Well, try and be a bit more sensible than you were last night,’ Chrissie remarked. ‘Get the Rajah to take you to the shops.’

‘I’m not going with the Rajah,’ Stella said, her voice very low.

If you expect me to go with you now, you’re mistaken,’ Chrissie said. ‘You’ve upset me enough for today. I’m going to have a cup of tea if I have to go down to the kitchen myself and make it.’

‘I wasn’t going to ask you to come with me,’ Stella said. ‘I – I’m going with someone else.’

Something in her voice and bearing suddenly struck Chrissie as peculiar. She sat up in bed.

‘What’s all this about?’ she asked suspiciously. ‘What are you trying to tell me?’

Stella took a deep breath.

‘I’m leaving, Chrissie! I am going away from here.’

‘Away?’ Chrissie said the word slowly, then quickly like a shot from a gun she followed it with other questions, ‘Where are you going? Who with? What’s all this?’

Stella’s face was very white, but her voice was steady.

‘I’m going to be married, Chrissie. At once, as soon as it can possibly be arranged. I’m sorry, but he won’t let you come with me.’

‘Married? To whom? Who are you talking about?’

‘It – it’s François.’

‘François!’

Chrissie only whispered the word. For a moment she was almost speechless.

‘Yes, François,’ Stella said, and now suddenly her voice was light. ‘He loves me, and I love him. It’s the most wonderful thing that has ever happened. He told me so two days ago and asked me to marry him, but I wouldn’t give him an answer. Then after lunch today he found me crying and made me promise I’d marry him right away. Oh, Chrissie, I am so happy, so terribly happy.’

‘How dare you say that to me!’ Chrissie’s face was as grey as ashes.

‘I was afraid you’d be angry, Chrissie, but you must try and forgive me. It’s hard, I know, that I can’t ask you to my wedding or to my new home, but François won’t have it. He’s been saving for a long time so that he could buy a restaurant.

He has one in mind and he hopes that within a few months we shall be settled there. Chrissie, he wants me by myself. It’s difficult to say this to you, but I must tell you the truth – he doesn’t think that you have a good influence on me. It’s absurd, of course, and I’ve told him so, but he won’t listen. He says that I’ve got to choose between you and him. And oh, Chrissie, horrid though it is of me, I love him so much that I can’t give him up.’