Victory for Victoria

Victoria smiled a little; she had felt wildly extravagant in Guernsey buying such a large bottle of Roger et Gallet’s Jeu d’Eau, and wished now that she had bought an even larger size. She wondered with pleasurable excitement what he was going to say next and was keenly disappointed when he asked: ‘You don’t mind if I smoke?’

‘Please do,’ she achieved the two words with a commendable sweetness and watched him go about the business of filling and lighting his pipe which he did with deliberation. It was only when he had got it going to his satisfaction that he spoke again.

‘I’ve been looking forward to this,’ he remarked, an observation which Victoria found difficult to answer although she longed to tell him that she had been longing to see him too. She was startled when he asked: ‘Have you?’

She opened her little brocade bag and closed it again before she said carefully: ‘Well, I couldn’t look forward to something I didn’t know was going to happen, could I?’

He gave her a long look. ‘You knew that I should come back.’

She opened her bag again, looked at its contents and closed it. ‘Yes, I think I did.’

‘You know you did.’

How persistent the man was! ‘All right, I knew,’ she reiterated, quite put out. Her fingers were on the bag again when his hand came down to cover hers. His voice was gentle. ‘Don’t be scared, dear girl.’