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The car was left on the drive as usual for Dai Hughes to put away and as they walked across the space to the steps the door opened and Mrs Beeley met them, her face white and anxious as she stood aside to let them in. Evan glanced sharply up the stairs as if he knew where the trouble lay. ‘What's wrong?' he asked. ‘Is it Emlyn?'

Mrs Beeley nodded. 'He tried to get down the stairs. Doctor Neath is with him now.' Almost before the words were out of her mouth Evan was half-way up the stairs, taking them in great strides, with Helen, pale-faced with self-reproach, following more slowly.

Emlyn's bedroom seemed to be full of people when Helen went in. Evan stood beside Doctor Neath at the bedside and Dai Hughes stood over by the window, looking out as if he could not look at the others; Helen felt a cold shiver run along her spine as she took
in
the scene then Doctor Neath turned to her, his face blessedly cheerful.

'
It's all right,' he told
them
as Evan bent anxiously over his son, 'there's not much damage done, though it's no thanks to this young idiot that it isn't a sight worse.'

'
What happened?' Evan demanded, looking down at the pale face on the pillow. 'What in heaven's
name
happened?' He looked across at Dai Hughes, who turned and met his eyes with a look that was half defensive, half defiant.

'
I only left him for a minute,' he said. 'He asked me to get him a paper from downstairs. I've been with him all afternoon as you said, Mr Davies, but I thought it would do no harm to run down for the paper, it didn't take me more than four or five minutes.' He seemed to think the length of time needed explaining. 'It wasn't where he said it would be, I had to look for it, and when I came back he was on the landing. I'm sorry, Mr Davies.'

'
Oh, I'm not blaming you,' Evan said shortly. 'You were taken unaware; not ready for the tricks that
I
would have known was inevitable. I don't blame you at all, Dai.'

'
Thank you.' The defiance was gone as he looked his gratitude. ‘Just the same, sir, I should have anticipated something an' I didn't.'

‘Never mind, you can go.' The man left the room with a last, brief, telling glance at Helen which seemed to her to be charged with meaning, though what the meaning could be she had no idea.

Emlyn's eyes sought Helen with a trace of the old mischief in them as he looked at her. 'You see, I told you I could get as far as the landing.' His forehead was beaded with perspiration and she moved automatically to bathe it, with her fingers not quite steady.

'You should have known better,' Doctor Neath told him sharply before Helen could speak., ‘What were you hoping to achieve by being so foolhardy?'

'
It was by way of being a retaliation,' Evan said quietly, moving away from the bed to stand by the window, his face looking suddenly weary and indefinably sad, so that Helen found her sympathy with him instead of with his son. 'I took Helen out this afternoon, you see.'

'
I see,' Doctor Neath nodded thoughtfully, his eyes on Helen's face.

'
I wanted to show Helen that I
could
do it, I could get further than this blessed room,' Emlyn told them, his voice already stronger. 'And I did, you see. Oh, I admit I shouldn't have gone quite so far, but with Dai Hughes gone for so long I couldn't resist it.'

'I'm surprised you got as far as you did in five minutes,' Doctor Neath admitted, 'but you can see what the result is; perhaps it will convince you that I know what I'm talking about when I tell you to take it easy at first.'

'
I'm convinced,' Emlyn told him, his eyes on Helen. 'I'll be a model patient from now on, as long as Helen is here to take care of me.' She felt suddenly as if she wanted to cry; it was reaction, she realized perfectly well, but the shock that had met them when they returned had spoiled the pleasure of the time she had spent with Evan and she knew without being told that he would never again take her anywhere, seeing what had happened this time.

'
I'll go and change, if you'll excuse me,' she said, wanting nothing so much as to escape from this room and gain the sanctity of her own. 'I'll only be a moment, Doctor, if you need me.'

The old man patted her hand understandingly. ‘Don't worry too much, my dear. These setbacks happen, you know, and neither you nor Evan is to blame for this.' Hearing his name, Evan turned from the window as she moved away and through the mist that blurred her vision she was conscious of him watching her with a curious blend of appeal and hopelessness. For once the black eyes were not impenetrable and what she saw in them affected her far more than the pale face of the younger man had done.

