The Partnership by Phyllis Bentley

the impact of her own sensations.
    â€œHow have you enjoyed yourself? You didn’t care much for that Home place, I’m afraid,” pursued Wilfred.
    â€œYou’ve heard about it, then?” said Lydia, striving to recover her composure.
    â€œOh, we don’t forget
you
while you’re away, however little you may think about
us
,” replied Wilfred soberly.
    At this all the intimate dreams in which she had indulged while watching Annice and her soldier lover naturally rushed into Lydia’s mind; utterly confused, she murmured: “Oh yes, I did,” in a suffocated tone, and hanging her head, blushed deeply.
    â€œI’m glad of that,” said Wilfred with emphasis, too straightforward to pretend to misunderstand her.
    Charles now spoke from his chair by the hearth and broke upon their privacy, but their few words together had been enough; from that hour their relationship entered on a new phase, and Charles’s hopes for them seemed likely of fulfilment.
    It was not only on this account, however, thatLydia congratulated herself a hundred times during the next few months on her acquisition of Annice; for from the first the girl was a general favourite and a great success. Wilfred approved heartily of her bright face and willing service, and of the way she smiled at him when she opened the door and told him Lydia was in; Charles gladly extended to her his universal benevolence, adding to it in her case a humorous paternal affection; Dyson commented favourably on her firm red cheeks; while Louise frankly loved her. In the long hours while Lydia was out at work and Charles wrestled with backward youths in his study, Louise and Annice became intimate—as far as it was possible for anyone to become intimate with Annice—over their common household tasks. They made beds together, conferred seriously over the quantity of milk which was desirable for the day, arranged and rearranged meals for the coming week with childish solemnity, and united in a thousand little schemes for the welfare of Charles and Lydia, those pivots of the household. Annice soon became acquainted with the minutest preferences of the Mellors; she knew Lydia’s prejudices about blankets, and how much sugar Charles liked in his tea; she knew where all the linen was kept, and was familiar with the resources of the jam cupboard. Louise was too dreamy to make an efficient housekeeper; she forgot details, changed her plans often, made small muddles and then grew fluttered in correcting them; but whatever shedid always seemed to meet with Annice’s hearty approval. Annice was never cross, never sharp, never critical, never in a hurry; when anything pleasant happened she smiled joyously and said nothing; when anything untoward occurred her round blue eyes assumed an expression of respectful sympathy, she smiled and was silent. She was always willing to do anything that Louise proposed, and to undo it again if Louise proposed that later; nothing pleased her better than to be sent errands, and to run from the cellar to the top of the house and back was a bagatelle to her. It was early discovered that she knew nothing whatever of her duties; but she learned so rapidly and followed her instructions with such implicit faith that the whole family took an immense pleasure in teaching them to her. Charles himself gave her “tips” on the proper method of announcing his many callers, and her prowess in setting the table in exact accordance with Louise’s wishes was daily commented upon. The sharp-eyed Lydia, however, too often perceived dust lying about in corners which Annice was supposed to have cleaned. Once she remonstrated. The girl obediently fetched a duster and poked out the offending corner with her customary air of inscrutable reserve, but she gave Lydia afterwards a look which seemed to hint that Annice’s blue eyes could be very defiant indeed when not restrained by love for Lydia. That look