Following her decision to accept Lady Alymer’s offer, she had stayed on a further month at hospital, then, at Joan’s urgent request, had put up at an hotel in London in order to assist her friend to arrange her few possessions in the little house at St. John’s Wood, and make preparations for her wedding. Mary had stayed for the wedding, and now, her farewells made and her own things packed, had set out to start her new life at Frensham Manor. Time had not succeeded in easing her conscience regarding the acceptance of this new position; the more she thought of it the more certain she became that the position, if it existed at all, had been manufactured expressly for her. Still, she had argued, she hadn’t had much option, for staying on at St. Jude’s without Joan would have been unbearable. However, if her post proved to be a sinecure, she wouldn’t be able to remain there, and much as the prospect frightened her, she was determined to seek a position elsewhere and stand on her own feet.Veronica, thrilled at the prospect of having Mary as a close neighbour, had insisted on fetching her herself from the station and driving her to her destination.
