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When she passed Emlyn's room he called out to her and she went in to him. 'Have you had a good time?' he asked, his gaze on her shining eyes and wind-tossed hair, and the unaccustomed glow in her cheeks.

'
Lovely, thanks, Emlyn. Have you enjoyed your book?' She noticed that it lay either finished or unread on the bedside table.

‘It was O.K.,' he allowed. 'Evan came up and talked to me for a while before he went out and Dai was up here for a couple of hours with me, so I haven't been too bad.' He looked at the brief summer frock that she wore and smiled. 'I wish you'd dress like that for me,' he said, 'instead of that stuffy old uniform. You look good enough to eat, and that colour suits you.'

She dipped him a mock curtsy. 'Thank you, kind sir. Now if you're ready, I'll give you your injection, then get your dinner before I change. Are you hungry? '

He grinned at her. 'Yes, but not for being spoon fed,' he retorted. 'Thank goodness I'll be able to sit up a bit next week, then I can feed myself.'

'You've done very well,' she allowed with a smile, 'and that's because you've co-operated with the exercises and not tried to skip doing them.'

'I have done rather well, haven't I ?' he said, obviously gratified at her praise, 'although I say it.'

'At this rate,' she assured him, 'it won't be long before Doctor Neath lets you get out of bed for a short spell and you'll soon be on your feet.' His smile of anticipation caused her a moment's heart-tugging sympathy as she looked at the dark young face and glistening eyes. Emlyn desired nothing in the world so much as to be a whole man again and she realized what these last weeks must have cost him. 'You've been a model patient,' she added softly.

Evan Davies greeted her with surprising and unexpected cordiality when she went down to dinner and she wondered how much his improved manner towards her was due to his trip that afternoon. About that trip she was curious, she admitted to herself, but she quelled the curiosity hastily. It was really no affair of hers what Evan Davies chose to do with his time. He looked up as she came into the room and she could have sworn that a trace of a smile touched the straight set of his mouth for a moment.

'
Did you enjoy your afternoon?' he asked.

She smiled and nodded. 'Very much, thank you,' she said. 'The scenery is unbelievably lovely round here, isn't it?'

'
You've never been to Wales before?' he asked and, when she shook her head, 'it's very different from your part of the world, isn't it?'

'Do you know my part of the world?' she asked, not knowing quite why it should surprise her that he knew her home county—after all, it was possible that he was a man who had travelled a good deal and he would certainly have been to the south of England at some time if he had.

'I have been through on my way to London once or twice,' he acknowledged. 'You haven't travelled much, have you?'

'No,' she admitted, 'I haven't. I've never had much time, I'm afraid, my outlook has become rather restricted I suppose from the point of view of knowing the country. Anyway, I intend to make up in part for it, while I'm here. I'm hoping to do some walking before I leave.'

'Not alone, I hope,' he said, frowning at the idea. 'It's rather dangerous for a girl on her own, especially when you're not used to the country.'

'So I believe,' she told him, 'but Mr Neath has promised to act as guide, so I shall be in safe hands.'

His answering 'Hmm' was non-committal, but at least he had been more human than previously and dinner was far less of an ordeal than it had yet been since her arrival. Mrs Beeley had left their coffee and gone back to her kitchen and now was the time that Helen usually dreaded most. When she must either sit in almost silence with him or go out of the room on some excuse which was what she usually did. She was about to make her customary excuses when he flicked her a speculative look as he drew the ancient briar he smoked into life.

'
I've spoken to Emlyn about your time off,' he told her without preliminary. 'You've been giving too many of your afternoons to staying with him, and in future you will please make sure that you take all the time due to you.'

'Oh, I don't mind,' she started to say, 'I don't—'

'But I do, Miss Gaynor, and
I
employ you, not my son; you will in future comply with
my
wishes in the matter and take your free time whether Emlyn asks you to stay with him or not, do you understand?'

She flushed at the overbearing arrogance of the words and of his tone of voice. The good humour, as she had feared, was too good to last.

