"Yes. Once more you are right. Do you think I might have a little talk with Miss Delany?"

"That's for her to say."

"Yes, certainly," I said.

I was trembling slightly. Polly's revelations had staggered me, but I was glad that he knew, and that I was not the one who had betrayed Lavinia.

Polly said, "Well, I'll take myself off." She looked at me. "Will you be all right?"

"Yes, Polly, thank you."

The door shut on us.

"A redoubtable lady," he said. "So now I have the truth. I think you should tell me more about this. You see, I am deeply involved through my sister. It happened in France, did it?"

"Yes."

"A Frenchman?"

I nodded.

"You knew him?"

"I saw him once or twice."

"I see. And my foolish sister asked for your help."

"Janine Fletcher was a girl at school. She had an aunt."

"So you lied about going to Lindenstein. I knew you hadn't been there, of course."

"Yes. You tried to trap me. And you had some idea of what really happened."

"When I saw the child ..."

"And you thought that I ..."

"It seemed hard to believe."

"Yet you did."

He did not answer. Then he said, "This girl ... Janine ... what do you think happened?"

"I don't know."

"You came along just after. Why?"

"I was trying to talk to her."

"About Lavinia. Was she blackmailing Lavinia?"

I was silent. I did not want to betray her, but of course Polly had already done that.

He was serious now. "My God!" he said. "But she wasn't here. She was at Framling. It must have been ... someone else."

"You mean ..."

"Did that woman have other girls there in the same position?"

"There were some."

"What a mess! It is a pity you were seen there. I am glad I know. I shall keep in touch. I shall be in London. I'll give you the address of my place in town. Get a message to me if anything develops."

He looked really anxious. I imagined he was thinking of the scandal if anything came out about Lavinia's staying at the nursing home and for what reason. That would be headline news. I only rated a mention and a short paragraph. Lavinia's reputation would be in ruins. I could see that her brother was prepared to prevent that at all costs.

I felt a certain relief. I had great confidence in his powers to help. He would be strong and resourceful. Of course, he was only concerned about protecting his sister, but in doing so he would look after me at the same time.

He said he would go now. He took my hands and smiled at me; it was almost like an apology for his behaviour in the past. I was glad that at last he knew the truth and I had not been the one to tell him.

There was no news of the case—just brief references. The police were pursuing their enquiries. There was no more visits from them.

Fabian called at the house. Eff let him in. She was not at all displeased.

"Eff's a rare one for a title," Polly explained. "You'll hear her going on to Second Floor about Sir Fabian calling. She thinks it's good for the house. He looks the part too. I hope he's behaving right."

"Oh yes," I assured her.

"Don't you put up with any old truck from him."

"No, I won't."

He wanted to talk to me about the child, he told me. Those two women had looked after her from birth, had they? I told him they had.

I knew by his attitude that he had a respect for Polly. I think he quite enjoyed her manner of dealing with him, although what she had to impart had been unpalatable. He had seemed faintly amused to contemplate the rector's daughter having stepped out of line; it was not quite so amusing for his own sister.

"It's a little girl, isn't it?"

"Yes. You should meet your niece. Apart from that one encounter on the green you have not seen her."

"I want to meet her. And those two have looked after her, fed her ... clothed her ..."

"They have also loved her," I said.

"Poor child! What would she have done without them ... and you?"

"Lavinia would have had to make some arrangements, but none could have been so good for Fleur as Polly and her sister."

"I want to make sure that they are compensated for what they have done."

"You mean ... money?"

"I did mean that. They cannot be wealthy enough to take care of other people's children. It must be a costly business."

"They are, as they would say, comfortably off. They let rooms and Eff is a good businesswoman. Polly, too. They work hard and enjoy the fruits of their labours. They might be offended if they thought you believed they were in need of money."

"But they have taken the child!"

"They did that for me, because ..."

"Because they made the same mistake as I did. You see, I was not such a villain after all if Polly ... who is so close to you ... Well, perhaps that sort of thing can happen to anyone."

"Perhaps."

"We all have our unguarded moments." He was smiling at me quizzically. Then he said briskly, "I shall find a way of recompensing these good women. Will you talk to them for me? I am afraid I should never be allowed to state my case. They might listen to you."

I said I would speak to them

They were both rather indignant when I told them.

"Who does he think he is?" demanded Polly. "We don't want his money. We've had Fleur since she was a baby. She's ours ... If you took money from a man like that you'd have him dictating ... telling you what you'd got to do. No, we're not having that."

Eff conceded, "It was good of SirFabian to suggest it." She always made the most of the 'Sir' when talking to Second Floor 32 and fell into the habit with us.

"Look, Polly," I said, "you're all right now ... but suppose things didn't go so well. You have to think of Fleur and there will be school and all that."

"I wouldn't want her going to one of them foreign places. A lot of good it did to that Lavinia."

But Eff was more practical. I think Polly's emotions dulled her perception to some extent. She had marked Fabian out as a smooth seducer and she had made up her mind that he had designs on me. She was very wary of him.

However, when Fabian suggested that he should set up an account for them on which they could draw at any time they needed money for Fleur, they at length agreed.

"Not that we'll touch it," said Polly.

"But it's nice to know it's there," added the practical Eff.

During the following week I saw a good deal of him. I had to admit that he was a help and that he comforted me. The fact that he was there and knew the truth took a great weight off my mind.

No one else from the police came to see me. There was little in the papers about the case. It was good to know that if any crisis arose Fabian would be there.

I grew to know a little more of him. He used to visit the house and Eff, with a certain pride, would serve tea in the parlour. I think she was rather proud to show it off. When he was coming, fresh antimacassars were put on the velvet chairs and there was an extra polish on the brass; the ornaments on the what-not were carefully dusted. "We don't want that Sir Fabian to think we don't know what's what." I was secretly amused at the thought of his examining the little bits of china on the what-not and assessing the brightness of the brass of the candlesticks. But I liked to see Eff's pleasure in entertaining the titled gentleman and Polly's suspicions of him, which were an indication of her love and concern for me.

He seemed to change a little. He met Fleur, who took quite a liking to him, which surprised me, for he found it difficult to communicate with her and appeared to make no attempt to do so.

"Say hello, Sir Fabian," Eff urged; and Fleur did with a halting charm. She put her hands on his knees and gazed up at him with a sort of wonder. It was very amusing. I thought there was a look of the Framlings about Fleur. She had failed to inherit Lavinia's tawny hair, but I thought she would be a beauty like her mother.

"A pleasant-looking child," was Fabian's comment.

"She seemed to sense that she was related to you," I told him.

"Surely not?"

"Who knows? You are her uncle."

Effie brought in tea, which I took alone with Fabian. I guessed Polly was hovering. As she would say, she wouldn't trust him and he might get up to some "hanky panky."

We talked of Lavinia's coming marriage, which would be very soon now. Lavinia would have heard of Janine's death, as it had been reported in the papers. I wondered what she was thinking. If I knew her, she would be mightily relieved on one hand, but on the other she must be wondering what could come out about Janine. I wondered if it occurred to her that if Janine was blackmailing her she might be doing the same to other people. Surely she must be suffering some anxiety.

Fabian would have to return for the wedding.

"I think," he told me, "you would be expected to attend."

"I am not sure whether that is necessary. She will have heard about Janine. I wonder how she is feeling."

"She doesn't let much worry her, but even she must be having some uneasy moments. Thank God she was in Framling when the woman was killed and there can be no question of accusations being brought against her."

"Do you think she will tell Dougal?"

"No, I do not."

"Do you think she should?"

"It is a matter for her to decide."