"No," again Radmore avoided looking at his companion, "she"s been married twice. Her first husband, a good-looking young chap in the 11th Hussars, died quite soon after the marriage, the two of them having "blued" all they had between them. I suppose she foolishly thought there was nothing left for it but for her to marry Colonel Crofton. And the real trouble was that Colonel Crofton was poor. I fancy they"d have got on perfectly well if he had had pots of money."
"I--I don"t agree to that," Jack said hotly.
"I"m afraid it"s true. But we really oughtn"t to discuss a woman, even as we are doing now. The only excuse is that we"re both so fond of her,"
said Radmore lightly.
But even as he spoke he felt heavy-hearted. Jack Tosswill had got it very badly, far worse than he had suspected, and somehow he didn"t believe that the medicine he had just administered had done the young man any good.
CHAPTER XXIV
Two days went by, and now Sat.u.r.day had come round again.
In a sense nothing had happened during those two days, and to some of the inmates of Old Place the week had seemed extremely long and dull.
Mrs. Crofton had suddenly gone up to town for two nights, and both Jack and Rosamund, in their very different ways, felt depressed and lonely in consequence. But she was coming back to-day, and Rosamund was going to meet her at the station with the Old Place pony cart.
At breakfast Rosamund suggested that perhaps G.o.dfrey might like to motor her there instead, but to her vexation he didn"t "rise" at all. He simply observed, rather shortly, that he was going on a rather long business expedition: and Rosamund retorted, pertly, "Business on a Sat.u.r.day? How strange!" to receive the dry reply: "Yes, it does seem strange, doesn"t it?"
Half an hour later Betty and Timmy were busily engaged in washing up the breakfast things when G.o.dfrey Radmore strolled into the scullery.
"I thought that I was always to be in on this act?" he exclaimed. And it was true that he had fallen into the way of helping to wash up, turning what had always been a very boresome task into what Timmy to himself called "great fun" for while Radmore washed and dried the plates and dishes, he told them funny things about some of his early experiences in Australia.
"We"ve done quite well without you. We"re nearly through," said Betty merrily. Somehow she felt extraordinarily light-hearted to-day.
Her visitor--for very well she knew he was her visitor rather than Timmy"s--came a little nearer, and shut the scullery door behind him.
"Look here," he said mysteriously, "I want just us three to take a secret expedition to-day. I think I"ve found my house of dreams! If you"ll then both run upstairs and put on your things, we could go there and be back in quite good time for tea."
"For tea?" repeated Betty, startled. "But who would look after lunch?"
"There"s plenty of delicious cold mutton in the house," said Radmore decidedly. He added with a certain touch of cunning: "I did ask your mother, Timmy, if she"d come too, but she can"t leave the house this morning: she"s expecting a very important telephone message--something to do with the garden. She"ll see about lunch, for she"s particularly anxious,"--he turned to Betty,--"that _you_ should have a good blow this time. We shall get a little lunch while we are out, and be home by four."
"Let"s take lunch with us," broke in Timmy eagerly. "We can eat it anywhere." He had always had a pa.s.sion for picnics.
Betty was the last human being to make any unnecessary fuss. Also, somehow, she felt as if to-day was not quite like other days. She could not have told why. "All right. I"ll cut some sandwiches, and then I"ll go and get ready," she said.
Janet was in the hall when Betty came down.
"That"s right," she said heartily, "I"m glad you"re going to have a real outing at last!"
She took the girl in her arms and kissed her, and Betty felt touched. Her step-mother was not given to affectionate demonstration. And then, all at once, Janet looked round and said in a low voice: "Betty, I"m dreadfully worried about Jack. D"you think it"s conceivably possible that there"s anything _serious_ between him and Mrs. Crofton?"
Betty hardly knew what to answer. For some days past she had felt quite sure that there was something between those two. Jack had been so odd, so unlike himself, and once he had said to her, "Betty, I do wish you"d make friends with Mrs. Crofton. After all you"re my sister ..." and then they had been, perhaps fortunately, interrupted. But if there was anything between Jack and the fascinating widow, Rosamund, who was so devoted to Enid Crofton, knew nothing of it.
"I really can"t say," she answered at last, "I"ve hardly ever felt so doubtful about anything in my life! Sometimes I think there is, and sometimes I think there isn"t."
"I"m afraid there"s no doubt as to what _he_ feels. I happen to know she"s just had a very good offer for The Trellis House--seven guineas a week for six months. But she seems to have settled in here for good and all, doesn"t she?"
"I wonder if she really has," said Betty. And then she grew a little pink.
Deep in her heart she had felt quite convinced that Mrs. Crofton had come to Beechfield for G.o.dfrey Radmore, and for no other reason. Now she wondered if she had been unjust.
"How I wish she"d stay away _now_, even for a few days longer!" exclaimed Janet.
At that moment Timmy rushed into the hall, Radmore drove up in his motor, and in a couple of minutes the three were off--Janet looking after them, a touch of wistful longing and anxiety in her kind heart.
She had hoped somehow, that G.o.dfrey would persuade Betty to go alone with him to-day, and she was wondering now whether she could have said a word to Timmy. Her child was so unlike other little boys. If selfish, he was very understanding where the few people he cared for were concerned, and his mother had never known him to give her away.
But the harm, if harm there was, was done now, and for some things she was not sorry to get rid of Timmy for some hours. There had arisen between the boy and his eldest half-brother a disagreeable state of tension. Timmy seemed to take pleasure in teasing Jack, and Jack was not in the humour to bear even the smallest practical joke just now.
On and on sped the party in the motor, Timmy sitting by his G.o.dfather in front, Betty, in lonely state, behind.
They hadn"t gone very far before the countryside began to have all the charm of strangeness to Betty Tosswill, and she found herself enjoying the change of scene as only a person who has been cooped up in one familiar place for a considerable time can enjoy it.
"Why, we must be on the borders of Suss.e.x!" she called out, at a point where Radmore, slowing down, was consulting a sign-post. He turned round and nodded.
They started again. And then something rather absurd happened. Betty"s hat blew off! It was an ordinary, rather floppy hat, and she had tied it on, as she thought, securely with a veil under her chin.
Both Timmy and Radmore jumped out to pick the hat up, and as they came back towards the car, Timmy exclaimed: "It"s a shame that Betty hasn"t got a proper motor bonnet! Rosamund"s got a lovely one."
"Why hasn"t Betty got one?"
"Because they"re so expensive," said Timmy simply. He went on, "When I"ve got lots of money, I shall give Betty heaps of beautiful clothes; but only one very plain dress apiece to Rosamund and Dolly."
"Betty! You ought to have a motor bonnet," called out Radmore as he came up to the car.
Her fair hair, blowing in the wind, formed an aureole round her face. She looked very, very different to the staid Betty of Old Place.
She answered merrily: "So I will when my ship comes home! I had one before the War, and I stupidly gave it away."
"Surely we might get one somewhere to-day," suggested Radmore.
"Get one to-day--what an extraordinary idea? Motor bonnets don"t grow on hedges--"
But when they were going through--was it Horsham?--Radmore, alone of the three, espied a funny little shop. It was called "The Bandbox": its woodwork was painted bright green, and in the window were three hats.
"Now then," he exclaimed, slowing down, "this, I take it, is where motor bonnets grow. At any rate we"ll get down and see."
"What a lark!" cried Timmy delightedly. "Please, _please_ Betty, don"t make yourself disagreeable--don"t be a "govvey"!"
And Betty, not wishing to be a "govvey," got out of the car.