‘He’s made very good progress in the last three weeks,' she said, trying to steady her voice which wavered and threatened to betray her rising anger. ‘I’m very pleased with him, and so is Doctor Neath.'

For a moment he made no reply, his features partially concealed behind the screen of smoke he was creating between them. 'Did you know that my son imagines himself to be in love with you?' he asked, and the unexpectedness of it deprived her of speech. ‘
Did
you know?' he repeated impatiently.

'
No,' she managed at last in as quiet a voice as she could command. 'But it's not very unusual, Mr Davies, lots of patients fall in love with their nurses, or they think they do; a return to normality usually puts an end to it.'

'
I see.' He sounded unconvinced. 'So you don’t intend to take advantage of the situation?'

‘Take advantage of it?’ She looked at him uncomprehendingly. 'I don’t quite understand you.'

The smoke-screen grew thicker as he sought to hide himself behind it. ‘Of course you do. It must be quite a temptation to a young nurse in a situation like this when a wealthy patient falls in love with her, is to all intents dependent on her.' He did not meet her angry eyes and was intent instead of the correct drawing of the pipe. 'A hasty marriage could mean a great deal of difference to her.'

Helen stared at him, not quite believing what she heard, her cheeks flushed with a strange mixture of temper and embarrassment. 'I can’t answer for other women in my profession, Mr Davies, but personally I would look for a great deal more than unlimited wealth when I looked for a husband, and in the circumstances I find your remark in extremely bad taste!’ She knew that she was very near to tears and the thought of crying in front of him did not bear thinking about. She got up from the table slowly, her hands trembling with the anger and humiliation she felt, her eyes unbelievably blue and shiny with unshed tears. 'If you’ll excuse me, I’ll see if there’s anything: my patient needs before I so
for a walk.' He
rose
as she made her own move and
as she reached
the
door
she heard him draw breath as if
he would have
spoken, but he said not a word
before
she opened it and closed it quietly behind her. She stood
for
a
moment or two on
the far side recovering her
composure, unable to grasp the
enormity of what he had
suggested,
and Emlyn'
s call
as
she passed
his room only
served to remind
her.

If
he noticed her heightened colour
and the
betraying brightness of her eyes, he' made no immediate comment on it, but smiled a welcome as
he
always did. She looked at him for
a
moment trying to understand what had made him make that unfortunate profession of love for her to his father; he must have known
that
it would annoy the other man and probably cause trouble for
her
as a consequence.

'
You're very quiet,' he ventured after a few moments. 'Is there something wrong, Helen?'

She shook her head, tidying things in the room that had no real need to be tidied—anything to keep her from thinking about the man downstairs and the accusation he had levelled at her, however obliquely. 'I'm all right,' she said. 'What do you want to do this evening?' He raised a hand and signalled her to come over to him and when she did he took her two hands in his own and lay looking up at her with a strange intense look that she had not seen before and which made her uneasy.

'
Something
is
wrong,' he said quietly. 'What is it, Helen, please tell me.'

‘There's nothing to tell you,' she denied. ‘Now please let go of my hands, Emlyn.'

For answer he tightened his grip and pulled gently at her hands to try and make her look at him.

'
I told Evan I was in love with you,' he said softly, and she looked at him then, only to avert her gaze swiftly when she saw the expression in his eyes.

'
He told me,' she said. 'What on earth made you do it, Emlyn?'

'Because it's true,' he answered simply. 'I do love you.'

'It's not true,' she denied, disengaging her hands so that she could move away from him and not have to see that oddly pathetic look in his eyes. 'It's a thing that happens sometimes with nurses and patients. It isn't the real thing, Emlyn, it will all seem different when you're up and around again; believe me, it will.'

'It won't,' he said determinedly, his chin set at the obstinate angle she was beginning to know so well. 'I love you, Helen, and as soon as I'm fit and well again I'm going to ask you to marry me.'

