“We’re going to Menfreya,” I said.

His lips formed the name with ease, and I knew he had heard that before too.

“It’s time we were going,” I told him.

My return could not have been more dramatic. I had managed to get a fly at Menfrey stow station, but it was almost eight o’clock when I reached Menfreya and there was beginning to be great concern about my absence. I might have gone out during the afternoon without saying where, but I should most certainly be back in time for dinner.

Bevil had invited guests and dinner was about to be served—Lady Menfrey was there fortunately to play hostess, but of course they were expecting to see me.

I could sense the tension as I stumbled into the house, carrying the sleeping child in my arms.

I heard Pengelly’s startled exclamation; and suddenly it seemed that Bevil, my parents-in-law and their guests had all appeared on the staircase.

Often I recall that scene with a smile. It must have seemed like a nightmare. The truant returned—not alone but carrying a child in her arms.

I heard Bevil’s voice. “Harriet! What hi God’s name ...”

I said: “Gwennan is dead. I’ve brought her baby home.”

Lady Menfrey came running down the stairs. “Harriet… Harriet… what do you mean?”

Bevil was beside me; I was aware of strange faces; but I was so exhausted by the journey, by my emotions, by my fears for the child’s reception that I felt I could endure little more.

“You’ll be hearing tomorrow,” I said to Bevil. “There’s a letter from the hotel where she is. She died this morning. He’s to be called Benedict Menfrey. That is her wish.”

Lady Menfrey took the child from my arms; the tears were running down her cheeks, but I could see that she would love the child—already she had someone to fill Gwennan’s place in her heart It must have been what Gwennan had hoped for.

“You’re exhausted,” said Bevil sharply.

“It’s been an exhausting day …”

“We have guests,” he said, not sharply but in a bewildered way.

“I’m sorry,” I replied.

A woman whom I knew as the wife of one of the party workers took my hand and squeezed it. “Don’t you worry about us, Mrs. Menfrey. You need to rest … now.”

I smiled at her gratefully, and Bevil said: “You should go straight to bed, Harriet” He turned to the guests. “Please excuse me for a moment”

He followed me to our room. He shut the door and I waited for the storm to burst. What had I done? I had jeopardized his chances. The scandal Gwennan had brought on the family would now be publicly known—and it was all my fault.

I felt the stubborn lines forming about my mouth. I held my head high and limped painfully to the bed. I sat there looking at him.

“There was nothing else to be done,” I said hi a cold, angry voice. “I should never think of doing anything else.”

And then I thought of Gwennan lying on that bed, white and calm in death as she had never been in life, and I covered my face with my hands.

I felt him take them very gently in his. “Harriet,” he said; and his voice was tender.

“Dead!” I said. “Gwennan! She was always so full of life.”

He did not speak but looked at me sorrowfully.

“The child is going to stay here,” I went on, forcing anger into my voice to hide my grief. “I shall look after him. And if you won’t have him here, then … I shall take him away.”

“Harriet, what are you saying?”

I tried to draw my hands away from his grasp for I was afraid of my emotions. It was too much to endure. Gwennan dead … never to see her again … and Bevil hating me because I had gone against his wishes and brought the child to Menfreya.

He put his arm about me and held me against Mm. “Of course, the child will stay here. And so will you. Listen to me, Harriet Menfrey, you think you’ve married a brute … perhaps you have. And I’ll tell you this. There is one thing he won’t endure. That is life without you … so get that into your head.”

“Oh, Bevil, Bevil,” I said weakly.

He just held me and I felt comforted.

He was practical suddenly.

“I’m going to send Fanny to you,” he said. “My mother is looking after the boy. There’s nothing to worry about” He kissed me. “You must know that”

He left me and went back to our guests who, I was sure, would be agog with curiosity. I wondered what story he was telling them, but I was too tired to care.

Fanny came to me, and I let her help me to bed; when I was there I lay back on my pillows quietly, and although I was relieved because I had brought the child to Menfreya, thinking of Gwennan brought a sadness which was like a physical pain.

