tim allerton leant back in his wicker chair and yawned as he looked out over the sea. he shot a

quick sidelong glance at his mother.

mrs allerton was a good-looking, white-haired woman of fifty. by imparting an expression of

pinched severity to her mouth every time she looked at her son, she sought to disguise the fact of

her intense affection for him. even total strangers were seldom deceived by this device and tim

himself saw through it perfectly.

he said, "do you really like majorca, mother?"

"well," mrs allerton considered, "it's cheap."

"and cold," said tim with a slight shiver.

he was a tall, thin young man, with dark hair and a rather narrow chest. his mouth had a very

sweet expression; his eyes were sad and his chin was indecisive. he had long delicate hands.

threatened by consumption some years ago, he had never displayed a really robust physique. he

was popularly supposed "to write," but it was understood among his friends that inquiries as to

literary output were not encouraged.

"what are you thinking of, tim?"

mrs allerton was alert. her bright, dark-brown eyes looked suspicious. tim allerton grinned at

her.

"i was thinking of egypt."

"egypt?"

mrs allerton sounded doubtful.

"real warmth, darling. lazy golden sands. the nile. i'd like to go up the nile, wouldn't you?"

"oh, i'd like it." her tone was dry. "but egypt's expensive, my dear. not for those who have to

count the pennies."

tim laughed. he rose, stretched himself. suddenly he looked alive and eager. there was an excited

note in his voice.

"the expense will be my affair. yes, darling. a little flutter on the stock exchange. with

thoroughly satisfactory results. i heard this morning."

"this morning?" said mrs allerton sharply. "you only had one letter and that -" she stopped and

bit her lip.

tim looked momentarily undecided whether to be amused or annoyed. amusement gained the day.

"and that was from joanna," he finished coolly. "quite right, mother. what a queen of detectives

you'd make! the famous hercule poirot would have to look to his laurels if you were about."

mrs allerton looked rather cross.

"i just happened to see the handwriting -"

"and knew it wasn't that of a stockbroker? quite right. as a matter of fact it was yesterday i heard

from them. poor joanna's handwriting is rather noticeable - sprawls about all over the envelope

like an inebriated spider."

"what does joanna say? any news?"

mrs allerton strove to make her voice sound casual and ordinary. the friendship between her son

and his second cousin, joanna southwood, always irritated her. not, as she put it to herself, that

there was "anything in it." she was quite sure there wasn't. tim had never manifested a sentimental

interest in joanna, nor she in him. their mutual attraction seemed to be founded on gossip and the

possession of a large number of friends and acquaintances in common. they both liked people and

discussing people. joanna had an amusing if caustic tongue. it was not because mrs allerton

feared that tim might fall in love with joanna that she found herself always becoming a little stiff

in manner if joanna were present or when letters from her arrived.

it was some other feeling hard to define - perhaps an unacknowledged jealousy in the unfeigned

pleasure tim always seemed to take in joanna's society. he and his mother were such perfect

companions that the sight of him absorbed and interested in another woman always startled mrs

allerton slightly. she fancied, too, that her own presence on these occasions set some barrier

between the two members of the younger generation. often she had come upon them eagerly

absorbed in some conversation and, at sight of her, their talk had wavered, had seemed to include

her rather too purposefully and as in duty bound. quite definitely, mrs allerton did not like joanna

southwood. she thought her insincere, affected and essentially superficial. she found it very hard

to prevent herself saying so in unmeasured tones.

in answer to her question, tim pulled the letter out of his pocket and glanced through it. it was

quite a long letter, his mother noted.

"nothing much," he said. "the devenishes are getting a divorce. old monty's been had up for

being drunk in charge of a car. windlesham's gone to canada. seems he was pretty badly hit when

linnet ridgeway turned him down. she's definitely going to marry this land agent person."

"how extraordinary! is he very dreadful?"

"no, no, not at all. he's one of the devonshire doyles. no money, of course - and he was actually

engaged to one of linnet's best friends. pretty thick, that."

"i don't think it's at all nice," said mrs allerton, flushing.

tim flashed her a quick affectionate glance.

"i know, darling. you don't approve of snapping other people's husbands and all that sort of thing."

"in my day we had our standards," said mrs allerton. "and a very good thing too! nowadays

young people seem to think they can just go about doing anything they choose."

tim smiled.

"they don't only think it. they do it. vide linnet ridgeway!"

"well, i think it's horrid!"

tim twinkled at her.

"cheer up, you old die-hard! perhaps i agree with you. anyway, i haven't helped myself to

anyone's wife or fiancée yet."

