"Do what you like, my child--I shan't be in till five. Don't let him be bored, that's all, or he'll go back to town--the one thing Micky cannot stand is being bored."
She felt nervous when at five minutes to three exactly she walked down the winding road to the station.
June ought to have come herself, she argued; it was a most silly thing to send her--she hoped he would not come at all; but all the time she was listening for the sound of a car or a motor-horn. The sleepy-eyed factotum of the station walked up and stared at her curiously. After a few turns he ventured to ask if she wanted to go by train.
"No, I'm waiting for a gentleman--I--oh, here he is."
"'Twas her young gentleman for sure," the sleepy-eyed one told his colleague afterwards. "She blushed up like a rose when she saw him."
Micky noticed that blush, too, as he turned the car with a fine sweep and came to a standstill.
Esther greeted him with a torrent of explanation.
"June couldn't come, so she made me--she had to go out on business. She would make me come!"
"It's very kind," Micky said. "I'm later than I expected--the roads are bad down in this part of the world. Well, and how do you like Enmore?"
"It's very quiet, but I like it for a change, and June's aunt is ever so kind."
"Yes, a dear old lady; I know her well. Did you tell her I was coming?"
His eyes swept her face anxiously. No trace of tears or sadness to-day, at all events.
"Are we supposed to go straight home?" he asked after a moment. "Because, if not, what do you say to a run round first?"
"I should love it!" She got in beside him, and the car started away.
"I only brought the two-seater," Micky explained audaciously. "I hate a crowd. This will take three at a pinch, but it's much more comfortable for two."
"It must be splendid to be able to have a car like this of your very own," she said suddenly.
"There are other things I would far rather have," he said.
"Are there?" She looked up at him innocently. "What things?" she asked.
"Am I really to answer that question?" he asked.
She could not think why she had been so stupid as to say such a thing. She felt very vexed.
They went some way in silence. Esther glanced at the man beside her timidly.
Would he end up by some day marrying June? she wondered. Lucky June, if he did--lucky ... she checked the thought with a little sense of shame. Only a few days ago she had declared that she disliked him. Perhaps it was the car that made her feel so suddenly envious of the woman who would one day be this man's wife.