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decisions,' she had said. And then she had looked up, holding her daughter's whole attention by the simple expedient of waving her needle in her face. 'If you let Jennifer ruin this for you, Georgina, I'll never forgive you!' she had declared with unusual vigour. 'William is everything I hoped for you, and if you throw his love away in a foolish gesture of concern for Jennifer, he's unlikely to give you a second chance to make a fool of him. Be happy with him, darling, and forget all about everything else. If you don't, you'll be storing up a great deal of unhappiness for yourself. Love denied turns to bitterness more often than it can be sublimated into service for others.'
    'I haven't said I'm in love with William,' Georgina had protested.
    'I can't imagine your marrying him for any other reason!' her mother had retorted. 'Don't be a silly girl! Of course you're in love with him! So marry him and be happy, and give over worrying about Jennifer, do! The Jennifers of this world are very well able to look after themselves.'
    Georgina hoped she was right. She had been too busy bending to the wind that was William these last few days to have given much thought to her sister, but she had spoken to her the night before. Jennifer had been out with Duncan and had come in late. There had been a hectic flush in her cheeks and her eyes had sparkled with the excitement of the evening's dancing.
    'Will you give this letter to William tomorrow?' she had asked Georgina.
    'You'll probably see him before I do,' Georgina had answered.
    'Mother has an idea it's unlucky for a bride to see her groom before they meet in church.'
    'But the letter is for afterwards, darling,' Jennifer had drawled, a malicious smile on her lips. 'We don't want him to carry you off to the wilder shores of the Indian Ocean still wondering about his first love, do we? It's only to say. I don't bear either of you any resentment for leaving me behind without giving a thought as to whether I shall be happy without you both.'
    'But if you're going to marry Duncan—?'
    Jennifer had shrugged her shoulders. 'Am I? William was a lot less boring than Duncan, if you want to know, only he was always going away. You're welcome to him!' The letter. Georgina hadn't given it a thought from that moment till this. She opened her handbag and scrabbled round inside, looking for it.
    'Are you going to be sick?' William asked her.
    'No. Why?' She found the pale mauve envelope with a sigh of relief. For a moment she had thought she had forgotten to transfer it from one bag to the other, and she could well imagine Jennifer's anger if she had forgotten to give her precious letter to William.
    'You look a trifle green,' he observed.
    'I thought I'd lost Jennifer's letter.' She handed it to him. 'It's for you.'
    'So I see,' he said dryly. He examined the envelope with care, noting the way the flap had been tucked into the back and the way Jennifer had written BY HAND in the top left-hand corner, in huge, flamboyant capitals, and William down below, underlining it with a strong double line. 'Have you read it?'
    'Of course not. It's addressed to you.'
    'You might have been curious as to what she had to say to me now that I'm your husband.' He pulled the single sheet out of the envelope and opened it slowly. 'Weren't you a little bit curious?' he asked Georgina, a funny little smile playing round his lips.
    'If I was, I managed to restrain it by forgetting all about it. I thought I'd left it in my other handbag—' She broke off as his expression changed to one of cold contempt.
    'I don't believe you,' he said.
    'Why not? What does she say?' Georgina demanded. She snatched the letter out of his hand and began to read it for herself. It was dated the day before yesterday and began, Darling William— ‘I don't understand!' Georgina said brokenly. ‘I don't understand it!'.
    ‘Don't you? It seems quite simple to me. Jennifer changed her mind again and tried to let me know she'd made a terrible