They might so easily have been resentful of her. Everything seemed to be conspiring towards her happiness. “It’s all just too wonderful to be true,” she found herself thinking. Aloud she said to Stephen when they were upstairs by themselves again: “I’m not going to wake up to find it’s all a dream, am I? Can there be so much happiness?”
For answer he kissed her. “Does that seem unreal?” he asked.
She shook her head happily.
“Now what do you really think of the house?” he asked. “Do you think you will be happy here or would you like us to start somewhere brand new? Or is there anything you want to change in it?”
“No, I love it. I think it’s a heavenly house.” And so she did, but she wasn’t altogether sure about the decorations. She felt somehow that they were a little too austere, a little formal. “ Never mind,” she thought, “I’ll change it by degrees ... I do adore the house itself. But I don’t like these stamped velvet covers and heavy velvet curtains. I should like it to be more like a country room, especially as it’s got a garden.” Aloud she said: “I do so long to see the garden.”
“We’ll lunch here to-morrow as it’s Saturday. I’ll get off early to- morrow morning and we’ll go and buy you a ring and get you photographed ... You’ll have to meet everyone at the bank, by the way. They’ll probably want to give a party for us. You know what it is in a family business. Most of my people have been with us since they left school, and their sons and daughters often come in too. There’s one man of my age who is third generation. His grandfather worked for my grandfather. So you see we’re all very close.”
“Then your wife must be very important to them,” Rose said with sudden apprehension. “I do hope I shall not let them down. It frightens me ... I wonder if I am really the wife you ought to have? I have seen so little. I have had so little experience,”
“My darling, if only you knew what an effect you have on people,” he said. “You’re like the sight and sound of clear running water to a man dying of thirst.”
CHAPTER SIX
THE next few weeks went by for Rose like some enchanted dream. She and Stephen saw each other every day and sometimes twice a day when she went to lunch with him in the City, and they spent all Sunday together. She discovered that at the bank he was, like so many men at their places of business, a different person—someone to be in awe of. It was evident that all his employees adored him while at the same time treating him with the greatest respect. She met his three partners, who were all older than himself, and he introduced her to as many of his friends as possible. His great friend, Robin Johnson, she had now met on several occasions, and he was charming to her, but it pained her a little bit to realize how much better he knew Stephen than she did.
A most cordial letter had come from Stephen’s sister, and altogether everybody was making her feel as welcome as possible in her new life. Clare Frenton could not have been nicer and even gave a dinner party for them, but what pleased Rose more than anything was that Francie now seemed to have accepted Stephen completely and drawn him into the warmth of her friendship.
At moments she could hardly believe her good fortune. She used to wake in the night thinking: “Why should all this have happened to me? I don’t deserve it. If only I could do something to give back to life all the wonderful gifts it is showering on me.”
Now that their engagement had been made public she did not see as much of Stephen alone as she would have liked because there were so many of his friends who wanted to meet her, but Sundays they kept to themselves, and Sunday therefore was the day she looked forward to most, when they would usually drive out into the country. It would be wonderful in the summer when they could sit out in the garden of their own house. Rose had secret plans for
For answer he kissed her. “Does that seem unreal?” he asked.
She shook her head happily.
“Now what do you really think of the house?” he asked. “Do you think you will be happy here or would you like us to start somewhere brand new? Or is there anything you want to change in it?”
“No, I love it. I think it’s a heavenly house.” And so she did, but she wasn’t altogether sure about the decorations. She felt somehow that they were a little too austere, a little formal. “ Never mind,” she thought, “I’ll change it by degrees ... I do adore the house itself. But I don’t like these stamped velvet covers and heavy velvet curtains. I should like it to be more like a country room, especially as it’s got a garden.” Aloud she said: “I do so long to see the garden.”
“We’ll lunch here to-morrow as it’s Saturday. I’ll get off early to- morrow morning and we’ll go and buy you a ring and get you photographed ... You’ll have to meet everyone at the bank, by the way. They’ll probably want to give a party for us. You know what it is in a family business. Most of my people have been with us since they left school, and their sons and daughters often come in too. There’s one man of my age who is third generation. His grandfather worked for my grandfather. So you see we’re all very close.”
“Then your wife must be very important to them,” Rose said with sudden apprehension. “I do hope I shall not let them down. It frightens me ... I wonder if I am really the wife you ought to have? I have seen so little. I have had so little experience,”
“My darling, if only you knew what an effect you have on people,” he said. “You’re like the sight and sound of clear running water to a man dying of thirst.”
CHAPTER SIX
THE next few weeks went by for Rose like some enchanted dream. She and Stephen saw each other every day and sometimes twice a day when she went to lunch with him in the City, and they spent all Sunday together. She discovered that at the bank he was, like so many men at their places of business, a different person—someone to be in awe of. It was evident that all his employees adored him while at the same time treating him with the greatest respect. She met his three partners, who were all older than himself, and he introduced her to as many of his friends as possible. His great friend, Robin Johnson, she had now met on several occasions, and he was charming to her, but it pained her a little bit to realize how much better he knew Stephen than she did.
A most cordial letter had come from Stephen’s sister, and altogether everybody was making her feel as welcome as possible in her new life. Clare Frenton could not have been nicer and even gave a dinner party for them, but what pleased Rose more than anything was that Francie now seemed to have accepted Stephen completely and drawn him into the warmth of her friendship.
At moments she could hardly believe her good fortune. She used to wake in the night thinking: “Why should all this have happened to me? I don’t deserve it. If only I could do something to give back to life all the wonderful gifts it is showering on me.”
Now that their engagement had been made public she did not see as much of Stephen alone as she would have liked because there were so many of his friends who wanted to meet her, but Sundays they kept to themselves, and Sunday therefore was the day she looked forward to most, when they would usually drive out into the country. It would be wonderful in the summer when they could sit out in the garden of their own house. Rose had secret plans for
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