‘Well, haven’t you got everything?’
‘I suppose I have… It sounds rather disgusting, somehow!’
‘Of course it’s disgusting, darling! You’ll probably get terribly bored and blasé by and by. In the meantime, enjoy the triumphal progress in the golden car. Only I wonder, I really do wonder, what will happen when you want to go down a street which has a board saying No Thoroughfare.’
‘Don’t be idiotic, Joanna.’ As Lord Windlesham joined them, Linnet said, turning to him: ‘Joanna is saying the nastiest things to me.’
‘All spite, darling, all spite,’ said Joanna vaguely as she got up from her seat.
She made no apology for leaving them. She had caught the glint in Windlesham’s eye.
He was silent for a minute or two. Then he went straight to the point.
‘Have you come to a decision, Linnet?’
Linnet said slowly:
‘Am I being a brute? I suppose, if I’m not sure, I ought to say No-’
He interrupted her:
‘Don’t say it. You shall have time – as much time as you want. But I think, you know, we should be happy together.’
‘You see,’ Linnet’s tone was apologetic, almost childish, ‘I’m enjoying myself so much – especially with all this.’ She waved a hand. ‘I wanted to make Wode Hall into my real ideal of a country house, and I do think I’ve got it nice, don’t you?’
‘It’s beautiful. Beautifully planned. Everything perfect. You’re very clever, Linnet.’ He paused a minute and went on: ‘And you like Charltonbury, don’t you? Of course it wants modernizing and all that – but you’re so clever at that sort of thing. You enjoy it.’
‘Why, of course, Charltonbury’s divine.’
She spoke with ready enthusiasm, but inwardly she was conscious of a sudden chill. An alien note had sounded, disturbing her complete satisfaction with life. She did not analyse the feeling at the moment, but later, when Windlesham had left her, she tried to probe the recesses of her mind.
Charltonbury – yes, that was it – she had resented the mention of Charltonbury. But why? Charltonbury was modestly famous. Windlesham’s ancestors had held it since the time of Elizabeth. To be mistress of Charltonbury was a position unsurpassed in society. Windlesham was one of the most desirable partis in England.
Naturally he couldn’t take Wode seriously… It was not in any way to be compared with Charltonbury.
Ah, but Wode was hers! She had seen it, acquired it, rebuilt and re-dressed it, lavished money on it. It was her own possession, her kingdom.
But in a sense it wouldn’t count if she married Windlesham. What would they want with two country places? And of the two, naturally Wode Hall would be the one to be given up.