In the quiet of her own room she only briefly gave way to her tears, then changed into her uniform, wishing she need not go back just yet, but realizing that Doctor Neath would be waiting for her. She was disappointed and yet relieved to find Evan gone when she went in and the old doctor smiled at her encouragingly.

‘I don't think we've been too badly set back, Helen my dear,' he told her, showing more sympathy with nurse than patient—a fact that Emlyn seemed to resent.

'
I'm the patient,' he reminded them. 'Don't talk as if I didn't exist!'

'
We're only too well aware that you exist,' Doctor Neath retorted. 'And I'll thank you, young man, to show a little more consideration for other people in future or I shall firmly recommend that Evan get another nurse for you, someone who won't cause so much personal unrest. Now, in heaven's name, lie still for a bit and try to help in your own recovery.'

Whether it was the doctor's straight talk or not, Emlyn was better behaved and more co-operative than he had been for a long time and he seemed genuinely to regret the trouble he had caused by his thoughtless and dangerous action, though how long the mood would last was open to speculation.

For two weeks now Helen had scarcely seen anything of Evan; his reason being, so he said in one brief moment of explanation, that he was busy on a new book and he had little or no time for regular meals or indeed any of the normal everyday things. His absence did nothing to cheer her already low spirits and she wondered if he attached some blame to her for the incident, though he had said nothing about it and she did not think that in all fairness he could blame her any more than himself, for it had been he who had arranged the outing.

She spent much more time with Emlyn, who had by now completely recovered the ground he had lost by the fall and was as demanding as ever. If he noticed any difference in her manner he made no sign of it; as long as she was available when he wanted something he seemed not to care that she was at times less placid-tempered than she had once been and, indeed, had several times responded to his teasing by snapping at him crossly. She ate most of her meals alone now and missed Evan's company, morose as it had often been in the past, far more than she cared to admit.

It was now the end of September but the weather still held quite well, though it was now more erratic and more chill with a scud of clouds that threatened to break at any moment. She sat on the low wall that surrounded the vegetable garden, sheltered from the wind by a small orchard of apple trees now dismally bereft of their crops and only waiting to die. Their despondent appearance was well in keeping with her own mood as she swung one foot disconsolately against the wall, not caring that the rough brick scraped her shoe; unaware that she was not alone until a familiar voice broke into her thoughts.

'
Evan said I would find you here,' Doctor Neath told her, without explaining how Evan would know where she was, and she smiled and made room for him on the wall beside her.

‘I'm surprised he knew where I was,' she said.

'
Quite simple,' the old doctor laughed. 'He saw you from his window. You make a very pretty picture, my dear, against a background of trees,' he chuckled, 'or did you know that already?'

She looked startled for a moment, then flushed at the implication, allowing for his impish sense of humour. 'I hadn't thought about it,' she said reproachfully, but unable to resist a smile, 'and I certainly didn't know I could be seen from
Evan's
window.
I
shall have to change my seat in case
he
thinks
I
have an ulterior motive in being here, too.'

'Oh, I wouldn't do that,' the old man advised with
a
wicked twinkle. 'Why deprive Evan of the prettiest view in the garden ?'

A little of his good humour rubbed off on her own rather gloomy mood and she laughed with him, but
a
little self-consciously now that she knew Evan could see her. 'Did you want to see me for any particular reason, Doctor Neath? I didn't know you were coming today or I would have been in the house. I'm sorry you had to come and find me.'

'
Oh, please don't apologize, my dear Helen; I came in as much to see Evan as our patient. I haven't seen or heard anything from him since young Emlyn played the fool, and
I
don't like losing touch with my friends, especially when there seems to be something making them unhappy.' He looked at her for a moment, as if he expected her to enlighten him on what it was that was making Evan unhappy.

