, Miss Woodford?”

Charlotte answered by hastening her steps until she stood beside him.

“Yes? Is there something you want?” she enquired with a touch of over-eagerness. Tremarth turned his head towards her, and there was an extraordinary expression in his eyes as they met and held hers.

“As a matter of fact, there is,” he replied quietly. “I’d like to go back to my room...........................”

“Oh, but____”

“The sun isn’t as warm out here as I thought it would be, and the glare of the sea makes my head ache a bit. I’d like to go back at once if you wouldn’t mind accompanying me to my room! ”

Claire stood up protestingly.

“Oh, but, Richard darling! ... Only a few minutes ago you said how lovely it was out here! And that you could never have enough of watching the sea! And if you want to return to your room I can help you

upstairs and tuck you up in bed if you honestly feel you’d like to go back to bed! ”

“Who said anything about going back to bed?”

He actually snapped at her, and Charlotte was so surprised she couldn’t believe it. Claire flushed, and looked momentarily dismayed.

“I don’t think he’s as well as we thought he was,” she said quietly over his head to Charlotte.

Tremarth burst out impatiently:

“What utter rubbish! Just because I said I’d got a bit of a

head____” But his eyes were frankly appealing to Charlotte. “Anyway,

Miss Woodford has been looking after me for several days — with the assistance of her efficient friend, of course! — and I’m afraid I’ve got used to having her around as a nurse. Miss Woodford — Charlotte!” He smiled at her a little stiffly, as if the muscles of his face were stiff and slightly painful, and every intensely feminine instinct she possessed was touched by the anxious insistence in his eyes. “I don’t need anyone to help me upstairs, but I’d like you to come with me and I’m not going back to bed. I shall sit in a chair in my room.”