Benedict’s presence was easily explained at Menfreya. Gwennan had eloped with an actor, whom she had married against the family’s wishes; she had died, and now her son was at Menfreya, which was a perfectly natural state of affairs. The boy was known as Benedict Menfrey, which was just like the Menfreys. It wasn’t the first time the family name had been retained. There had been a daughter who bad inherited the estate, and when she married, her husband had to change his name.

It was a house of mourning, and when I humbly told Bevil how sorry I was for misjudging him, he said: “You were right in a way, Harriet. I should have insisted she come home.”

William Lister, that silent-footed and efficient young man, who had the great quality of seeming to remain unnoticed except when he was wanted, went to Plymouth with Bevil and between them they made arrangements for the funeral; and Gwennan was buried in the Menfrey vault in the churchyard on the hill just outside Menfrey stow.

The child made a difference to the household, and he was soon a great favorite with his grandparents and most of the servants. Lady Menfrey was happier than I had seen her for a long tune, and I realized how deeply she had felt the loss of her daughter.

Benny asked now and then for his mother, but we told him she had gone away and that was why he was staying with us. Sometimes he cried for her; then we would think up little treats to comfort him, and gradually we began to divert his thoughts from the past Menfreya was full of delights such as he had never known before. The house was a continual source of wonder; the suits of armor, the old pictures and tapestries. Benny had never seen anything like it He seemed to be everyone’s pet. He struck up an immediate friendship with his grandfather and Bevil; he was so obviously one of them.

There was great excitement when Lord Salisbury died and a crisis arose over Protectionist proposals. Bevil came home demanding to know where I was.

I was actually dressing for dinner, and he came bursting into the bedroom.

He told me what had happened.

“It may mean an election in the near future. Then we should have to go into battle in earnest”

“We shall win, of course.”

He sat down on the bed and taking my hands pulled me down beside him.

“You like a fight, don't you?” he said.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Ah, but when a fight has to be fought you go into it In full cry.”

“Shouldn’t one?”

“Of course. You fight the good fight with all your might Twice armed is he who has his quarrel just Is that right?

You should know. Harriet, are you looking forward to our fight?”

“I’m determined to see you victorious.”

He laughed. “Spoken like a good and virtuous wife. You know, Harriet, my darling, a good wife is more valuable than rubies. It says so in the Bible.”

“The Menfreys had an opportunity to put that to the test”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m thinking of the table with the rubies missing from the top. I was told they were used one by one, and when they had disappeared, the Menfreys were obliged to seek rich wives.”

“Who told you that story?”

“Gwennan, I think.”

“Poor Gwennan! Still, the boy’s here.”

Tin so ashamed when I think of the conclusions I jumped to.”

He laughed at me. “Well, I didn’t behave very well either. And I’ll tell you something that came out of that Harriet. Beast that. I was, and even more loathsome beast that you believed me to be, you still love me.”

“Well, idiot that I was …”

“You’re right,” he said. “I still love you,”

He kissed me hard on the lips, and I said: “Please no bruises. Fanny noticed.”

He frowned. “That woman doesn’t like me, Harriet.”

“Oh, she’s only mildly disapproving. I’m her child, remember. She doesn’t think anyone’s good enough for me.”

“She may be right. And as long as I have your approval, what do others matter? I need it my darling. Now we have to fight an election together. My formidable Harriet. You’re going to be very busy hi the next few months, years perhaps. Too busy to spend your days entirely looking after young Benny.”

“His grandmother will be ready to step into the breach.”

“She’s not always well, and I was saying to her that I thought it was time we had a nursery governess.”

“She agreed with you, of course.”

He grinned at me. “It’s obvious, you know. I need you more than Benny does.”

I was so happy to be wanted that I couldn’t hide the fact.

After that there was talk about the governess we would get Both Sir Endelion and Lady Menfrey thought it was an excellent idea. They doted on the boy and were very anxious to have the best for him, but nothing was done about it, and I fancied Lady Menfrey was not very eager that we should get someone quite so soon.

“He’s young yet,” she said, for she enjoyed looking after him herself.

Sir Endelion went to London for a visit to friends, and it must have been two or three weeks after his return when he received a letter. He did not say anything about it immediately, but it was clear that something had happened which amused him. He kept chuckling to himself, and one evening at dinner he made an announcement.