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the platform before the train came. At last it drew in, the doors were opened, and there was Ryllis, stepping down on to the platform. Moments later the two sisters were embracing. They had not met in some weeks, not since Lydia had gone into Redbury to spend a few hours with Ryllis who had been sent into the city by her employers to do shopping.
    Their coach for Capinfell was not due to leave for fifteen minutes, so they sat on a nearby bench to wait.
    ‘Oh, what a relief!’ Ryllis sighed, ‘to be away from Barford for a while. It’s wonderful to get away from that dreadful house and those awful people.’
    ‘Ryllis,’ Lydia said, ‘they surely can’t be that bad.’
    ‘Oh, believe me, I’ve said nothing yet – but I’m not going to sit here complaining. It’s too nice a day, and for the rest of today and tomorrow I don’t even want to think about the Lucases.’
    Whereas Lydia’s voice was low in timbre, Ryllis’s had a lighter tone. She had a lighter air. Whereas Lydia could be grave and serious, Ryllis hardly ever seemed so. They were unlike in their appearance also. Where Lydia was tall and slender, Ryllis was much smaller in stature, and tended a little to a soft roundness in the curves of her limbs. Where Lydia’s straight hair was fair, so Ryllis’s curling hair was dark. There was no doubt that for straightforward prettiness Ryllis’s nose was a little too short and her full-lipped mouth a little too wide, but at the same time there were in her face a freshness and a radiance that were rarely to be matched. Sitting on the bench in the winter sunshine, in herbrown cape, and with her face framed by the frill of her bonnet, she looked the picture of health and attractiveness.
    ‘How is Mother?’ Ryllis asked. ‘And Father? I assume they’re all right, otherwise I would have heard.’
    ‘Yes, they’re both fine, and looking forward to your getting home for a while.’
    ‘Well, Mother maybe.’
    ‘Oh, Ryllis,’ Lydia frowned, ‘don’t say that. Father’s looking forward to seeing you. He just doesn’t – express things in the same way as Mother.’
    ‘That’s true enough.’ Ryllis sighed. ‘Well, I shall just have to try not to annoy him while I’m home. I always manage to do so in some way, it seems.’ She paused. ‘Though at some time I’ve got to have a word with him.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I want to leave the Lucases. I’ve been there well over a year and that’s long enough. I know Father isn’t going to be pleased when I tell him, but it’s
my life
, and if I want to leave a position I should be able to.’ She tapped her bag. ‘I’ve bought one of the local papers with advertisements for positions. I’ll have a look at them when I get in.’
    Ryllis asked Lydia then how she had spent her time whilst waiting for the train to come in, and Lydia told her of her meeting with Mr Canbrook and going with him for tea. Ryllis sat almost open-mouthed while Lydia related the details of the meeting, and told her also of the gift of the lace and Mr Canbrook’s remark that he wished to call on her, and would write to her with a view to doing such a thing. ‘Oh, well, fancy!’ Ryllis exclaimed. ‘I wonder what Father would have to say about that!’
    ‘I shan’t tell him,’ Lydia said at once, ‘and you mustn’t say anything either. Nor to Mother. If she knows, she might feel duty bound to pass on the information to him.’
    ‘Well, whether you tell him or not he’s bound to find out at some time.’
    ‘No, he’s not,’ Lydia said, ‘because Mr Canbrook won’t be calling at the house, and he won’t be writing to me either.’
    ‘How’ll you stop him? He’s obviously that keen.’
    ‘I’ll write to him first. I’ll do it tomorrow. He’ll get it Tuesday morning.’
    ‘What will you say?’
    ‘What
can
I say? I’ll simply tell him that I respect and admire him, but that’s as far as it goes. I’ll just have to make it clear, as politely as I