'No!' She almost shouted the word at him and he blinked his surprise. 'You'll do no such thing,' she told him more quietly, 'and I wish you hadn't mentioned it to your father. It was most embarrassing.'

He frowned. 'He shouldn't have said anything to you about it,' he said. 'It was not his place to.'

'It was his place to protect you from a designing woman who had an eye to the main chance,' she retorted, hating herself for speaking as she was but at the same time wanting him to know the harm he had done. She saw his look of surprise and guessed that the consequences of what he had done were only now becoming clear to him.

'Is that what he thinks? Did he actually accuse you of trying to—' He laughed shortly in disbelief. 'I don't believe it; he can't be serious, Helen. Evan wouldn't say that to you.'

'Not in so many words,' she admitted, 'but it's what he thinks, Emlyn, and if you insist on going on with this nonsense he'll be certain he's right.'

'It is not nonsense,' he protested. 'I love you. There can't be any doubt about it, not as far as I'm concerned, anyway.'

'I'd rather you didn't talk about it, either to me or to anyone else.' She was aware that he was watching her, though his eyes appeared to be closed because of the position he was in.

'
Is there any reason why I shouldn't love you?' he asked. 'You're not married or anything, are you?'

'No, of course not.'

'There's no “of course not ” about it,' he declared. 'You're a very beautiful girl and I'm surprised you're not married before now.' He saw her face and the sadness in her eyes and remembered. 'I'm sorry, Helen. Your father—I forgot, you nursed him for several years, didn't you?' She nodded silently, standing by the window looking out at the over-shadowing mountain, vastly dark and gloomy in the late sun. 'Then if you're not married what other reason is there for my not loving you?'

She turned from the window and smiled ruefully at his determined expression which he maintained despite the difficulty of his position. 'I can think of several,' she told him, 'and the first one is purely logical. I don't believe it's possible to fall in love with someone in three weeks.'

'It is,' he assured her. 'Try again.'

'Secondly I'm several years older than you are—have you thought of that?'

He dismissed the argument with an airy hand. 'Pooh! I'm twenty-one and quite capable of knowing my own mind.'

'And I'm almost twenty-seven,' she pointed out quietly, 'and I know my own mind too, Emlyn.' He looked at her then with a glimmer of doubt in his eyes and for the first time he sounded uncertain when he spoke.

'
You don't feel the same way about me?'

She looked down at her hands, unable to meet his eyes.

'No, I don't,' she said. 'Now please, Emlyn, don't say any more about it; I'd much rather you didn't.'

For a moment he was silent. 'Very well,' he agreed at last, 'but don't think I shall give up altogether, will you? I shall remind you from time to time and maybe you'll change your mind about me.' He grinned irrepressibly. 'I'm quite a good-looking feller when I'm on my feet, you know.'

'I'm sure you are,' she smiled, unable to stay in her serious mood for very long when he insisted on being so amusing even if it was just another way of getting his own way.

'And I'm sorry I told Evan about how I feel,' he said, 'but I just had to tell somebody when it suddenly came to me that I was jealous that you were meeting Owen Neath. Was he very nasty about it to you?'

‘Not really,' she admitted, 'but it was an impulsive and rather unfair thing to do, especially as you had given me no warning. His reaction was natural enough, I suppose, in the circumstances.'

‘Poor Helen, I'm very sorry about it, honestly.'

'There's another thing too,' she said, while on the subject of her sins, at least sins in the eyes of Evan Davies. 'I am not to spend any more of my free time with you.'

'Did you get told off about that, too?' he asked, and she nodded.

‘I'm to take my free afternoons, so you won't be able to inveigle me into staying with you when I should be out, not any more.'

He looked at her from under a frown reminiscent of his father's. 'I didn't expect to while Owen Neath is here,' he retorted. 'After all, I'm not very strong competition for a man on his own two feet, am I?' His self-pity was unusual enough to evoke her sympathy, although she realized it was just another way of winning her over to his side, and she smiled at him reproachfully.

'You're not being very fair,' she said, ‘trying to play on my sympathy like that.'