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Marjorie must have given you quite the wrong impression. Barr Patterson simply suffered from an over-protective mother, as I discovered to my cost,' she finished ruefully.
    ‘Hence the nasty little scene you told me about?’
    ‘It was worse than terrible. According to Mrs Patterson I was Jezebel, Delilah and Helen of Troy all rolled into one.’
    ‘And you’d led her poor defenceless son on. Don’t worry, I know the type,’ James remarked dryly. ‘Put it down to experience and let it be a lesson to you not to feel sorry in future for every man who spins you a line. I daresay your Barr was so uptight when you met him simply because he was on his way back to that possessive mother of his. Maybe he saw you as a way of escape. Whatever the reason, forget about it and eat your steak. Is it cooked enough?’
    ‘Just right,’ Davina answered, her mouth full. She looked across the table and smiled affectionately. ‘Now it’s your turn, James. What have you been doing since I saw you last? I expect you’ve got a smashing girl in tow—you usually have.’
    For the rest of the evening the conversation veered from girl-friends to Paul Brehm’s holiday in Greece and finally round to the forthcoming family party for Grandmother Brehm’s eightieth birthday which was to be held in the house outside Lucerne where she lived. As James was driving Davina home later he asked casually, ‘How are you and Catrin getting there? I suppose Aunt Helen is already dancing attendance on Grandmother?’
    'Yes, Mum went out as soon as her school broke up. You know she’s taken a living-in job as a matron and has let our cottage to one of the masters at Dad’s old school? When Catrin started her nursing there was no point in leaving the place empty, and anyway it gives Mum a bit of extra money. Her salary isn’t all that generous and Dad’s pension doesn’t add up to much. Catrin and I try to live on our grants, so we've decided to travel on cheap student’s tickets. We’ll go to Zurich where Mum has said she’ll meet us in Gran’s old Rolls. After fourteen hours in trains it will be rather nice to do the last few miles in style.’
    James briefly took his eyes off the road ahead to give his cousin an admiring glance. ‘You, Catrin and Aunt Helen are a shining example to us all. I shall feel almost guilty as I go up the steps of an aircraft in ten days’ time thinking of you girls sweating it out somewhere below in a stuffy train.’ .
    Davina smiled back mischievously. ‘No need. You, my dear affluent cousin, will doubtless be flying on a daytime scheduled flight. To qualify for cheap rail fares, Catrin and I have to travel overnight—no sleeping cars, no buffet, no nothing. Still, the thought of what we’ll be saving will keep our spirits up, and one usually meets quite a few kindred souls travelling in the same impecunious way. It’s so long since you were a student you’ve forgotten what it’s like to have to count every penny.’
    Before they said goodnight, James made a note of Davina’s telephone number, ‘Just in case that Fitzpaine character is rash enough to take you up on your offer,’ he teased, ‘for I bet you’ll burn all his shirts and shrink his socks.’
    ‘Which just goes to show you don’t know me as well as you think,’ Davina retorted. ‘Mum brought Catrin and me up to do our share of the household chores. And don’t forget, the cottage didn’t have all mod. cons, until about five years back when Dad put in central heating and had a modern bathroom built on. Before that we’d made do with one that first saw the light of day in Victorian times, by the look of it.’
    Before she put out the light and climbed into bed, Davina wrote her mother a long letter telling her of the meeting with James’s Australian client and the job he had offered her. ‘It would suit me beautifully,’ Davina ended, ‘because I shall be back in London after Gran’s party just about the time Mr Fitzpaine gets