Courtship -- Fiction; Married people -- Fiction; Singers -- Fiction
A big limousine had pulled up beside the footpath, and an immaculate
footman was standing by its open door, rug in hand. Diana wondered
idly whose car it could be, and it occurred to her that very probably
it belonged to the strangers who had attended the service that morning.
A minute later her assumption was confirmed, as the middle-aged lady,
followed by the young, pretty one, came quickly through the lichgate
and entered the car. The footman hesitated, still holding the door
open, and the elder lady leaned forward to say:--
"It's all right, Baker. Mr. Errington is walking back."
Errington! So that was his name--that was what the E. on the
handkerchief stood for! Diana thought she could hazard a reasonable
guess as to why he had elected to walk home. He must have caught sight
of her in church, after all, and it was but natural that, after the
experience they had passed through together, he should wish to renew
his acquaintance with her. When two people have been as near to death
in company as they had been, it can hardly be expected that they will
regard each other in the light of total strangers should they chance to
meet again.
Hidden from his sight by an intervening yew tree, she watched him
coming down the church path, conscious of a somewhat pleasurable sense
of anticipation, and when he had passed under the lichgate and, turning
to the left, came face to face with her, she bowed and smiled, holding
out her hand.
To her utter amazement he looked at her without the faintest sign of
recognition on his face, pausing only for the fraction of a second as a
man may when some stranger claims his acquaintance by mistake; then
with a murmured "Pardon!" he raised his hat slightly and passed on.
Diana's hand dropped slowly to her side. She felt stunned. The thing
seemed incredible. Less than a week ago she and this man had travelled
companionably together in the train, dined at the same table, and
together shared the same dreadful menace which had brought death very
close to both of them, and now he passed her by with the cool stare of
an utter stranger! If he had knocked her down she would hardly have
been more astonished.
Moreover, it was not as though her companionship had been forced upon
him in the train; he had deliberately sought it. Two people can travel
side by side without advancing a single hairsbreadth towards
acquaintance if they choose. But he had not so chosen--most assuredly
he had not. He had quietly, with a charmingly persuasive insistence,
broken through the conventions of custom, and had subsequently proved
himself as considerate and as thoughtful for her comfort as any actual
friend could have been. More than that, in those moments of tense
excitement, immediately after the collision had occurred, she could
have sworn that real feeling, genuine concern for her safety, had
vibrated in his voice.
And now, just as deliberately, just as composedly as he had begun the
acquaintance, so he had closed it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account