Her eyes met his for a moment, and then fell. And, for the first time, he knew his proposal had reached her reason instead of just rousing her terrified instinct.
Suddenly she put her hands over her face.
I can’t, Simon, I can’t, I love him too much.’
‘But I’ll make you love me instead.’
‘It isn’t the same.’
‘No, it wouldn’t be the same. It would be something much more secure and beautiful. Perhaps, Alison, it might be the best thing for him.’
‘If I thought that-’ She dropped her hands and stared away from him, her eyes wide and dark in her white face.
There was that heavy silence again, unbroken except for the beating of their hearts.
Then, far away in the distance, came another sound-the hum of a high-powered car being driven at a great speed. There was the rising whine as it topped a hill, and then the sound almost died away as it dropped into a hollow.
Just the sound of a passing car being driven through the night. No more. And yet somehow it recalled Alison to a sense of reality as nothing else could have done. There was an outside world. There was something else besides these bewildering arguments, this insidious persuasion.
She drew away from him with a quick movement he had not expected.
‘I will not do things this way. It’s useless for you to argue.’
But he was at the door before she could reach it, his back pressed against it, his eyes dark and shadowy once more with that peculiar hint of menace.
‘You have no choice,’ he said a little thickly. ‘If you will not stay willingly and tell Julian you spent the night with me, then you shall stay against your will, and I will tell Julian you spent the night with me.’
‘I shall deny it,’ The colour flamed up in her face. ‘And he’ll believe me.’
‘Oh, no, my dear, you will not deny it,’ he assured her gently, ‘for, in this particular case, it will be true.’
‘It will be-what?’ She backed away from him.
He didn’t move. He only looked at her.
She had a wild and useless impulse to scream for help- perhaps to whoever was driving that nearing car. It was like drowning in sight of land to have someone actually pass at the crux of this fantastic scene.
Pass? No; whoever it was must be stopped somehow. No one could possibly hear her scream against the sound of that car, and yet she must make some sort of effort.
By the sound it must be almost level with the cottage now. Alison drew in her breath to scream with all her strength.
But the sound never came, for, with a grinding of brakes, the car drew up abruptly at the gate, and a second later a man’s footsteps were heard crunching up the gravel path.
The sharpness of the knock on the door made them both wince. Then for a moment neither of them moved.
‘Hadn’t you better go?’ Alison said in a whisper.
‘No. It’s probably a friend from Town, taking a chance on my being here,’ he answered in the same low tone. ‘If I don’t go he’ll think the place is empty. If I do, you won’t have much reputation left.’
Alison thought it queer that he should speak of her reputation at that moment.
The knock came again, with a peremptory sound which certainly didn’t suggest that the caller would be easily discouraged. And at that moment Alison pointed to the window.
‘The shutters aren’t closed. He must be able to see a light.’
‘Damn,’ Simon said, and went out of the room abruptly, closing the door behind him.
She heard the latch of the front door drawn back, and listened for the sound of voices.
There was none.
There were three quick steps across the hall instead. The door was flung open, and Julian, paler and sterner than she had ever seen him, stood in the doorway.
‘Julian,’ she said in a fascinated whisper. ‘Julian-’
And then she couldn’t say any more. It was like a miracle to see him standing there-like an answer to all her unspoken prayers.
She supposed he must be thinking- Well, she couldn’t even imagine what he must be thinking. But that scarcely seemed to matter. The relief was so enormous.
Then Julian spoke, quite quietly.
‘Are you ready to come home with me?’
‘Yes-oh, yes.’ Alison spoke eagerly, almost feverishly.
She looked round a little vaguely for her hat, and Simon handed it to her.
It was only then that she remembered his presence again. She looked at him and she saw that his eyes were on her-burning, pleading, compelling. But she could not do what he wanted. Whether it was good for Julian or not, she couldn’t pretend she loved Simon.
‘It’s the last chance,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Can’t you see that, for us all, you must say something?’
She drew back, and Julian’s voice said coldly:
‘I would rather you didn’t speak to my wife just now, Langtoft.’
Simon didn’t take his eyes from Alison.
‘I was reminding her that perhaps she had better say something to you in explanation of. all this.’
‘She doesn’t need to explain,’ was the chilly reply.
‘Oh, yes, I do.’ Alison came to life. ‘Because it’s quite simple really. I went motoring with Simon. We forgot the time and were late starting back. Then we passed the cottage and he thought I looked cold and needed a hot drink. So we stopped. That’s all.’
For a moment Julian’s eyes went to the fire, which had burnt very low by now.
‘I see,’ he said gravely, and held open the door. ‘Shall we go?’
She came without another word.
At the door she looked back for a second at Simon. He had his head thrown back and his nostrils were slightly distended. Then, as their eyes met, he bowed deeply.
‘To the inevitable,’ he said with a flashing smile. But, as she turned away again, she saw that there were beads of perspiration on his forehead.
She went out to the car with Julian, and he handed her in with all his usual courtesy. He carefully tucked a rug round her and asked her if she were quite comfortable.
‘Yes, thank you,’ Alison said in a subdued little voice.
He backed the car, turned it, and a few seconds later they were heading for London at the full speed of Julian’s powerful car.
She thought at first that he must say something. They couldn’t, surely, drive in silence after all that had happened?
But in silence they drove.
For a while she was relieved. Then she became vaguely annoyed. Was he doing the lofty, injured husband? she wondered resentfully. It didn’t come very well from him in the circumstances.
She wanted to say, ‘Life is melodramatic, as Simon says. In the afternoon I find you in Rosalie’s arms, and in the evening you discover me apparently preparing to spend the night with Simon.’
But she stole a look at Julian’s face and thought it would be wiser not to try this piece of defiance.
Then on one point her sheer curiosity got the better of her.
‘How did you guess where I was?’ she asked in a low voice.
‘I never thought of your being anywhere else,’ he said quite simply.
‘Didn’t you?’ Alison couldn’t hide her astonishment, ‘But why?’
‘Hadn’t we better leave all that until to-morrow?’ he said.
‘To-morrow? Aren’t we going to-to have things out tonight?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because you’ve had all the emotional scenes you can stand for one night.’
‘Oh,’ Alison. suddenly wanted to cry at this queer little instance of his thought for her. It was so different-so utterly different-from Simon’s way of forcing an issue, even to the point of being brutal.
‘You’d better just sit back and keep quiet. Shut your eyes and sleep if you can,’ Julian told her.
And for once Alison was rather glad to have him treat her like a child.
In the end, she must have dozed, because there was a gap when she didn’t seem to be thinking about anything. And then she found Julian was carrying her from the car into the flat.