“I wish I could remember you,” he said to her. “You must have been a most excellent and worthy woman.”

He bent to inhale the perfume of the rose in his lapel, and then he looked up at her again.

“And you have a somewhat unusual niece,” he added.

Charlotte went away thoughtfully to the kitchen, and she remained thoughtful as she prepared the vegetables for lunch. That afternoon Claire arrived with a list of guests she intended inviting for the wedding, and she asked Richard whether there was anyone whose name he wished added to the list. Richard gave the matter his attention in the obliging way that was rather significant of his attitude to life these days, and then confessed that there was no one he could think of at the moment. Claire regarded him somewhat uncertainly, and whether or not it suddenly struck her that she was doing a strange thing arranging to marry at no very distant date a man who seemed quite unable to recollect that he ever had friends and acquaintances, and was quite unable to remember the name of one of them who might enjoy being invited to throw rice at him when he exchanged his state of bachelorhood for the married state.

She even began to look worried and reflective after a time – when the peculiarity of her position had time to sink in; and a short while later, while they were strolling on the terrace, she slipped a hand inside his arm and asked him whether he was really beginning to feel much more like himself.

“Oh, yes.” He gazed down at her with an unrevealing expression on his face, and then stared out across the sun-bathed lawn at the line of blue sea. “I’m feeling quite fit.”

“But you still don’t know who you are,… Or do you?” lifting harebell blue eyes to his face and trying to conceal the suspicion of doubt in her eyes, and the rather more alert, probing look.

“Do I – what?”

The bland blankness in the depths of his grey eyes baffled her. She began to feel vaguely frustrated.

“Know who you are? I mean, of course, you know who you are, because we’ve been able to offer you proof that you’re Richard Tremarth, with a flat in London and quite a comfortable income, and – and all the rest. You’ve business interests, too, but at the moment everything is being taken care of for you, and you don’t have to bother your head about that. I was having a word with your partner the other day, and he’s coming down to see you before the wedding, and of course he will be at the wedding. Your bank manager, too… As a matter of fact he’s also my bank manager. There are certain papers you’ll have to sign in the course of the next week, but there’s nothing complicated there, and your signature is all that is required.”

“Splendid,” Richard murmured lazily and contentedly. “You’re almost as useful as a business manager yourself, my sweet, and I consider myself fortunate to be marrying such a capable young woman. I hope it occurred to you, during the course of your conversations with the guardians of my material attributes, that some sort of a marriage settlement, or dowry, is important if you have your own interests at heart.”

She coloured delightedly.

“Well, as a matter of fact I would prefer it if I had some sort of independence once we were married… apart from my own tiny income, I mean. But I hardly liked to put it to you in so many words.”

“Oh, come.” His voice was dry. “I’m sure you could have found the right words with very little difficulty.”

“That’s what Tom said. As a matter of fact-”

“Tom?”

He’s your partner – Tom Armitage. As soon as you see him of course you’ll recollect who he is immediately.”

“Then why hasn’t he come down here to see me?”

“I think he’s busy… looking after your joint interests, of course. But you’ll almost certainly be hearing from him in the course of the next few days.”

“That’s what you said before. He’s sending me papers to sign… remember?”

“Yes.” If he had been looking more keenly at her it might have struck him that she was struggling with embarrassment, for her colour was slightly higher, and rather like the rosy afterglow left by a clear mountain sunset. “But you can have absolute confidence in him. He really has got your interests at heart, and mine since I’m going to marry you.”

“And you don’t think there’s the slightest need to hesitate before appending my signature to these papers?”

“Oh, no, none whatsoever.”

“Well, that’s fortunate, because handicapped as I am by an almost complete loss of memory I could very easily be taken advantage of. You, with your obviously shrewd business brain, will realise that. And no doubt that’s why you’ve taken the trouble to go into things with Tom.” She glanced at him for a moment almost uncertainly.

