Dorcas dabbed her eyes and Alison said seriously: "Judith, what about him."
"Him?"
"This er . . . this man you plan to marry."
"Tybalt."
They were both looking at me anxiously.
"Now that er . . ." began Alison. "Now that you have this . . . fortune . . ."
"Good Heavens," I cried, "you don't think—"
"We ... we wondered whether he knew . . ."
"Knew what?" I demanded.
"That you ... er ... were coming into this money."
"Aunts!" I cried sternly. "You are being very wrong. Tybalt and I were meant for each other. I'm passionately interested in his work."
Alison said with a touch of asperity quite alien to her: "I hope he's not passionately interested in your money."
I was angry with them. "This is monstrous. How could he be? Besides . . ."
"Now, Judith, we are only concerned for your good," said Dorcas.
My anger melted. It was true. All their anxiety was for my welfare. I kissed them again. "Listen," I said, "I love Tybalt. Do you understand that? I always have. I always will. And we are going to work together. It's the most ideal match that was ever made. Don't dare say anything else. Don't dare think anything else . . ."
"Oh, Judith, you always swept everything along with you. I only hope . . ."
"Hope. Who has to hope when one knows."
"So you really love him?"
"Do you doubt it?"
"No. We were wondering about him."
"Of course," I said, "he doesn't show his feelings as I do. Who does?"
They agreed that few did.
"He may seem aloof, remote, cool—but he's not so."
"It would break our hearts if you weren't happy, Judith."
"There's nothing to be afraid of. Your hearts are going to remain intact."
"You really are happy, Judith," said Alison.
"I'm in love with Tybalt," I said. "And he wants to marry me. And that being so, how could I possibly be anything but happy?"
It was different at the rectory. Sabina welcomed me warmly.
"Oh this is fun, Judith," she cried in her inconsequential way. "Here we are, the old gang all happily tied up together. It is interesting, isn't it? The only one left out is poor Hadrian. Of course we were uneven weren't we. Three women and four men. What a lovely proportion—and a rare one. Tybalt wasn't really one of us though. In the schoolroom I mean. And dear old Evan and darling Oliver . . . well they were the teachers. I'm so pleased. After all you did bully us, didn't you, Judith, so Tybalt is just right for you. I always say to Oliver you need someone to bully you. And now you've got Tybalt. Not that he'll bully in the way you did but he'll keep a firm hand. You can't imagine anyone bullying Tybalt, can you? Oh, Judith, aren't you lucky! And I can't think of anyone I'd rather have for my darling perfect brother."
This was more comforting than the views at Rainbow Cottage.
And she went on. "It was all so exciting. Sir Ralph and all that. . . and the money! You'll be able to go everywhere with Tybalt. My father was always having to get people interested, to back his trips you know. Not that he didn't spend a lot on it himself. We'd have been fabulously rich, my mother used to say, if it hadn't been for my father's obsession."
So it seemed that whenever my coming marriage was discussed, my recently acquired fortune always seemed to come under consideration.
I couldn't help enjoying my interview with Lady Bodrean.
After the will had been read I presented myself to her. She regarded me as though I were quite distasteful, which I suppose I was.
"So," she said, "you have come to hand in your notice."
"Certainly I have, Lady Bodrean."
"I expected it would not be long before you did. So I am to be inconvenienced."
I replied: "Well, if I was so useful to you, a fact which you very carefully concealed, I would be willing to stay for a week or so until you have replaced me."
"You know by now that you were forced on me. I had not employed a companion before you came."
"Then you will have no objection to my leaving immediately."
She had obviously come to the conclusion that the new turn in my fortunes meant that I would no longer be a good object for oppression and she decided I should go at once, but she pretended to consider this.
That I was Sir Ralph's daughter was, I am sure, no surprise to her. In fact I think his behavior towards me had convinced her of our relationship and it was for this reason that she had been particularly unpleasant to me. But that Tybalt should have asked me to marry him was something which puzzled her. She had wanted Tybalt for her own daughter and the fact that Theodosia had married Evan Callum and I had won the prize was galling to her.
"I hear you are shortly to be married," she said, her lip curling.
"You have heard correctly," I told her.
"I must say I was surprised until ... er ..."
"Until?" I said.
"I know that Sir Ralph confided a great deal in Sir Edward. They were close friends. I've no doubt he told him the position and it was for this reason that er . . ."
"You have always been very frank in the past, Lady Bodrean," I said. "There is no need to be less direct now that we meet on an equal footing. You are suggesting that Sir Tybalt Travers has asked me to marry him because I am Sir Ralph's daughter?"
"Sir Ralph was eager for a union with that family. Of course he would have preferred his true daughter to have made the match—instead of which she must go off with this penniless schoolteacher."
"As I may now presume to correct you, something which was beyond my range before my true identity was discovered, I must remind you that Professor Callum is far from penniless. He holds a good post in one of the country's foremost universities and the term schoolteacher is hardly the correct one to apply to a lecturer in archaeology."
"He was not the man Sir Ralph wished his daughter to marry. She was foolish and flouted us—and it seems to me that Sir Ralph then decided that since Theodosia had been so foolish he would offer her chance to you."
"My future husband is not a prize packet on a dish to be offered round."
"One might say that there was quite a prize to be offered to him. I am surprised at the manner in which my husband has left his fortune. I would say it is a victory for immorality and extravagance."
I would not let her see that she had scored. This suggestion that I was being married for my money was not a new one.
However, I said goodbye to Lady Bodrean and left her with the understanding that our association as employer and employee was terminated.
I went back to Rainbow Cottage which would be my home until my marriage.
We were to be married very soon. Tybalt insisted. Dorcas and Alison thought it was somewhat unseemly to have a wedding so soon after a funeral; and I had to remember that that funeral had turned out to be my father's.
When I put this point to Tybalt he said: "What nonsense! You didn't know it was your father until afterwards."
I agreed with him. I was ready to agree with him on anything. When I was with him, I forgot all my misgivings. He was so eager for our wedding, and although he was by no means demonstrative he would look at me in a way which sent me into a state of bliss, for I knew that he was contemplating our future with the utmost pleasure. He took me into his confidence completely about his plans. This bequest of Sir Ralph's was a boon. Such a large sum of money suitably invested would bring in an income which could be entirely devoted to those explorations in which Sir Ralph had always delighted.
He talked a great deal about that other expedition which had ended abruptly and fatally for Sir Edward. He made me see the arid countryside, feel the heat of that blazing sun. I could visualize the excitement when they had found the door in the mountainside and the flight of steps leading down to corridors.