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'
I won’t,’ she promised, 'but there’s no reason why he can’t see it next year if he wants to, you know.’

‘I know,’ he acknowledged the possibility. 'Just the same, Miss Gaynor, he’s easily cast down and I’d rather you didn’t rub too much salt into the wound.’ She fell silent, wishing that there was a time when she could say something that he would not immediately misconstrue. Her eyes on the road ahead she felt as she often did in his presence, a little uneasy and rather inadequate. He really had no right to imply that she would tell Emlyn about the outing merely to upset him, making her out to be some sort of sadistic monster that enjoyed her patient's misery. The now familiar antagonism stirred in her as she glanced again at his profile; sometimes, she told herself, she almost hated him and she had never thought so strong an emotion to be part of her nature.

‘You like Owen Neath?' he said, and managed to make it sound like an accusation.

'
I do,' she admitted, refraining with difficulty from adding that she considered it none of his business. For a moment he turned his head and looked at her.

'It's obvious he likes you too,’ he told her, again making it sound like an accusation, and the resentment she felt coloured her cheeks even more than the sun and wind had done.

'I hope he does,' she retorted, 'because I enjoy his company and I shall be seeing him again, for as long as he’s staying in Glyneath.'

'
Then I wouldn’t let Emlyn know that either,' he said bluntly. 'Since he says he’s in love with you, it won’t help his recovery to know that you care as much for someone else as you do for him.'

She took a deep breath, determined to put him firmly in his place once and for all as far as her own affairs were concerned. 'I don't consider my private life is any concern of yours, Mr Davies, and since I am neither in love nor committed to Emlyn or Mr Neath I fail to see that I’m at fault anywhere.'

'
I didn’t suggest that you were at fault,' he argued, 'but I've seen you kiss both my son and Owen Neath in one afternoon and I wouldn’t like Emlyn to know about it, if you don’t mind.’ So that was it, she thought. It had been him at Emlyn’s door just before she came out and he had seen this journey back to the house as a chance too opportune to miss. It was typical of him that he should automatically attribute all the blame to her and not to his son.

She clenched her hands in her lap and tried to stem the flood of words that would have made her position irretrievable. 'If you'd taken the trouble to be fair about any of this, you would have known that I wasn’t to blame for either incident,’ she said quietly, though her voice wavered just a fraction. 'You would have known that Emlyn took me unawares and that I had no part in it at all except to try and free myself without hurting him, and secondly I was kissed by Owen Neath, not the other way round as you said, also, in case that had escaped your notice, Doctor Neath kissed me too. In the first instance I objected strongly as you would have seen, had you waited a moment longer, and in the second two instances I saw no need to object since the gestures were merely friendly.’

‘Emlyn surprised you?’ He sounded as if he doubted it. 'How, may I ask? I was under the impression that he was practically helpless.’

'
He has the full use of his arms and hands! 'Helen retorted. 'And now that he’s able to be propped upright more it gives him a great deal more freedom of movement, as I know to my cost.’ He digested this information in silence while he drove them along the drive and up to the house.

'
I’m sorry,’ he said at last, and she saw from the set of his jaw that he disliked having to apologize to her. 'I hadn't realized that he was capable of so much movement yet.' For some reason which she found inexplicable, his apology, however grudging, turned her anger and she once again found herself making excuses for him.

'
You couldn't know,' she said. 'He's made very good progress in the time; really remarkable, as I expect Doctor Neath has told you.'

He nodded. 'He also told me that you are his main incentive to get well, which makes you indispensable, Miss Gaynor.' The acknowledgement left her bereft of argument and she slid from her seat in the car with only a murmur of thanks when he held the door for her. The car was left as usual for someone else to put away and they crossed the width of the drive to the front door, Helen finding it difficult to match his stride so that she misjudged the distance from the first step and caught her toe against it. She would have fallen headlong but for the arm that went round her with surprising suddenness and held her tightly, the strong fingers curved round her waist, stopping her fall. She clutched at him wildly for a moment until she recovered her balance.

'
Did you hurt your foot?' he asked, and she shook her head. She was still encircled by his arm and alarmingly conscious of the erratic way her heart was behaving which, she told herself, was utterly ridiculous.

'
I'm all right,' she assured him, stooping to retrieve her shoe, and the supporting arm was withdrawn. She put on the shoe, tested its stability and smiled at him reassuringly, then followed him into the house. She would have gone straight to her room, but he turned in the doorway of the big room and spoke to her over his shoulder.

‘Are you going in to Emlyn?' She looked puzzled for a moment.

'
I expect so,' she said, and smiled. 'He'll have heard us come in and I expect he'll call me if I don't go in.' She raised her eyebrows queryingly. 'Why, Mr Davies?'

For a moment he only looked at her and she thought he had changed his mind about whatever it was he had been going to say. 'Try not to let him know how little you care for him,' he said at last, and for a moment before he turned away she saw a plea in the black eyes which made her swallow hastily on the lump that rose in her throat.

'
I'll try,' she promised, but he was already through the door and might not even have heard her. She continued on her way oddly touched by the appeal she had only briefly glimpsed and disturbingly conscious still of the remembered strength of his arm about her for those few moments, and then Emlyn's voice recalled her to reality.

'
Helen, is that you?' She opened the bedroom door and went in, a smile already on her face and he beamed , his usual welcome when he saw her. 'Did you arrive with Evan?'

'Yes. He was at Doctor Neath's when Owen and I got back and he brought me home.' She made the automatic movements of tidying his bed and he stilled her hands impatiently with his strong grip which for a moment she made no effort to break.

‘Did he frighten you with the speed he goes?' he asked and looked surprised when she shook her head. 'He's a marvellous driver, of course, but he does scare some people because he goes so fast. Do you like speed?'

