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It was almost a couple of hours later when Evan returned, and his outing seemed to have improved his humour even further, for he smiled at her when she looked up from her book, a thing he had never done before, at least not such a full smile, and she thought how young it made him look and much more approachable. ‘You didn't go out?' he asked, and she shook her head.

'I read a book instead. I told Mrs Beeley earlier, I'm very lazy when it comes to taking myself out, I'm afraid. I miss Owen for that.'

'Owen Neath?'

'Yes. I'm hoping that he'll get back here at least for a couple of days before I leave.' The mention of her leaving seemed to startle him, for his head jerked up and he looked at her for a moment with a frown.

'
You won't be leaving yet, surely, will you?'

'
Not just yet,' she agreed, 'but Emlyn is very much better and he's making such good progress that he'll be able to manage without a nurse soon.'

‘Yes, I suppose he will.' The news, she thought, could have been received with more enthusiasm.

‘Aren't you pleased about it?' she asked curiously.

'
He's done very well and a lot of It's his own doing, you know. He really wants to get well and he's making a tremendous effort. In fact he tries too hard sometimes.'

'
He has you to encourage him,' he told her. 'That's why he tries so hard; you've been a great help.' He sat down in another armchair, reaching automatically for the tobacco jar beside him; about to put up the familiar smoke screen, she thought wryly, and watched the routine for a moment in silence. She did not like to continue reading while he was there, so she sat with the book in her lap and turned her eyes to the dominant bulk of Glyneath, visible through the window.

He lit the pipe and sent the smoke screen up between them before he spoke again. 'Has Neath taken you to see Lake Olwen yet?'

‘No, I don't think so.' She sought among the numerous names that she had stored over the last weeks and shook her head. 'No, I'm sure we haven't been there. Is it worth a visit?'

'
It's beautiful,' he said. 'You should see it.'

'
I'll remember the name for when Owen is here again,' she smiled. 'Lake Olwen, you said; it
sounds
pretty somehow. I'd love to see it.'

' Tomorrow?' he asked, and she stared at him for a moment uncomprehendingly, thinking that she must have heard him wrongly.

'
Did you say—tomorrow?' she ventured at last, and he nodded. 'But I'm not free tomorrow and—'

'Emlyn can manage without you for another afternoon, especially if he's doing as well as you say he is.'

'Oh, he is,' she assured him, 'but are you sure it's all right to—'

'If I say so,' he interrupted with a flash of his old arrogance, and she smiled.

'
You make the rules,' she said quietly, and apparently without resentment at the jibe he nodded.

‘That's right, I do. Will you come?'

'
That's very good of you. I'd love to,' she said, and surprisingly found that she meant it, though whether she would be of the same mind tomorrow remained to be seen.

'
Good, then that's settled, I'm sure you'll agree with me, it's worth a visit, especially at this time of the year when it's quiet.' He leaned his head back against the chair and seemed to consider the subject closed for the moment. She sat for a minute or two looking out again at the mountain, looking rather threatening in the cloud that was gathering round its peak, then glanced at her wrist watch to discover it was far later than she realized.

'
I'd better go and see Emlyn,' she said, getting up from her chair.
^f
He'll think I've deserted him and it's almost dinner time.' She walked across the room to the door, aware as she did so that he was watching her and she found the temptation to turn and look at him irresistible.

He still sat with his head back against the chair, with the old briar clenched between his teeth, relaxed and completely at ease, his eyes half closed. The light was rapidly going now and there was a shadowy look about the room that made it difficult to determine anything clearly until one had looked for a moment or two and become accustomed to the light. There was no doubting the look she saw in his eyes when she turned, and it surprised and startled her for a moment so that she held his gaze longer than she meant to before closing the door hastily. For a moment she stood on the far side of it, her hand still on the knob, trying to control the ridiculously fast throbbing of her pulse, and with the insane desire to laugh as she went up the stairs to see Emlyn.

