I was completely shattered by his death; so was Sabrina. I saw the old fear in her eyes which I had detected all those years ago when Damans had died. ‘What is it about me?’ she cried to me. ‘Why is it that I am fated to bring disaster? There was my mother. I was indirectly responsible for her death. And now… Lance. If I had not thought of marrying Reggie, I should never have gone to that house that night. I should not have left the stole behind, and Lance would be alive this day.’ ‘It is not your fault that things happened the way they did,’ I insisted. ‘But why me? Why should I be the one every time to bring disaster and death?’ ‘You saved my life. Don’t forget that. I never shall.’ ‘Oh, Clarissa, I’m so unhappy. There is a terrible guilt on me.’ ‘No,’ I cried. ‘You must not feel this. Be sensible, Sabrina.’ The task of bringing her out of that terrible gloom was mine, just as it had been all those years ago, and I felt more than ever that our lives were inextricably woven together.
