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you know”.’ Tears rushed into her eyes. ‘It isn’t that – I don’t care about anyone else, but I want you to know how it is. I never stop missing her – I don’t honestly. But it’s better for her to be down there in the country. She’s got rabbits, and a kitten, and children do get something out of being in the country that you can’t give them in town. Do you remember us at Darnach? It was heaven, wasn’t it!’
    Janet laid the photograph down upon the bed. There was an open suit-case before her, and she was packing it with Star’s filmy underclothes. She had known perfectly well that Star would have been relying on her to do the packing. The mention of Darnach might have been without any special intent, or it might not. She was to know in a moment, because Star said,
    ‘You don’t ever see Ninian now, do you?’
    Janet was folding a pale blue negligée. She laid it in the suitcase and said,
    ‘No.’
    Star brought her over an armful of stockings.
    ‘Well, I can’t see why not. I ran into Robin the other day, and we had lunch. I really didn’t mind – much. And Robin and I were married, whereas you weren’t even properly engaged to Ninian. Or were you?’
    Janet distributed the stockings.
    ‘It depends on what you call properly.’
    ‘Well – you didn’t have a ring.’
    ‘No, I didn’t have a ring.’
    There was a little pause before Star said,
    ‘Did you break it off, or did he? I asked him, and he wouldn’t tell me – just cocked up one eyebrow and said it wasn’t my business.’
    Janet said, ‘No.’
    ‘Because if it was on account of Anne Forester – was it?’
    ‘She was what you might call a contributory cause.’
    ‘Darling, how stupid! He didn’t care for her – not the least bit in the world! It was just a flare-up! Don’t you ever have a pash yourself and get over it? I have dozens! I see a too utterly expensive hat and feel as if I should die if I didn’t have it, or a mink I can’t possibly afford, or anything like that, and after a little it wears off and I don’t give a damn! Anne Forester was like that. He couldn’t possibly have afforded her, and she would have bored him stiff in a week. You see, I do know Ninian. We may be only first cousins, but in a way we’re much more like twins, as our fathers were. It’s something quite special. So I know what it was about Anne. And there’s another reason why I know – because of what happened with Robin and me. We just had a pash for each other, and we got married on it and crashed. There wasn’t anything there really – not for either of us. Only I can’t be sorry about it, because I’ve got Stella, and she is real – I’ve got Stella. Now, with you and Ninian there is something real. He matters to you, and you matter to him – you always did, and you always will.’
    Janet had been bending forward over the suit-case. Her hands went on putting things into it, folding them carefully, laying them straight. She was a little taller than Star, but not much. And she was penny-plain to Star’s twopence coloured — an agreeable shade of brown hair and eyes that matched it, eyebrows and lashes a little darker — a face with nothing striking about it except that the chin gave the impression that she would be able to make up her mind and stick to it, and the eyes had a straight and friendly look. Star had once said, ‘You know, darling, you’ll go on getting more attractive all the time, because the niceness will go on coming through.’ She watched her now and wished that Janet would speak. She never would about Ninian, and it was stupid. Things you don’t talk about lie in the dark and fester. You want to get them out into the light, even if you have to drag them. But when Janet straightened up and turned round, all she said was,
    ‘There – that’s done. And you’d better not touch it, except to put one or two last things in on the top. Now, what else is there to do?’
    ‘Well, we haven’t settled