“Er – yes – yes, it is,” she agreed. And then more earnestly: “It has struck me from the first that at the moment you’re terribly vulnerable. You could be taken for a ride by anyone if they were sufficiently unscrupulous. You don’t even remember what your business interests are, and how can you know that you’re doing the right thing by signing documents that could mean you were damaging your own interests? Unless I tell you that it’s perfectly safe for you to do so! ”

“I suppose I have a solicitor somewhere,” Tremarth murmured thoughtfully. “But of course he could be as shady as the rest unless you vet him for me, couldn’t he?”

“Don’t be silly, darling.” She squeezed his arm with her slender fingers, but she sounded suddenly just a little vexed at the same time. “No one is shady… least of all your solicitor, who happens, however, to be abroad at the moment. If you’re anxious to see him I suppose we could cable him to fly back and have a few reassuring words with you… but it seems a little hard when he’s on holiday. He’s the junior partner, and apparently you’ve a great deal of confidence in him.”

“And the other members of the firm?” “They’re very elderly and rather dry-as-dust, and I don’t think you’ve ever had much to do with them. Wouldn’t it be better to wait and see your own solicitor when he gets back?”

“And what about inviting him to the wedding?”

“Don’t be silly, darling,” she said again, laughing patiently. “What would be the point of sending him an invitation when he’s at the opposite side of the world?”

Tremarth smiled suddenly, and appeared to relax.

“No good at all, my pet, and I’m simply being rather silly. It seems that I am in your hands-yours and Tom’s-and I might as well accept it that I’m in very safe hands.”

“Of course, darling.” She patted his sleeve affectionately, and her limpid blue eyes made every effort to reassure him-to convince him that he had not the slightest need to worry about anything. “You couldn’t be in safer hands… I give you my word about that! ”

“How comforting,” Richard remarked. He lifted his eyes to the clear blue of the sky, and as the sunlight poured over his naturally dark skin and the clear-cut outline of his features it seemed to her that they grew rather hard, and in fact the line of his lips grew so thin that the attractive shapeliness of his mouth disappeared for a moment, and there was nothing but a taut, cold line… a bleak and forbidding line.

“What’s wrong, Richard?” she asked, sensing that something was very wrong.

“Quite a lot.” Very deliberately he removed her hand from his arm, and then fastidiously dusted his sleeve with the tips of the fingers of his free hand. “Your reassurances are a trifle hollow, for you appear to have neglected to do your homework. There is no junior partner in my firm of solicitors, only two very senior men, neither of whom is out of the country at the moment. I received a highly concerned letter from one of them a couple of days ago. Tom Armitage, who used to be my partner

– we agreed to dissolve our partnership just before I came down here to Cornwall, and if he has not already vacated his desk and my premises and ceased to meddle in my affairs I shall have to go into the matter without delay – is in no position to send me documents. I’m afraid, if you think he has; then you’ve both been barking up the wrong tree. And as for that marriage settlement you’ve been dwelling upon so fondly… well, I hate to have to tell you this, but there isn’t going to be any marriage settlement, for the very excellent reason that I don’t think you and I are going to marry one another after all! ”

She gasped, and found it impossible to conceal a profound and almost ludicrous feeling of dismay.

“You’ve got your memory back!” she exclaimed.

He turned towards her and his bleak lips smiled coolly.

“I’m thankful to say I have,” he admitted. “As a matter of fact, I’ve been remembering things very nicely for days… ever since you came down here to overwhelm me with your attentiveness. But I wanted to find out how clever you were, and to what extent you were prepared to take advantage of my supposed amnesia. You and I have been quite friendly for some time – that is true. But we were never even on the doorstep of becoming engaged. It was Tom you fancied all along, wasn’t it? And Tom you proposed to marry, when and if you could between you pull off a worthwhile deal that would set me back a few thousands, and provide the two of you with a little nest-egg. I know all about Tom’s schemes, and the advantage that would be his if I was unwise enough to sign one of his precious documents. But I’m an awfully hard-headed man, my dear Claire, even when I’m suffering from amnesia! ”

She stood quite still in the very middle of a handsome slab of Cornish granite, and suddenly stamped her foot in sheer fury and vexation.

“You’re a… I despise you for being quite so despicable! ” she told him, her fair skin mottled with rage. “To pretend that you couldn’t remember anything… and to know so much! ” “Too much for your comfort and convenience?” He smiled at her almost lazily this time.