'
He's been busy, so he told me,' she said. 'I understand that when he's working on a new book, he's incommunicado for the first week or so, apparently; I've scarcely seen him either.' She laughed, swinging her foot again without looking at him. 'I rather think he's avoiding me.'

The old man looked at her quizzically for a moment before he replied, his heavy white brows drawn into a frown. 'Now why would he do that? You two haven't quarrelled, have you?'

‘No, of course not.' She laughed shortly. 'There's been no chance to quarrel. I've only seen him twice in the last two weeks apart from when he's been in to see Emlyn.'

He shook his head ruefully. 'Oh, dear, but the Davies do have a penchant for making other people unhappy, and themselves, too, unfortunately.' He looked at her for a moment thoughtfully. 'Young Emlyn wants to marry you, I gather. I hope you've had the good sense to turn him down.' His matter-of-fact statement made her smile, though it startled her too.

'
I've tried to make him not take it so seriously, but it's difficult, and I promised Evan I wouldn't tell him outright until he was better able to accept it without it affecting his recovery.'

'
What made him extract such a promise?' the old man said indignantly. 'I know Evan spoils the boy, but he had no right to involve you in something like that without considering your position as well.'

'
Oh, he didn't really extract, a promise as seriously as that,' Helen said defensively. 'It was as much my fault as his; he only asked me not to let Emlyn know how little I cared for him until he was better able to cope. It was when I was seeing Owen and I think he thought that being rather—well, he made some remark to the effect that nurses were in a very convenient position when they have rich young men reliant on them for everything they need.' She saw the storm-clouds gathering on his expressive face and hastened to correct the impression she had given. 'Oh, I explained that I couldn't answer for other nurses, but my intentions were definitely not in that direction, and he apologized.'

'
So I should hope!' the doctor retorted. 'And what happened the other week when Emlyn tried that stupid bit of bravado, going out on to the landing?'

'
He didn't like being left again. It shouldn't really have been my free afternoon.'

' Evan took you out?'

She nodded. ‘I'd been spending quite a few of my free afternoons with Emlyn and he was angry about it, then he suddenly asked me if Owen had taken me to Lake Olwen.'

'
And had he?'

'
No. Emlyn made rather a fuss about me going and I was a bit dubious about it, but Evan insisted—' she hastily reworded her answer, not to put all the blame on to Evan. 'Well, to be perfectly honest, I didn't make much of a protest, but I might have succumbed to Emlyn's protests if Evan hadn't insisted that I be firm about it.'

'
Good for him! It was untypical of Evan, reassuringly so.' He arched his brows enquiringly. 'Were you surprised?'

'I was rather,' Helen confessed, remembering her almost speechless reception of the invitation. 'But then I thought I must have misjudged him, I thought so until recently when—well, you know what happened when we came back.'

'It was no one's fault but Emlyn's himself,' the old doctor told her, 'and I'm sorry that Evan's reverted to his former self. I can't think what he hopes to achieve by it, just as I was beginning to hope that he was coming out of his shell rather nicely, too. Ah, well!' He sighed deeply and shook his head.

'
I expect it's because he's busy,' Helen said, 'he may be better in a few days, when he's got whatever it is out of his system.'

' Hmm.' The bright old eyes twinkled wickedly as he looked at her. 'Perhaps he will. I'll leave the miracle working to you, my dear. You seemed to have achieved a lot so far, maybe you can again.'

'Me?' Helen exclaimed, wide-eyed. 'I had nothing to do with his change of mood, Doctor Neath, I assure you, though I suppose you could say I'm partly responsible for the present one; he probably thinks that if he hadn't taken me out that day I would have been here with Emlyn and he wouldn't have had that fall.'

'Stuff and nonsense I' Doctor Neath retorted. 'Of course you're not to blame, any more than Evan is, and talking of that young man, I sought you out partly to suggest that our young friend might come downstairs for a while tomorrow, don't you think so?'

'Oh, that would be marvellous!' Helen exclaimed delightedly. ‘I'm sure he'll be all right, he's picked up wonderfully again and he really has been very good about staying up there so long.'