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refreshments. Rosemary was buttering bread for sandwiches and I began to slice a cucumber.
    ‘What did you think?’ she asked.
    ‘Very good. Most entertaining.’
    ‘Not much about himself, though. Or his job – I should think that’s what most people wanted to know.’
    ‘Maurice Shelby thinks there may have been something in his contract that didn’t allow him to,’ I said.
    Rosemary looked up, her buttery knife suspended. ‘That sounds sinister, you must admit. And it’s not as though he was going to tell us about secret formulas or whatever.’
    ‘Oh, I expect it’s just standard when you get to that sort of position. How much of this cucumber do you want?’
    ‘No, but you must admit—’ She broke off as Maureen came into the kitchen and began fiddling with the tea urn.
    ‘Wasn’t it a splendid talk?’ she said. ‘Such a pity Eva couldn’t make it. She’d really have enjoyed it.’ Eva was spending a few days in London with Dan and Patrick. ‘Though I suppose,’ she went on, ‘she’s probably heard most of it already, being as she’s
such
a friend of Mr Webster. Do you know, until we can get this thing fixed properly, we’d be better off boiling a couple of kettles.’
     
    ‘You see,’ Rosemary said later, ‘people are beginning to talk. Mother was saying only the other day that Vera Davis saw them having lunch together in Taunton.’
    ‘They’re friends, for goodness’ sake, why shouldn’t they have lunch together!’
    ‘Mother thought it was unsuitable – it’s not that long since Alan died.’
    ‘Well, you know what your mother and her friends are like.’
    But Rosemary, who any other time would have laughed at the whole thing, seemed to be taking it seriously and I hoped that her concern for Eva wouldn’t make things awkward between them.
    Eva rang me when she got back from London.
    ‘Sheila, have I done something to upset Rosemary?’
    ‘Not that I know of. Why do you ask?’
    ‘She’s being a bit distant, if you know what I mean.’
    ‘Oh dear.’
    ‘What?’
    I took a deep breath. ‘I’m sure she doesn’t mean to be – it’s just that she’s worried about you and doesn’t know how to say anything.’
    There was silence for a moment, then Eva said, ‘Is it about Donald?’
    ‘Yes, well, in a way. Her mother – well you know how old-fashioned she is – seemed to think—’
    ‘That I shouldn’t go out with anyone now I’m a widow.’ She gave a sort of laugh. ‘I’d forgotten what Taviscombe was like. People are talking?’
    ‘As you say – people in Taviscombe—’
    ‘And does Rosemary feel the same?’ she asked.
    ‘Of
course
not,’ I said hastily.
    ‘She doesn’t really like Donald, does she?’
    ‘No, it’s not that; it’s just that he’s rather different from people we’re used to down here.’
    ‘Oh, come off it, Sheila, you’ve been out in the big wide world!’
    ‘Yes, I have, but Rosemary is very Taviscombe orientated, you know that, and she’s not quite sure what to make of him. It’s just that she’s very protective of you – family and all that – and doesn’t want you to be hurt.’
    Eva sighed. ‘Oh dear, I do hope things aren’t going to be awkward. I like Donald, I like him very much, and I really don’t want to stop seeing him. Do you think I should?’
    ‘Certainly not. Just tell Rosemary how you feel. Clear the air and everything will be fine.’
     
    But soon after that, Rosemary had another thing to worry about.
    ‘That wretched man,’ she said, ‘has been pestering Eva again.’
    ‘What wretched man?’
    ‘Robert Butler – you know, the man who has the farm just down the road from her.’
    ‘Oh yes, I know who you mean. How’s he been pestering her?’
    ‘Well, you know he wants to bring water across her field.’
    Eva has a fair-sized field behind the garden, it’s part of the property, and Rosemary has always been full of dire warnings about it – ‘You’ll have to see to the hedges, and