'
I don't mind too much in the right conditions and with a good driver,' she admitted, 'but he drove much more slowly today than when he passed Owen and me along this road on Friday.'

He looked thoughtful for a moment. 'Ah, well, perhaps he didn't want to frighten you.' It was unlikely, Helen thought, that he would care one way or the other on that score, however—

She changed the subject, not wanting to commit herself on the intentions of Evan Davies at that moment. 'How have you been getting on this afternoon? Did you have Dai in to see you?'

'
Dai came up for a while,' he said, 'but they were
a bit
busy or something
and he didn't stop long. I've
been on my
own most
of
the time. Evan went down
to see Doctor Neath.
I think he wanted to
talk about
me
with no chance of me
overhearing what they
said.'
His
grin was almost smug.
‘Where did you
go?'

With Evan's warning in
mind
she hesitated.
‘Oh,
just around for a ride,
and
now Owen's car
has
gone wrong again, so we shall
probably
have to
walk next
time.'

The familiar frown was gathering between his
brows
and he watched her as she came
towards
the bed. ‘There is going to be a next time, then?'

‘Of course,' she said. ‘And now I'm going to get your dinner and see you settled before I have mine.'

'
Don't change the subject,' he said shortly, and sounded remarkably like his father so that she could not restrain a smile to herself.

'
I intend changing the subject,' she told him quietly. ‘I've already told your father, Emlyn, that my private life is my own concern and neither of you has any right to interfere in it.'

For a moment his eyes widened incredulously. ‘You told Evan that?' He stared unbelievingly, then burst into laughter. 'You
are
a little lion-tamer, aren't you? No one tells Evan to mind his own business and gets away with it; didn't he sack you on the spot?'

'
No, he didn't,' she said crossly.

'
I'm not sorry, because I should have to tackle him on the subject of reinstating you and I'd as soon not have to. What else did you tell him?'

‘What else was there to tell him?' she countered, and added, rather unwisely she realized, too late, 'He said I was indispensable.'

He laughed again, his eyes bright as coals as he looked at her flushed face and wind-tossed hair.

'
He's right, you know,' he told her, sobering suddenly. ‘You are indispensable to me. If you left me I should simply refuse to go on with the treatment and spend the rest of my life in this bed.'

'
That's a stupid thing to say,' she told him shortly. 'Any other nurse could do as much for you as I do and you know it.'

'
Oh, no, she couldn't. I wouldn't co-operate with any other nurse as I do with you. You're the reason I put up with that daily torture you inflict on me. I have to have a reason, you see, and you're it.'

‘That's silly,' she said, fearing that it might be all too true.

'
It's nothing of the sort. Without you I have no incentive to get well, so you see you are indispensable. I intend to get well because I'm going to stand on my two feet one day and ask you to marry me.'

She sighed as if she found the subject tiresome and the frown gathered again.

‘I
am
going to fetch your dinner,' she told him determinedly, 'and we'll have no more of that talk, if you don't mind. First you have to learn to walk again; any other bridges we can cross when we get to them.' With that she set her chin at what she hoped was a determined angle and went downstairs for his dinner tray, aware as she left the room that his frown had deepened and he was prepared to argue if she but gave him the chance.

Her own dinner that evening she found rather less of an ordeal than it usually was because her companion was in a much better humour. Apparently a little straight talking could work wonders with the redoubtable Evan Davies; it was a point she would remember for future reference. Their talk, admittedly, was on general subjects and confined mostly to the country and the comparative virtues of England and Wales with regard to scenery, but it was the time after dinner that Helen always disliked most. Usually she left the table on some pretext, however slim, and spent the evening either in her room or in the garden, and she saw no use in altering her routine. If there was to be a change in the atmosphere between them it was as well not to be too ambitious at first.

The daylight was shortening already when she walked through the gardens and she was glad of the woollen coat she had thrown round her shoulders. She paused at the barrier hedge of roses before the footpath that curved round Glyneath and looked at it for a moment thoughtfully. It was well worn, no doubt with many generations of feet before hers, and it looked very inviting, curling away to the right and out of sight about forty or fifty feet up.

Her hesitation was brief and she started up the path, finding it steeper than she had anticipated and longer than it appeared from the garden. She had almost decided that she would go no further when she came to the curve in the path where it disappeared when seen from below. This was the place that Owen had told her about, where Dilys Davies had come on that fatal day so many years ago. Round this comer was the view that she had risked her life to see again, and Helen stood for a moment, breathless, one hand on the rock for support. If it could make a fit and unencumbered girl like herself out of breath, what would it have done to that child so near to having her baby?

She turned the comer warily, uncertain what she would find or what she expected to find, and found herself on a wide ledge which was, she supposed, Owen's 'small sort of plateau place and the natural stone seat stood there exactly as he had described it. It was getting into the golden dimness of evening and the sun bathed the whole valley in a mellow light giving it an added beauty which was breathtaking. Breathing heavily from the climb, she found the invitation of the seat was too much to resist, especially as the sun shone on it so enticingly. The wide rock looked almost like a throne in its majestic setting and she sat down cautiously on the sun-warmed stone. .

'
Cader Helen,' she murmured to herself with a smile, and leaned back against the rock. She felt she could see the whole world from her throne; set out below her like a relief map in gold and green and grey, it was awe-inspiring but at the same time restful, and she lay back, relaxing luxuriously in the sun like a cat, enjoying the warmth on her face.

She had been there, thoroughly content to do nothing, for some twenty minutes, with no desire to return to the house until she was obliged to, when she heard her name called. She should have answered, she supposed, but she felt too lazy and comfortable to bother, so she merely turned her head in the direction of the sound.