As the Crow Flies

Becky remained silently by the fire, not sure what she should do next. Mrs. Trentham stood coolly staring at her until finally Becky walked over to the major, shook him by the hand and said, “I’ll say goodbye, Major Trentham. I have a feeling we won’t be seeing each other again.”

“My loss, Miss Salmon,” he said graciously before kissing her hand. Then Becky turned and walked slowly out of the drawing room without giving Mrs. Trentham a second look. Guy followed Becky into the hall.

On their journey back to London Guy made every excuse he could think of for his mother’s behavior, but Becky knew he didn’t really believe his own words. When the car came to a halt outside Number 97 Guy jumped out and opened the passenger door.

“May I come up?” he asked. “There’s something I still have to tell you.”

“Not tonight,” said Becky. “I need to think and I’d rather like to be on my own.”

Guy sighed. “It’s just that I wanted to tell you how much I love you and perhaps talk about our plans for the future.”

“Plans that include your mother?”

“To hell with my mother,” he replied. “Don’t you realize how much I love you?”

Becky hesitated.

“Let’s announce our engagement in The Times as soon as possible, and to hell with what she thinks. What do you say?”

She turned and threw her arms around him. “Oh, Guy, I do love you too, but you’d better not come up tonight. Not while Daphne is expected back at any moment. Another time perhaps?”

A look of disappointment crossed Guy’s face. He kissed her before saying good night. She opened the front door and ran up the stairs.

Becky unlocked the flat door to find that Daphne had not returned from the country. She sat alone on the sofa, not bothering to turn the gas up when the light faded. It was to be a further two hours before Daphne sailed in.

“How did it all go?” were the first words Daphne uttered as she entered the drawing room, a little surprised to find her friend sitting in the dark.

“A disaster.”

“So it’s all over?”

“No, not exactly,” said Becky. “In fact I have a feeling Guy proposed to me.”

“But did you accept?” asked Daphne.

“I rather think I did.”

“And what do you intend to do about India?”

The followin

g morning when Becky unpacked her overnight case, she was horrified to discover that the delicate brooch Daphne had lent her for the weekend was missing. She assumed she must have left it at Ashurst Hall.

As she had no desire to make contact with Mrs. Trentham again, she dropped a note to Guy at his regimental mess to alert him of her anxiety. He replied the next day to assure her that he would check on Sunday when he planned to have lunch with his parents at Ashurst.

Becky spent the next five days worrying about whether Guy would be able to find the missing piece: thankfully Daphne didn’t seem to have noticed its absence. Becky only hoped she could get the brooch back before her friend felt the desire to wear it again.

Guy wrote on Monday to say that despite an extensive search of the guest bedroom he had been unable to locate the missing brooch, and in any case Nellie had informed him that she distinctly remembered packing all of Becky’s jewelry.

This piece of news puzzled Becky because she remembered packing her own case following her summary dismissal from Ashurst Hall. With considerable trepidation she sat up late into the night, waiting for Daphne to return from her long weekend in the country so that she could explain to her friend what had happened. She feared that it might be months, even years before she could save enough to replace what was probably a family heirloom.

By the time her flatmate breezed into Chelsea Terrace a few minutes after midnight, Becky had already drunk several cups of black coffee and almost lit one of Daphne’s Du Maunes.

“You’re up late, my darling,” were Daphne’s opening words. “Are exams that close?”

“No,” said Becky, then blurted out the whole story of the missing diamond brooch. She finished by asking Daphne how long she thought it might take to repay her.

“About a week would be my guess,” said Daphne.