'You don't find me abjectly pitiable, then?'
'Not in the least.'
'Not even if I made big puppy eyes?'
Rolling her own, Tessa said, 'That may well work on Theo, but the female of the species is not so easily taken in. Speaking of Theo, you never did tell me how he got down to proposing to you.'
Her mood fading somewhat, Pamela told her friend the entire story, leaving nothing out.
'What are you looking so depressed about? He's a wonderful man, and it's obvious, whatever you may think, that he's very much in love with you.'
Pamela gave her a baffled look. 'Why does everyone keep saying that, when I'm the one who's getting married to him and I can't see it?'
'Oh, dear,' Tessa said, her expression sympathetic, 'It seems that you've just added an entirely new dimension to the old saying, "Love is blind." Not only is your love blind, but it seems that you're blind to love, all at the same time.'
Pamela gave her such a comically disparaging look as sent the two into peals of uncontrollable laughter.
'Do that again! No please, don't! No, not again! Ow, I can't laugh any more . . . my face hurts. My sides hurt . . . If I pee myself, I'm going to slug you . . . '
'Don't either of you dare wet my nice clean linen!' Doris interrupted, her expression carefully neutral. 'Supper will be served in about five minutes, so you've just nice time to wash up. And do stop blushing,' she added with a smile, 'or you'll have me going. And we can't have that, now can we?'
When they sat down to eat, Pamela found herself feeling eternally grateful that between Ellie, Doris and Norrie she had been trained in "proper" table manners and was now accustomed to them. This was her first experience sitting at the table in the dining room, being served instead of serving, and she knew this would be the moment of truth where her relationship with the household staff, of whom she was no longer a member, was concerned. But to her relief, when she looked up apprehensively and apologetically at Ellie, the woman gave Pamela a surreptitious wink just to put her at ease.
Yet sitting next to Theo made her feel tense and awkward all the same. She didn't know whether to continue gabbing with Tessa who was sitting on her right, or pay attention to Theo who was sitting quietly on her left. To her complete surprise, however, Theo suddenly pushed back his chair, got to his feet, leaned over and kissed Pamela- neither a lingering kiss nor a chaste peck, but a proper and affectionate one, straightened up once more and said to all and sundry, 'I'll be back in a moment. In the meantime, I suggest that you leave your wine glasses empty.' He returned from the cellar a few minutes later with a pair of dusty old bottles, uncorked them, and served everyone himself. As supper resumed, he said to Pamela with a small, kind, sardonic smile, 'If this doesn't relax you, nothing will.' Pamela stared at him for some time, trying to fathom this apparent change in him. She was still feeling giddy from his kiss, and was blissfully unaware of the covert smiles and meaning looks the others exchanged with one another.