Helen had said nothing to Emlyn about her proposed outing with his father because she thought it best not to give him too much time to dwell on it and to raise the obvious objections that were inevitable. If he did not know he could not spend so much time complaining; the need to tell him, however, was taken out of her hands the following morning by Evan, who came into the room just after the exercise session.

The black eyes noted the perspiration of effort on his son's face and he watched silently for a moment while Helen bathed the moist forehead gently. 'It's hard work, boy,' he commented quietly as she moved away and Emlyn grinned his irrepressible grin.

‘It's worth it; I shall think so when I'm walking with Helen round Glyneath and back.' Evan smiled at the remark as if he had reservations on that fact, sparing only a brief glance at Helen, but Emlyn looked at her with his dark eyes sparkling mischief. 'I shall propose to her on the seat above the valley,' he declared. 'It will be very romantic, the way girls like it to be.'

‘The voice of experience?' Evan teased him dryly, and he grinned again, so self-assured and without a second thought that he could be wrong.

'
Helen's a romantic,' he informed Evan knowledgeably, ‘aren't you, Helen?'

‘Am I?' she countered. 'I hadn't really thought about it.' She could have wished that the conversation had taken any other turn but this one which she found additionally embarrassing with Evan there.

'
Of course you are,' Emlyn assured her. 'A lovely blue-eyed blonde with such a kissable mouth couldn't possibly be anything else but a romantic. Could she, Evan ?' he appealed to his father, who looked a
\
her with that inscrutable black-eyed look that she found so fatal to her self-possession.

^f
I imagine you’re right,' he conceded. 'But I don't think you should make such personal remarks about Helen while she's here. It's not very good-mannered.'

'
Oh, it's all right,' Emlyn said, gaily self-assured, his eyes still glittering mischief at her. 'She knows I'm going to marry, her as soon as I'm fit again.' Helen busied herself at the bedside table, hating to be the focal point of their conversation and especially disliking Emlyn's proprietorial air when he spoke about marrying her, with no question of doubt as to whether she would or not.

'
You've got a long way to go yet,' Evan warned him.

'
You'd better settle for one thing at a time, and you'd better find out whether or not Helen shares your views on matrimony.' He sat down in the chair Helen usually occupied when she played cards or draughts with her patient, leaning his chin on his hand and looking out of the window, not looking at his son when he spoke again before the younger man could reply.
'
I'm taking Helen to Lake Olwen today.'

Emlyn stared at him, as much surprised as Helen had been the night before when he had asked her. '
You're
taking her?'

'
That's right,' Evan confirmed with his face set in the stubborn way that Helen knew so well meant he would not be argued with, but Emlyn was prepared to protest, which was, of course, inevitable.

'
But it's not her free afternoon,' he declared. 'It was yesterday.'

'
It's today as well,' Evan informed him quietly, taking his eyes from the window and looking at his son.

'
You can manage for another afternoon. Dai will look after you, it isn't as if you're helpless now.'

'I might as well be,' Emlyn retorted. 'And she's
my
girl.' He seemed to think that argument unanswerable, but the black eyes were implacable as they looked at him, a younger, more volatile image of himself and one more vulnerable, less strong-willed when it came to a clash of wills.

'
That has yet to be official as far as Helen is concerned.' His accent was as broad as Dai Hughes' when he spoke and Helen could only just hear the words, he said it so quietly. 'Don't count your chickens, boyo.' If she had not heard the accent with her own ears Helen would never have believed him capable of it, for it was as different from his usual cultured speech as it could be and seemed to make his words into a threat. It was so out of character for the man she thought she knew that she felt a shiver of apprehension when she heard it.

As if he realized that she could hear and understand what he was saying he reverted a moment later to his more usual, almost accentless speech, louder now and confidently cheerful. 'You don't mind if I take Helen for a ride, surely, do you? She needs a change from this house and from you, my lad.'

'
I need a change too,' Emlyn grumbled sulkily, 'but I don't get one, do I? I'm not even allowed on to the landing for a few minutes.'

