I could never be on a railway station after that without recalling that day.
Crispin sat close to me. Occasionally he would stretch out a hand and touch mine, as though to reassure himself I was really there.
As soon as we sat down and had ordered tea. Aunt Sophie said: “Isn’t it wonderful! Who would have thought it would have worked out like this? All the time …”
I said: “What is it? I know something has happened. I can see that by the way you look and … everything. But what? Tell me!”
“I wrote,” said Crispin, ‘as soon as I knew. It was the first thing I did. “
“You wrote? But when did you write?”
“As soon as I heard.”
“You don’t say,” said Aunt Sophie, ‘that you haven’t had the letter? ”
“Which letter? They take a long time, you know.”
“The one telling you. Crispin wrote and I wrote. And when we heard you were coming home … we thought that was why. Come to think of it, there wasn’t all that time. Our letters must have crossed in the post.”
“But we thought you were coming because-‘ began Crispin.
“Because what?” I cried in exasperation.
“It is like this,” said Crispin.
“I got one of those detective agencies working on it. Kate had said she was going to Australia, but I did not believe that. I had to be rid of her once and for all. I think I knew her plan was to go on making me pay.”
“Of course,” I said.
“She would not stop the first time.”
“There is no need to worry about anything any more. I was never married to her. She was already married, and had been for three years before I met her. She only went through a form of the ceremony with me.”
“Is this really true?”
“Proved without a shadow of a doubt,” said Aunt Sophie triumphantly.
“Crispin has proof, haven’t you, Crispin? There are such things as records, you know.”
“We have indeed the indisputable proof,” said Crispin.
“There is no impediment,” went on Aunt Sophie triumphantly.
“I am so happy. I felt so guilty about seeing her and telling you. I asked myself why I had opened my mouth.”
“It’s over,” said Crispin, taking my hand.
“My dearest, it is all over. There is nothing to stop us now.”
“I can’t believe it,” I said.
“It’s too … neat.”
“Life isn’t always untidy,” said Aunt Sophie.
“What I don’t understand,” said Crispin, ‘is why you came home now? ”
I looked at him steadily.
“I came home because I could not stay away any longer.”
“In spite of…”
“In spite of everything. I could not stay away from you. My father knew it, too. He said I should never be happy away from you. So I came back.”
Crispin was gripping my hand tightly.
“I shall never forget that,” he said.
“You came back to me before you knew.”
Aunt Sophie sat there smiling at us benignly, and it suddenly occurred to me that I was living through one of the happiest moments of my life.
What a triumphant return!
Harper’s Green looked just the same as I remembered it. We took a cab to The Rowans where Lily was waiting for us. She rushed out and embraced me. Her voice was husky as she stated the obvious.
“You’re back!”
“Yes, Lily, I’m back.”
“About time, too.”
“I missed you all.”
“And don’t you think we missed you! Gadding about all over the place.
Come on in. Don’t want to stand about on the doorstep all night. “
We went into the sitting-room.
“What a wonderful homecoming!” I said.
“We’ll go ahead with our plans now,” said Crispin.
“There’s no need for us to wait. We’ve waited too long.”
Aunt Sophie talked about weddings.
“We want it quickly,” said Crispin.
“We don’t want to be bothered with lots of preparations.”
“I reckon your mother will want to have her way,” said Aunt Sophie.
“She will have to do it our way. And where shall we go for our honeymoon?”
“We’ll consider it,” I said.
“I’m too happy to think of anything but that I am home and it’s all going to be all right. And I did not know this until I was sitting in a railway tea-shop amid the clatter of crockery, people hurrying about and trains shunting outside!”
“What does it matter where you heard it?” said Aunt Sophie.
“You did . and it’s the best news in the world.”
It was wonderful to be back. The nightmare which had begun when Aunt Sophie came back with the news that she had seen Kate Carvel in Devizes was over. There was nothing but happiness ahead.
When Crispin had left us with assurances that he would come next morning. Aunt Sophie wanted to hear about my father.
She was deeply shocked to learn that he was blind.
“Why didn’t he tell me?” she demanded.
“He knew you would be upset, and he didn’t want you worrying about him. He’s like that. He’s very philosophical.”
“But how does he manage to look after himself? And what is he doing on that faraway island?”
I hesitated and then told her about Karla.
“Oh,” she said.
“A woman. There was always a woman.”
“She is half native and very kind and warm-hearted. You would love her. Aunt Sophie. She cares for him very much and does everything for him. She writes those letters to you at his dictation.”
She nodded.
“I knew the writing had changed. Not much, but it wasn’t quite the same.”
“He didn’t want you to know. Karia is very understanding. She is a sort of power in the island. She owns a plantation there.”
“What adventures he has had! If he had told me …”
“I know. You would have tried to bring him home. He is very fond of you, and he doesn’t want to use you. Aunt Sophie, you are his greatest friend, he said. He loves you, but he wouldn’t want to prey on you now that he is helpless. I understand how he feels. I got to know him very well.”
“He is a wonderful man.”
“He would laugh at that. He calls himself a sinner, and I suppose a lot of people would agree with him. But I love him and you do too, and so have a great many people throughout his life.”
She was subdued, but would not allow anything to cloud my happiness.
She talked about the change in Crispin.
“He seems like a young boy now. Oh, Freddie, how lucky you are to be loved like that.”
“I know,” I said.
“And to come back without knowing … I’m glad you did. It shows, doesn’t it? Did you see his face when he realized that?”
“I did. I had to come back. Aunt Sophie. My father understood that.”
“He was never one for conventions.”
“It is like a miracle that it should work out this way.”
“Life has its miracles now and then. Oh, I am so happy. It is what I have always wanted. To see you happy and to keep you near me. It’s everything I ever dreamed of … almost.”
I went to see Mrs. St. Aubyn. I did have a twinge of uneasiness, for I did not know how she would feel about the marriage. She would surely have wanted someone from a higher sphere of society for her son.
However, she received me warmly. She said: “How nice to see you back, my dear. Well, this will soon be your home, and you will be my daughter-in-law. I am so pleased to welcome you into the family.”
She was lying on a sofa, and I wondered whether she had reverted to that invalidism from which she had retreated on the coming of Gaston Marchmont to St. Aubyn’s.
“Crispin is very happy now,” she said.
“That is a great comfort to me.