II + 

One evening towards the end of June, Jonathan Brockett walked in serenely: “Hallo, Stephen! Here I am, I’ve turned up again⁠—not that I love you, I positively hate you. I’ve been keeping away for weeks and weeks. Why did you never answer my letters? Not so much as a line on a picture postcard! There’s something in this more than meets the eye. And where’s Puddle? She used to be kind to me once⁠—I shall lay my head down on her bosom and weep.⁠ ⁠…” He stopped abruptly, seeing Mary Llewellyn, who got up from her deep armchair in the corner. + 

Stephen said: “Mary, this is Jonathan Brockett⁠—an old friend of mine; we’re fellow writers. Brockett, this is Mary Llewellyn.” + 

Brockett shot a swift glance in Stephen’s direction, then he bowed and gravely shook hands with Mary. + 

And now Stephen was to see yet another side of this strange and unexpected creature. With infinite courtesy and tact he went out of his way to make himself charming. Never by so much as a word or a look did he once allow it to be inferred that his quick mind had seized on the situation. Brockett’s manner suggested an innocence that he was very far from possessing. + 

Stephen began to study him with interest; they two had not met since before the war. He had thickened, his figure was more robust, there was muscle and flesh on his wide, straight shoulders. And she thought that his face had certainly aged; little bags were showing under his eyes, and rather deep lines at the sides of his mouth⁠—the war had left its mark upon Brockett. Only his hands remained unchanged; those white and soft skinned hands of a woman. + 

He was saying: “So you two were in the same Unit. That was a great stroke of luck for Stephen; I mean she’d be feeling horribly lonely now that old Puddle’s gone back to England. Stephen’s distinguished herself I see⁠—Croix de Guerre and a very becoming scar. Don’t protest, my dear Stephen, you know it’s becoming. All that happened to me was a badly sprained ankle;” he laughed, “fancy going out to Mesopotamia to slip on a bit of orange peel! I might have done better than that here in Paris. By the way, I’m in my own flat again now; I hope you’ll bring Miss Llewellyn to luncheon.” + 

He did not stay embarrassingly late, nor did he leave suggestively early; he got up to go at just the right moment. But when Mary went out of the room to call Pierre, he quite suddenly put his arm through Stephen’s. + 

“Good luck, my dear, you deserve it;” he murmured, and his sharp grey eyes had grown almost gentle: “I hope you’ll be very, very happy.” + 

Stephen quietly disengaged her arm with a look of surprise: “Happy? Thank you, Brockett,” she smiled, as she lighted a cigarette. + 