Seen By Candlelight. Anne Mather

she closed the door and advanced into the room, sinking down into a low armchair opposite him.

      Perceptively, he said: “You look rather disturbed. What’s been going on?”

      Karen flung herself back in the chair, helping herself to another cigarette. As she lit the cigarette and looked at Lewis, she thought reflectively that the contrast between Paul and Lewis was very considerable. Not only in looks but in manner.

      “Let me relax for a moment and then I’ll tell you,” she said, managing a rather grim smile.

      After drawing on her cigarette for about five minutes, during which time Lewis studied his papers and considerately ignored her, she said:

      “I’ve just had lunch with my esteemed ex-husband.”

      A strange expression flitted across Lewis’s face for a moment and then he said:

      “You must be joking.”

      “No, I’m not,” she replied smoothly. “Dear Paul himself.”

      Lewis compressed his rather thin lips.

      “And what was this in aid of?” He shrugged his slim shoulders.

      “I … I asked him to see me, have lunch with me,” answered Karen, half amused at Lewis’s concern. He could see no reason, until she told him, for the meeting and he was getting quite annoyed.

      His eyebrows ascended. “You asked him to meet you. But why? Good lord, Karen, you aren’t trying to get him back, are you?”

      Karen looked away from his gaze. She wondered what he would think if he could have read her thoughts a few moments ago. He would be bound to be furious. After all, he had thought he was acting in her best interests when he helped her to avoid seeing Paul.

      Avoiding this question, she said: “Mother asked me to see him. Simon, his brother Simon that is, is going out with Sandra, and Sandra refuses to give him up. I had to appeal to Paul to prevent it going any further.”

      “Sandra!” exclaimed Lewis. “But Simon Frazer is married. Is she completely mad? Good heavens, he’s nothing but a scoundrel.”

      “Precisely … but you know how unmanageable Sandra is. She’s gradually becoming completely uncontrollable. Besides. Mother still dotes on her and indulges her in everything. Even now, I expect she’s worried to death in case Sandra finds out she’s been meddling.”

      Lewis rose restlessly to his feet. “But to ask you to see Frazer on her behalf. She ought to have more sense. Doesn’t she care who gets hurt in all this? She might have realized that he would take a delight in humiliating you.”

      Karen stretched her slim legs out in front of her. “Paul didn’t exactly humiliate me, darling. In fact, he was quite human about the whole thing. But on the other hand, I can imagine what he was thinking. He probably thought I’d seen his engagement in the paper and decided to make a bit of bother for him. I don’t really think he thought I was trying to get him back. I think if anything, he thought I was just being nosy.”

      “Are you seeing him again?” asked Lewis, frowning.

      “I doubt it,” replied Karen abruptly. “I expect he will ring me if he has any news about Simon and Sandra.”

      “Well, I sincerely hope so,” said Lewis, sighing with something like relief. “After all, we don’t want him causing you any more bother, do we?”

      “I should say that’s entirely unlikely,” remarked Karen wryly. “He seems completely absorbed with Ruth and their forthcoming marriage.”

      Lewis nodded. “I believe she’s quite a lovely girl,” he said, and then clasped his hands together. “Oh, my dear, I hope you don’t think I’m trying to upset you.”

      “Not at all,” replied Karen, rather dryly, wishing Lewis had not found it necessary to discuss Ruth at all.

      “You know I’d like to take care of you,” went on Lewis painfully. “I want to be able to have the right to do that. “Won’t you allow me …’

      “Lewis, please. Not now. I’ve told you so often, I don’t love you and I couldn’t marry someone I didn’t love. The very idea appals me. I like and respect you, but as yet I don’t feel I can love anybody.” But Paul, taunted her conscience, but she thrust the thought back into anonymity.

      Lewis became businesslike, and Karen appreciated it. He was always so understanding. If he had behaved in any other way she would have had to find herself another employer, and as they worked so well together she didn’t want to have to do that.

      “By the way,” he said at the end of their discussion, “I have two invitations for the charity ball at the Magnifique on Friday. Would you like to go? It should be quite a glittering affair. Take you out of yourself.”

      Karen hesitated. She usually refused these invitations point-blank, but today, after Lewis’s understanding manner, she felt she ought to give them both a break. After all, maybe he was right. A ball would take her out of herself and perhaps push her feelings for Paul back into perspective.

      “Well,” she began slowly, “I think perhaps it might be a good idea, Lewis. Thank you.”

      Lewis looked absolutely flabbergasted, and she smiled at his shocked face.

      “Didn’t you really want me to come?” she asked, teasing him.

      “Good lord, yes. It’s just that I didn’t hold out much hope and now that you’ve accepted I’m stunned!”

      Karen smiled. “Oh, well I feel I should come out of my shell for a change. I’ve been too reticent of late.” She shivered involuntarily. In a matter of hours her life seemed to have changed. She had been content to drift along in her own backwater, letting life pass her by. Suddenly she had found her own company uncongenial and the thought of dressing up and going out, no matter with whom, gave her something to think about.

      “A good idea,” approved Lewis, smiling. “I’m glad you feel you want to meet people again. That’s a good sign.”

      Karen nodded. “Yes, isn’t it? Perhaps seeing Paul has done me good. After all, that’s over and done with now, isn’t it?” she said, forcing a lightness she did not feel.

      Lewis looked very pleased. Suddenly his rather dull day had improved beyond all expectation.