She had dreaded meeting him again, feeling that it would be
difficult to re-establish the merely friendly relations which had existed
between them until one tense, glowing moment had swept aside convention and
pretence and let each see deep into the other's heart.
But the meeting passed off more easily than she had dared to hope. They
exchanged brief greetings on the quay, where Brett Forrester's guests had
collected together and were waiting to board the yacht's dinghy, and during
the short passage across the bay to where the _Sphinx_ lay anchored she
and Cara and Miss Caroline had sat chatting together in the stern of the
boat, leaving the three men to talk amongst themselves. And now, as the
whole party emerged on to the deck for coffee, Ann found herself safely
wedged in between Brett and the rector, with Coventry, much to her relief,
established at the other end of the semicircle of chairs.
It was a glorious evening. The moon--"according to, orders," as Brett
had laughingly reminded her--hung like a great lambent globe in the sky,
throwing a shimmering track of silver across the waters of the bay, and
dappling the ripples of the sea beyond with shifting Jack-o'-Lantern gleams
of light.
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