‘I frequently do,’ Valentine said. ‘But they don’t seem to mind. Perhaps they think I’m a Waac officer. That would be quite respectable…’
Mrs Duchemin drifted away, her arms full of flowers and real agony upon her face.
Now, beside the tea–table she said, very softly:
‘My dear, we’ve decided not to have our usual Friday afternoon next week.’ Valentine wondered whether this was merely a lie to get rid of her. But Edith Ethel went on: ‘We’ve decided to have a little evening festivity. After a great deal of thought we’ve come to the conclusion that we ought, now, to make our union public.’ She paused to await comment, but Valentine making none she went on: ‘It coincides very happily—I can’t help feeling it coincides very happily!—with another event. Not that we set much store by these thin