"i'm sure you'd never do such a thing," said mrs allerton. she added with spirit, "i've brought you

up properly."

"so the credit is yours, not mine."

he smiled teasingly at her as he folded the letter and put it away again.

mrs allerton let the thought just flash across her mind: "most letters he shows to me. he only

reads me snippets from joanna's."

but she put the unworthy thought away from her, and decided, as ever, to behave like a

gentlewoman.

"is joanna enjoying life?" she asked.

"so so. says she thinks of opening a delicatessen shop in mayfair."

"she always talks about being hard up," said mrs allerton with a tinge of spite, "but she goes

about everywhere and her clothes must cost her a lot. she's always beautifully dressed."

"ah, well," said tim, "she probably doesn't pay for them. no, mother, i don't mean what your

edwardian mind suggests to you. i just mean quite literally that she leaves her bills unpaid."

mrs allerton sighed.

"i never know how people manage to do that."

"it's a kind of special gift," said tim. "if only you have sufficiently extravagant tastes, and

absolutely no sense of money values, people will give you any amount of credit."

"yes, but you come to the bankruptcy court in the end like poor sir george wode."

"you have a soft spot for that old horse coper - probably because he called you a rosebud in

eighteen seventy-nine at a dance."

"i wasn't born in eighteen seventy-nine," mrs allerton retorted with spirit. "sir george has

charming manners, and i won't have you calling him a horse coper."

"i've heard funny stories about him from people that know."

"you and joanna don't mind what you say about people; anything will do so long as it's

sufficiently ill-natured."

tim raised his eyebrows.

"my dear, you're quite heated. i didn't know old wode was such a favourite of yours."

"you don't realize how hard it is for him, having to sell wode hall. he cared terribly about that

place."

tim suppressed the easy retort. after all, who was he to judge? instead he said thoughtfully:

"you know, i think you're not far wrong there. linnet asked him to come down and see what she'd

done to the place, and he refused quite rudely."

"of course. she ought to have known better than to ask him."

"and i believe he's quite venomous about her - mutters things under his breath whenever he sees

her. can't forgive her for having given him an absolutely top price for the worm-eaten family

estate."

"and you can't understand that?" mrs allerton spoke sharply.

"frankly," said tim calmly, "i can't. why live in the past? why cling on to things that have been?"

"what are you going to put in their place?"

he shrugged his shoulders. "excitement, perhaps. novelty. the joy of never knowing what may

turn up from day to day. instead of inheriting an useless tract of land, the pleasure of making

money for yourself - by your own brains and skill."

"a successful deal on the stock exchange in fact!"

he laughed. "why not?"

"and what about an equal loss on the stock exchange?"

"that, dear, is rather tactless. and quite inappropriate today. what about this egypt plan?"

"well -"

he cut in, smiling at her: "that's settled. we've both always wanted to see egypt."

"when do you suggest?"

"oh, next mouth. january's about the best time there. we'll enjoy the delightful society in this hotel

a few weeks longer."

"tim," said mrs allerton reproachfully. then she added guiltily: "i'm afraid i promised mrs leech

that you'd go with her to the police station. she doesn't understand any spanish."

tim made a grimace.

"about her ring? the blood-red ruby of the horse leech's daughter? does she still persist in

thinking it's been stolen? i'll go if you like, but it's a waste of time. shell only get some wretched

chambermaid into trouble. i distinctly saw it on her finger when she went into the sea that day. it

came off in the water and she never noticed."

"she says she is quite sure she took it off and left it on her dressing-table."

"well, she didn't. i saw it with my own eyes. the woman's a fool. any woman's a fool who goes

prancing into the sea in december, pretending the water's quite warm just because the sun happens

to be shining rather brightly at the moment. stout women oughtn't to be allowed to bathe anyway;

they look so revolting in bathing dresses."

mrs allerton murmured, "i really feel i ought to give up bathing."

tim gave a shout of laughter.

"you? you can give most of the young things points and to spare."

mrs allerton sighed and said, "i wish there were a few more young people for you here."

tim allerton shook his head decidedly.

"i don't. you and i get along rather comfortably without outside distractions."

"you'd like it if joanna were here."

"i wouldn't." his tone was unexpectedly resolute. "you're all wrong there. joanna amuses me, but i

don't really like her, and to have her around much gets on my nerves. i'm thankful she isn't here. i

should be quite resigned if i were never to see joanna again."

he added, almost below his breath, "there's only one woman in the world i've got a real respect

and admiration for, and i think, mrs allerton, you know very well who that woman is."

his mother blushed and looked quite confused.

tim said gravely: "there aren't very many really nice women in the world. you happen to be one

of them."