'
You will be soon,' Evan assured him, 'and as soon as Doctor Neath gives the word, I'll take you for a run in the car.'

'
Thanks.' There was no mistaking the sarcasm. 'In the meantime you take Helen out and I'm stuck here with no one to talk to; suppose I have a relapse or something? What would happen then? Have you thought of that, or don't you care?'

Evan looked at him steadily for a moment and he had the grace to look sheepish.

'That's a stupid question and you know it. You're very much better and there's no reason why you shouldn't be left without a nurse for a couple of hours. If you're afraid of something happening every time Helen isn't here I'd better see about getting another nurse to relieve her. She can't be expected to do a twenty-four-hour day.'

His apparent concern for her and his arguing with Emlyn as he was made her feel uncomfortably superfluous being in the room. It should have been a private matter between the two of them. Emlyn looked sulky as he usually did when he was thwarted and Evan was unlikely to change his mind, she knew; he was as stubborn as his son and basically a much stronger character. Emlyn, she suspected, had inherited his sulkiness and his flamboyance from his mother’s family, the Howells. At times there was a definite likeness between him and the big, noisy Alun Howell, his mother’s brother.

She would have left the room and had already opened the door when Evan called her back. 'There’s no need for you to go,’ he told her, 'I’m just leaving.’ He left the chair and came across to her, standing beside the door, just inside the room but out of earshot of his son, when he spoke quietly. 'Don’t let Emlyn talk you out of coming with me,’ he said, and with the challenge of the black eyes on her she would never have dared. He half smiled. 'He
will
try, you know.’

'I know,’ she admitted with a wry smile, flicking a glance at Emlyn who sat watching them with a curious frown for their secrecy. 'But I’ll be firm and not let him persuade me to change my mind.’ She raised her eyes and looked at him. 'If you’re sure you still want to go,’ she added.

He made no verbal answer but instead arched one brow and smiled at her wryly, then went past her and down the stairs.

He had been right about Emlyn, though; he tried for the rest of the morning to persuade her not to go, but she was firm as she had promised she would be and refused to change her mind. 'You'll be sorry,’ Emlyn threatened darkly when he realized that she meant what she said. 'When I’m ill again you'll be sorry you left me.’

'
You won’t be ill again,’ Helen assured him. 'You’re moving about more every day and you’ll soon be completely fit again, so don’t say such silly things.’

'
You won't boss me around either,' he said, watching her. 'You just wait until I'm a hundred per cent fit again and you'll see who's boss.'

'I won't be here then,' she smiled. 'Once you're well that's it as far as I'm concerned. You're no longer my patient.' She had not meant to say so much to him and she remembered what she had told Evan; that she would not tell Emlyn outright that she had no intention of marrying him, until he was better able to accept it. There was only one drawback to that idea; he seemed to lose none of his determination as his health improved.

He looked at her with drawn brows when she sounded so adamant. 'You won't leave me just like that, will you?' he asked.

'I don't want to talk about it, Emlyn. Now please let the subject drop.'

'If you're not going to be waiting for me when I get about again there's no point in it all,' he said sulkily. 'I want to marry you, Helen, and I shan't change my mind no matter what you say.'

'Please, Emlyn—'

'All right, all right!' He held up his hands, his face rueful. 'But no one can say I didn't try.' He called her as she got to the door on her way down to join Evan, 'Have fun,' he told her. 'Though it really isn't a fun trip, is it, and I'm sure Evan will behave with the utmost decorum, you won't have to worry on that score.'

'I'm sure he will,' she said stiffly, disliking the way he had spoken, 'and I've no intention of worrying about anything. Goodbye.'

'Goodbye,' he answered with such pathos that she felt a sudden qualm of guilt and had it not been for the fact that Evan was waiting for her she would have gone back and lost yet another afternoon.

He was waiting for her, standing in the window as usual when she came in. 'Was Emlyn being difficult?' he asked.